What is Indigenous Food Sovereignty? The Fight for Autonomy Over Land and Food.
By Sammie Trvalik, Earth Forward Group
Published August 9, 2022
Artwork depicting the “three sisters” - corn, beans, and squash (Image Source)
The right to accessible, nutritious food is a core tenet of human rights. However, the globalized food system, the convoluted history of European colonization of Indigenous Peoples, and ongoing harms against Indigenous populations create significant challenges for the Indigenous fight for autonomy over food production and land use — a movement referred to as Indigenous food sovereignty.
The term food sovereignty was formalized at the Nyéléni International Forum for Food Sovereignty held in Sélingué, Mali, in 2007. Here, hundreds of small-scale food producers called for reducing Neoliberal influence over agroecology and reorienting the global food security agenda. This definition has since become a cornerstone for social movements advocating food sovereignty;
Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agricultural systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.
The Declaration of Nyéléni, 2007 (Image Source)
In an interview with Live It Earth, Jacob Beaton of Tea Creek Farm gives further insight into the distinction between food security— a term widely used in international hunger movements— and Indigenous food sovereignty. Beaton characterizes food security as as a measure of food availability: that generally, if individuals are well-fed, they are food secure; if a population is experiencing hunger, they are food insecure. He emphasizes key principles that set food sovereignty apart:
Food sovereignty values food producers and those who know how to grow food, including fish, hunting, and medicinal plants.
Food sovereignty challenges the rules imposed by global, federal, and local governments on food production. For example, he notes that in some countries, it is illegal to save seeds produced from plants, forcing reliance on commercial seed producers.
Food sovereignty values comprehensive nutrition. The mere provision of low-nutrition foods, regardless of the amount, is not true food sovereignty.
Food sovereignty centers education, knowledge-sharing between people and generations.
Indigenous food sovereignty seeks to address the Western systems that have harmed Indigenous food traditions and ecosystems. Yet, efforts to address nutrition and land injustices among Indigenous Nations often remain rooted within the Western framework that have historically caused harm, and are less effective at creating long-term, meaningful change.
Following WWII, the industrialization of agriculture displaced Indigenous Peoples from traditional lands to government-controlled reservations and the wage-labor economy. This shift simultaneously exploited Indigenous labor to support the industrial food production sector, and created a dependence on government-rationed food rations. These rations, often commodity foods, lacked nutritional value and contributed to the disproportionate prevalence of diet-related health issues—such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease—among Indigenous Nations.
Additionally, industrial agriculture disrupted the transmission of ecological knowledge. Traditionally, Indigenous men were responsible for hunting and fishing, while Indigenous women held inherited ecological knowledge. Women passed down essential skills in farming, harvesting, environmental stewardship, and the use of medicinal and nutritional plants. The industrial methods of agriculture and land management not only marginalized these roles but also severed cultural connections, leaving gaps in intergenerational knowledge transfer.
Today, as climate change advances, we grapple with the reality of an unsustainable, industrialized agricultural sector. Practices like monoculture and mass food production have depleted soil nutrients, caused widespread erosion, and are leading contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss. They have polluted our natural resources with toxic chemicals from pesticides and fertilizer runoff, exacerbated antibiotic resistance, and facilitated zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19. The resulting decline in food quality has far-reaching health and economic consequences.
In response, the environmental movement has turned to sustainable agriculture, with practices like permaculture gaining traction. Permaculture “integrates land, resources, people and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies — imitating the no waste, closed loop systems seen in diverse natural systems.” As Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, explains:
In the Indigenous worldview, a healthy landscape is understood to be whole and generous enough to be able to sustain its partners. It engages land not as a machine but as a community of respected non-human persons to whom we humans have a responsibility…reconnecting people and the landscape is as essential as reestablishing proper hydrology or cleaning up contaminants. It is medicine for the earth.
-Robin Wall Kimmer, in “Braiding Sweetgrass”
Indigenous agricultural practices, such as the Iroquois and Cherokee “Three Sisters” system, illustrate this approach. Corn, beans and squash are planted together, with each crop supporting the others: beans fix nitrogen to the soil, squash leaves provide ground cover to deter pests, and corn stalks act as a trellis for bean vines. This method maintains soil health, reduces the need for pesticides, and maximizes land use while providing a nutritionally balanced diet. Culturally, the Three Sisters are celebrated in traditional stories, such as one that tells of three women who saved a community from starvation by gifting them seeds.
Despite accounting for just 5% of the global population and occupying less than a quarter of the world’s land, Indigenous territories are home to 80% of the planet’s biodiversity, according to the World Bank. In stark contrast, modern food practices are responsible for nearly 60% of global biodiversity loss.
Nell Lewis of CNN highlights this contrast in a story about Fabian Jimbijti, an Indigenous man from Ecuador who forages responsibly in his community's mountainous terrain. His actions reflect the deep reciprocity with nature that characterizes Indigenous food systems, a perspective that holds lessons for addressing modern ecological and food crises.
Today, much of the Western world has become increasingly disconnected from its food systems, reflecting a broader estrangement from the planet itself. Seasonality and growing patterns are often irrelevant to consumers who can walk into a grocery store and find strawberries in the winter or pumpkins in the spring, obscuring the natural cycles of production. We forget that the health of our food systems is intrinsically tied to the health of our bodies, our environment, our economy, and our communities.
The United Nations has declared Indigenous food sovereignty a crucial milestone in achieving climate justice. Indigenous communities are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, due to their reliance on the planet’s natural resources and systemic inequalities. As such, any meaningful climate movement — a reconsideration of how we interact with and treat our planet — must include a reevaluation of land ownership and autonomy over food production. The Indigenous perspective is essential to this dialogue, offering insights rooted in sustainability, reciprocity, and respect for the natural world.
Fabian Jimnijti foraging (Image Source)
Organizations and Programs for Sustainable Agriculture and Indigenous Food Sovereignty:
Traditional Native American Farmers Association
TNAFA’s mission is to revitalize traditional agriculture for spiritual and human need, by creating awareness and support for Native environmental issues. Since their inception, TNAFA has been developing educational programs for native farmers to address their needs.
Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
The Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA) supports Native communities nationally with advocacy, education, and networking as they revitalize their indigenous food systems.
Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice
A cooperative program of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, First Nations Development Institute, and Melvin Consulting, LLC. This Community of Practice is made up of grantmakers, lenders, and investors who bring a commitment to investing in Indigenous communities and who have a range of experience with grantmaking or investing in sustainable agriculture and food systems work in Native communities.
Agroecology Fund
The Agroecology Fund is a multi-donor fund that supports just and sustainable food systems. Such systems promote the wellbeing and human rights of small farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and their communities, replenish soil and water resources, and help mitigate climate change.