Comment on it's true
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 day agoI looked it up: According to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture, there are over 80,000 Indigenous-operated farms in the U.S., covering over 57 million acres.^1^ The Cherokee Nation has its own Secretary of Natural Resources and a dedicated Seed Bank program that distributes traditional heirloom seeds (like Cherokee White Eagle Corn) to thousands of tribal citizens every year to maintain food sovereignty.^2,3^ However, Native American agriculture is a multi-billion dollar industry. It’s not “subsistence” in the 1700s sense; it’s a mix of large-scale ranching, commercial cropping, and traditional community gardens. Regarding the renaissance I mentioned: There is a massive “Food Sovereignty” movement right now where tribes are reclaiming their health and economies by growing their own traditional foods to combat issues like diabetes and food deserts.^4^
1: nass.usda.gov/…/Census22_HL_AmericanIndianANProdu… 2: naturalresources.cherokee.org/…/seed-bank/ 3: cherokee.gov/…/secretary-of-natural-resources-off… 4: indigenousfoodandag.com
Horsecook@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 day ago
That’s a common misconception. Three Sisters polyculture can be more “efficient” than monoculture when you measure “efficiency” by nutritional yield and soil health rather than just ease of machine-harvesting. And while many operations utilize modern machinery, the “efficiency” of monoculture is actively being re-evaluated in the face of climate change. It can produce up to 20% more protein per acre than corn grown alone, while significantly reducing the need for synthetic nitrogen and irrigation.^7,8^ Large-scale tribal operations are increasingly using “strip intercropping,” which is alternating rows of corn/beans and squash, to allow for modern mechanized harvesting while maintaining the soil-health benefits of the traditional system.^9^ This is resilience-based commercial farming that utilizes what is called Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to survive droughts that kill monocultures.^10,11^
7: Food Yields and Nutrient Analyses of the Three Sisters: A Haudenosaunee Cropping System Ethnobiology Letters, 7(1), 87–98 (2016).
8: A framework to guide future farming research with Indigenous communities (2025)
9: Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative: Regenerating Native Agriculture
10: Why Indigenous Seed Keepers Hold the Future of Agriculture (2026)
11: en.wikipedia.org/…/Traditional_ecological_knowled…
Horsecook@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 day ago
I fixed it, the AI I used to organise fucked up my link.