Sustainable Agricultural Workshop Series for Tribal Educators

Sustainable Agricultural Workshop Series for Tribal Educators

Summary

The first year of the Intertribal Agriculture Council’s NCR-SARE PDP grant featured numerous successful workshops on both a stand alone basis and integrated with larger events.  While there was just slightly more emphasis on the larger events that anticipated in the initial grant submittal, these events offer a great opportunity to reach an expanded audience, many of whom cover their own travel and event expenses.  Timing workshops with these larger events also helps with busy Tribal educators scheduling since they are able to combine multiple events and activities.

Plans for the second year, already underway, include three of the same larger events in the MOSES Organic Farming Conference, the Indigenous Farming Conference, and the Food Sovereignty Summit.  There has also focus on maple syrup production in conjunction with corresponding efforts in creating an Intertribal Maple Syrup Producers Co-op, which is already building interest and experience for similar cooperative efforts in other sustainable agricultural areas. 

Additionally, plans for 2014 are placing a heightened focus on partnerships with the region’s Tribal colleges since these institutions are well-positioned to provide long-term educational and technical support to their respective and surrounding Native communities.  While it is a substantial task, we are working to partner with each of the region’s Tribal colleges on at least a small educational event this year, and we are also working to build stronger connections among the colleges’ agricultural and food programs.  Strengthening connections among the region’s Tribal colleges offers tremendous opportunity to build upon complimentary strengths and best utilize experience that colleges like Bay Mills and Lac Courte Oreilles have gained in starting agricultural programs.

Objectives/Performance Targets

In the first year, we engaged over fifty Tribal educators through direct grant support.  However, the actual number of educators reached is closer to 400 since we were able to partner on larger events that leveraged additional funding.  We are working on quantifying the impact of these educator’s training in their respective communities, but the magnfying impact is clear in our interactions with several regional Native communities.  A conversative estimate range of 3-5 individuals reached in respective communities brings the total educational impact of this project to 150-250 individuals from the direct funding support.

Accomplishments/Milestones

The first year’s biggest accomplishment is strenghtening the overall network of Tribal agricultural educators in terms of both connections and knowledge.  Providing support for Tribal educators to attend the MOSES Organic Farming Conference, the first official event under this grant, can be considered a milestone in itself given the comparative lack of Native participation in that event, and the relationship with MOSES and its deep, extended network of farmers and agricultural professionals continues to grow.

Another major milestone was support for the first Food Sovereignty Summit, which drew together 300 Tribal agricultural professionals and educators from around the country.  With its unique focus on Tribe-to-Tribe education, this reviews of this event have been phenomenal and the networking connections it helped support have not only persisted, but strengthened.  Patnering with the local technical college in Green Bay, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, participating educators were able to receive college credit for hands-on courses.

The smaller workshops were also extremely successful in providing additional opportunities for more directed training and outreach, and they also provided additional opportunity for engaging local stakeholders in helping to organize and lead the events.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

In addition to the information contained within the Accomplishments section, the overall impacts and outcome of the first year include establishment of the framework for moving this grant and its accompanying objectives forward in grant years two and three, beginning to put together a flexible curriculum targeting different levels agricultural education for Tribal individuals, and strenthening the network of Tribal agricultural educators and professionals, as well as the support staff that can provide more in-depth assistance.

Collaborators: