Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a member of the Hopi Tribe in Northern Arizona, is leading a project in the Southwestern United States to improve biodiversity and strengthen Indigenous food and agriculture systems.
“We’re losing our biodiversity,” Johnson, who serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, tells Food Tank. Unfortunately, he says, many crops, particularly Indigenous crops, have been lost over time and are no longer cultivated. And without biodiversity “we have no true sustainability.”
As part of his project, which is supported by a grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, Johnson is bringing back traditional varieties of Hopi crops, planting them at three different locations. He is also conducting a survey to better understand where Indigenous crops are and how to rematriate them, and looking into the best water conservation crops for these varieties.
The process of rematriating seeds is critical, Johnson says. “These seeds are looked at as having life, almost like a human being,” he tells Food Tank. “They’re a backbone of our community. They’re the things that survived us, and it’s taken us years and years to cultivate. So to bring them back home, finally, is very important.”
But this work requires funding and resources—something that many Indigenous communities struggle to access. “We’re always the first to be here and the last to be served,” Johnson tells Food Tank.
According to a study from Native Americans in Philanthropy and the Foundation Center, Native communities receive just 0.03 percent of all giving from foundations.
And many times, Johnson says, funding that does exist is directed through Tribal governments, which can create a “bureaucratic layer” that makes it difficult for communities to access the financial resources. That’s why Johnson is working to secure direct funding straight to nonprofit, community-led organizations.
Johnson tells Food Tank that he doesn’t want to “undercut” Tribal governments. Rather, “I’m trying to find ways that we can all work together in a collaborative effort to bring the seeds home.”
Listen to the full conversation with Michael Kotutwa Johnson to hear more about the importance of rematriating seeds, Indigenous data sovereignty, and how Johnson is engaging future generations of eaters and food producers.
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Photo courtesy of Daniel Dan, Unsplash
