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New eFieldbook Available! Kemēcemenaw: Tribal Extension Partnerships That Support Indigenous Food Sovereignty on the Menominee Indian Reservation

 

“This eFieldbook will serve as a valuable resource to Cooperative Extension professionals that are working with indigenous populations, while focused on sovereign food production.” - Fred Schlutt, New Technologies for Ag Extension Catalyst, Former Extension Director - University of Alaska Fairbanks. 

The US Department of Agriculture 2018-2022 Strategic Plan recognizes it’s role in helping provide access to safe and nutritious food for limited income people, by supporting limited resource individuals and families in their efforts to escape food insecurity and hunger and improve their well-being. These objectives require partnerships between State, local agencies, and Federal, public and private entities to support best practices in implementing effective programs and ensuring eligible populations have access to programs that support their local food needs. One of the USDA’s strategies is to provide Indigenous peoples with traditional foods that are desired.

The Menominee Indigenous food system initiative is a collaborative project between the 1994 College of Menominee and UW Madison Extension programs. The initiative is built on the concept of a sovereign food systems that connects the Indigenous cultural beliefs of spirit, body, mind and heart to the food system. 

As one of four topics within the 2019-2020 New Technologies for Agricultural Extension federal grant, the Menominee food project developed an eFieldbook to be shared with other 1994 Tribal institutions, First American Land Grant Consortium (FALCON)gmail.com, and tribal organizations. This project takes a deep dive into sovereign food production, exploring the impact that workshops and seed and plant distributions have on the presence of Indigenous food being sold at community Farmers Market’s and CSA’s.

This eFieldbook includes:

  • Assessments
    • Defining Menominee Food Sovereignty
    • First Nations Toolkit
    • Menominee Food Sovereignty Assessment
    • Menominee Wellness Initiative
    • Survey Research
    • Stakeholder Analysis
  • Integrating Culture: Indigenous Planning Systems, Cultural Assets, Historical Trauma & Healing
  • Outreach Strategies
  • Cultural Considerations
  • Case Studies of Successful Projects

Authors:

  • Jennifer Gauthier, Senior Outreach Specialist, Menominee County/Nation
  • Brian Kowalkowski, Dean of Continuing Education, College of Menominee Nation
  • Meg Perry, eFieldbook Fellow

The eFieldbook bookshelf is available at efieldbooks.extension.org. Additionally, eFieldbooks can be found in the main navigation of Connect Extension at connect.extension.org

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About the Extension Foundation

The Extension Foundation was formed in 2006 by Extension Directors and Administrators. Today, the Foundation partners with Cooperative Extension through liaison roles and a formal plan of work with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) to increase system capacity while providing programmatic services, and helping Extension programs scale and investigate new methods and models for implementing programs. The Foundation provides professional development to Cooperative Extension professionals and offers exclusive services to its members. In 2020 and 2021, the Extension Foundation has awarded 85% of its direct funding back to the Cooperative Extension System, 100% of funds are used to support Cooperative Extension initiatives. 

This technology is supported in part by New Technologies for Ag Extension (funding opportunity no. USDA-NIFA-OP-010186), grant no. 2023-41595-41325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Extension Foundation. For more information, please visit extension.org. You can view the terms of useat extension.org/terms.

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