New reporting project focuses on Indigenous food sovereignty in the Columbia River Basin

Producer
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Year

There’s no official definition for the term “food sovereignty,” but the Indian Affairs Bureau describes it as “the ability of communities to determine the quantity and quality of the food that they consume by controlling how their food is produced and distributed.”

Portland-based news outlet Underscore recently tackled the topic in a new series. The Food Sovereignty Project features stories of Indigenous communities rebuilding food systems, reclaiming traditional foods and practices and preserving that knowledge for future generations.

Project co-director Nicole Charley joins us to talk more about the series, along with freelance writer Leah Altman, who contributed two stories to the project.

Image: Farmland on Sauvie Island in early summer (Matvyei/English Wikipedia)

Transcript is available at the resource link.

Related Resources

Image
South Dakota maker of bison snack bar expects big growth with Whole Foods partnership

A South Dakota company created to provide a healthy snack for American Indians expects its sales to grow by a third this year after seeing its product picked up by national grocery chain Whole Foods Markets. The development also could lead to more hiring at Native American Natural Foods in Kyle,…

Image
Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool

There are many assets related to Native food systems. Increased consumption of healthy and traditional foods may lead to better health among community members, preserving one of the most important assets in any community, its people. Of course, healthy, productive people are a cornerstone of any…

Image
Good Food is Power: A collection of traditional foods stories from the Ramah Navajo Community, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Tohono O'odham Nation

This report explores the traditional foods movement through the lenses of three traditional foods programs: the Ramah Navajo Community, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and Tohono O’odham Nation. These stories were originally gathered by the University of Oklahoma’s American Indian Institute (Wesner,…