Native American groups say food is both identity and power, something they want Washington to understand as they seek more control of their own diets, more traditional foods in aid programs and bigger roles for Indigenous American farmers.
The groups are eyeing not only the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or FDPIR, but also the Women Infants and Children nutrition programs, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and even the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Greater tribal control would encompass funding and include the right to buy produce from tribal farmers.
“Feeding your own people, there’s nothing better than that,” said Mary Greene-Trottier, who is food distribution director for the Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota and president of the National Association of Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations.
