Photo: Ben Hovland / MPR News. Retrieved from agweek.com
Dressen says the return of bison to the river valley is just one sign of health here.
“Thanks to the commitment of our elders, our veterans and our community members and tribal council, today we have a herd of at least 300,” said Dressen. “We have at least 70 babies this year. So as our community came back home and started to grow, it also mirrored our relatives coming back also. And today, both the community and the buffalo here at Prairie Island are flourishing.”
In the decades since Prairie Island established its bison herd, tribal nations have worked to get U.S. Department of Agriculture support for the growing and processing of Indigenous foods. And they want more say in how those systems operate.
Advocates say tribal self-governance under the farm bill means that tribes would manage their own programs after agreeing to comply with USDA standards. It’s part of an effort to reclaim food sovereignty or control over production and distribution of the foods that sustained communities for generations including before colonization.
In 2018, the Native Farm Bill Coalition (NFBC) advocated for a pilot project that supported the purchase of traditional foods.
Eight tribes were allowed to purchase Indigenous foods outside those vendors approved by the USDA. The coalition and others would like to see the program expanded to include all tribal nations across the country. For Prairie Island, it could mean contracts with the USDA that would offset the costs of their operation and increase sales and trade opportunities.
The coalition said the USDA spent $4 billion in tribal communities nationwide in fiscal year 2022, but only a fraction of that spending went to contracts with Indigenous farmers and producers.