Preserving Traditional Foodways in Light of Climate Change

Principal Investigator: Steph Tai, professor of law

Co-Principal Investigators: 

Dan Cornelius, outreach specialist for the Law School

Julie Dawson, associate professor of horticulture

Nan Enstad, professor of community and environmental sociology

Co-Investigator: 

Rue Genger, scientist in the department of horticulture

Agricultural systems must transform to address climate change. Shifting seasons, precipitation patterns, and temperatures entail new strategies. Small producers, especially Indigenous producers, are crucial for transition because they can respond more quickly to local, regional, and traditional needs than the more inflexible global supply chains. Further, Indigenous growers are committed to adaptations necessary to maintain traditional foods as well as to maintenance of food and data sovereignty as part of Tribal sovereignty.

This project uses an interdisciplinary, participatory approach that is necessary to build these efforts.  Sociological, biological, legal and Indigenous lenses can develop a fuller understanding of the structural inequities and impediments to change embedded in educational institutions, research network and the legal terrain. This project uses multiple tools to develop practicable transformative approaches and collaborative structures to ensure that research goals and data remain in the sovereign control of Tribal partners while pursuing climate adaptation in small agricultural systems.