Putting Tribal Sovereignty
in Food Sovereignty
Summary: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is holding a nomination hearing on Wednesday, November 5, for Glen Smith to be the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development. DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs scheduled two in-person...
With the generous support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, IFAI developed the Tribal Governance Guide to Food and Agriculture to provide Tribal governments with a one-stop-shop for navigating opportunities as they invest in their food systems. The W.K. Kellogg...
Summary: There are three Senate Committee meetings worth noting on Wednesday, Oct. 29, including a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing about the impacts of government shutdowns and Agency reductions in force on Native communities. IFAI has released its...
The "Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Strategy Report, released by the White House in September 2025, outlines a comprehensive national initiative aimed at reducing rates of childhood chronic disease in the United States. The report identifies four primary areas of...
Summary: Today is the last day to register for the Oct. 22 Tribal consultation on proposed changes to SNAP. That consultation is still happening regardless of the government shut down. IFAI will release an analysis piece following the consultation. IFAI has a...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are currently considering whether to define “ultra processed foods” (UPFs) and how that definition could be used in food labeling, nutrition programs, and dietary guidelines. The...
IFAI Executive Director, Carly Griffith Hotvedt, was featured in a KOSU article discussing the impacts of federal funding uncertainty on Tribal food and agriculture. After the Oct. 14 Tribal leader consultation on USDA’s departmental Reorganization Plan, there is...
In a recent feature by KOSU, Carly Griffith Hotvedt (Cherokee Nation), Executive Director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI), shared insights on the challenges and resilience of Tribal food systems amid federal funding uncertainty. “[T]ribes are...
While Congress is holding hearings through the government shutdown, there were none scheduled with direct impacts on Tribal food and agriculture this week. Despite the shutdown, the USDA Office of Tribal Relations page still shows two Tribal leader consultations...
What happens when a scholar trades syllabi for soil? In this episode of Rooted Wisdom, we explore the inspiring journey of Dr. Christie Poitra, a former academic who followed her heart (and her roots) into the world of specialty crop farming in the Great Lakes region....