Glyphosate is widely used in forestry, agriculture and land-use management. Commercially sold under brands such as Roundup, it’s the most widely used herbicide in Canada.

In the journal’s retraction notice, the (co)editor-in-chief wrote: “Concerns were raised regarding the authorship of this paper, validity of the research findings in the context of misrepresentation of the contributions by the authors and the study sponsor and potential conflicts of interest of the authors.”

These potential conflicts raise questions about the study’s authorship and results, and renew concerns about the safety of glyphosate. According to Health Canada, consuming foods treated with glyphosate does “not result in any human health concern to any segment of the population.” This aligns with findings from other governments, including the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Scientific research is an essential part of protecting the health and well-being of people and the planet, but it only tells part of the story. And despite some conclusions that glyphosate poses no risk, there have long been concerns regarding its impacts on the environment and human health, particularly from Indigenous communities.

Our ongoing research, in partnership with the Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek (AZA) First Nation in northwestern Ontario, about the impact of glyphosate being sprayed on their traditional territory demonstrates that policymakers and researchers need to learn from the experiences of people living and working on the land.

Concerns over glyphosate

Our research focuses on glyphosate’s impacts on AZA’s relationships with the land along with the forestry companies and provincial government that use and regulate the herbicide on their territory. Through our work with 14 First Nations that are part of the Understanding Our Food Systems project, several communities expressed great concern about environmental contaminants on their territories.

Members of the AZA have been particularly distressed about the impacts of glyphosate on their traditional food systems, the land and watershed, and the community’s health for several years. People who live and work on the land have noticed many changes and called for research and action to address these concerns.

In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans” based on “limited” evidence it causes cancer in people and “sufficient” evidence it causes cancer in animals.

This has been of particular concern for many Indigenous communities in terms of the impact of glyphosate being sprayed on the berries, animals, medicines and fish that make up their traditional food systems.

While several health-related issues have been connected to glyphosate use, such as destruction of cells, inflammation that can damage healthy tissue and weakening of the immune system’s ability to defend the body against infections and disease, there is no clear consensus on what level is considered safe.

Working closely with AZA, our team of researchers from Lakehead University and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit conducted a series of sharing circles and interviews with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, hunters, gatherers and youth to learn from their observations and experiences.

The ultimate goal of our ongoing research is to better understand the community’s experiences and perspectives of glyphosate to ensure they retain access to traditionally hunted, harvested and grown foods and to protect the environments they depend on.

Listening to Indigenous people

AZA members pointed to ways that traditional knowledge could be used to better understand the impacts of environmental contamination. Those who participated in the conversations shared experiences of finding fewer animals and plants in areas sprayed with glyphosate, making access to traditional foods difficult.

Many participants said animals were more diseased and that harvested and hunted foods did not taste, smell or look the same as they did previously. Disruptions to the cycles of the land and the loss of species impact the community’s food security as well as its self-determination and ability to transfer knowledge to future generations.

Western science tends to dominate policymaking and regulation. However, Indigenous knowledge has a lot to contribute to research and decision-making. Two-eyed seeing, described by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, is a way to integrate Indigenous and western ways of knowing, foster deeper understanding and create more holistic, balanced approaches for the benefit of all.

This demands that policymakers take seriously the concerns voiced by Indigenous people around environmental contamination. It also requires more transparent communication, accessible information and testing of waterways, animals and the land.

Listening to Indigenous people and learning from their observations and experiences is essential to protect the lands and waters where they hunt, harvest, and grow foods and medicines, and to ensure the health and well-being of all human and non-human kin.

— Charles Z. Levkoe is Canada research chair in equitable and sustainable food systems at Lakehead University. Dorothy Rody is from the Animbigoo Zaagi’igan Anishnaabek First Nation, Kim McGibbon is a public health nutritionist at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Liz Lovell is a former master’s student in health sciences at Lakehead University.

The post OPINION: Glyphosate — What Indigenous communities have suspected for years about the dangers of the herbicide appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

For Indigenous farmers though, the relatively new regenerative agriculture movement looks a lot like old knowledge.

WHY IT MATTERS: Many lessons being pushed at grazing workshops and regenerative agriculture events dovetail with traditional Indigenous goals for land management.

Like mainstream regenerative agriculture, Indigenous traditions prioritize learning from and working with natural cycles. Intercropping is a long-held food tradition, as is keeping large ruminants on grasslands.

“Regenerative agriculture is kind of a new term,” said Jennifer Bogdan, project agronomist at Bridge to Land Water Sky Living Lab at the Indigenous Farm and Food Fest at Batoche, Sask., earlier this year.

“So, it’s not really a system. It’s more just an approach to farming, and more of a holistic view, and it really focuses on soil health, and with the objective of, if you can improve the soil, then there are many other benefits that will follow.”

She listed improvements to things like biodiversity, water management and infiltration, organic matter and air quality.

Today, there are funding programs listing those practices and goals in the same breath as farm resiliency — being better able to absorb adverse weather conditions such as drought or flooding with less financial crisis — and overall farm profitability through reduced input cost, greater productivity and (although still in progress) the potential for market premiums.

Adding on regenerative agriculture

Bogdan believes many farmers are already incorporating regenerative ag practices and it wouldn’t be difficult to branch out further and incorporate more. Some are more common than others, like minimum tillage, variable rate fertilizer and bale grazing, while others are less adopted like:

• intercropping;
• cover crops;
• livestock integration;
• leaving pollinator areas; and
• respecting riparian and marginal areas.

Melissa Arcand, an associate professor in soil science and instructor in the Kanawayihetaytan Askiy program at the University of Saskatchewan, likened these practices as a “full circle conversation”. Many of them are not Indigenous practices themselves, but they connect to Indigenous cultural and agricultural ideas like listening to the land, having balance with the land, and having plants help each other.

“I think the modern regenerative ag movement takes a lot of principles that probably emerged out of what we’d consider to have been traditional agriculture and even traditional ecological knowledge,” she said.

Arcand added that these principles can be integrated in small scale or large scale operations to mitigate native plant loss, improve diversity, and benefit producers.

Full-scale farming practices

While there is more ease in adopting these ideas at a small scale, Arcand views adoption as a broad spectrum seeing small-scale, fully regenerative on one end and large-scale commercial and conventional on the other with the ability to find a balance so operations can blend concepts.

“These sort of ecological relationships can help to improve overall,” she said.

“Like, not only productivity in terms of yield output, but also like efficiency of using of resources and improvements towards ecological and environmental outcomes so can we mitigate the risk of runoff that causes eutrophication because of too much nutrient loading.”

In the discussion of regenerative practices, Bogdan gave the example of unproductive, marginal land equating it to an open cow or poorly laying chicken, saying those animals wouldn’t be kept so why keep farming that saline corner of a field?

“You’re putting so many dollars per acre of inputs in there, and still, you’re not going to be able to harvest a crop out of it.”

Tom Harrison, a rancher and member of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation, shared the perspective of the livestock sector, saying ideas of diversity are generally more accepted in the livestock world and that there is more of a “work with what you have” approach.

“They work with diversity,” he said. “They work with making sure that their pastures have multiple species of grass in there. You know, basically (staying) green all year long. They work on margins, which means that it’s kind of low input. Manage your margin and look at how to lower your inputs into that.”

To blend practices, he suggested the strategy of cattle and grain producers forming a partnership. There is benefit for the land and for operation improvement, and the partnership combats the recognized challenge of diversifying and becoming a mixed farm today.

Making connections

Using what you have is a main principle, Arcand said.

She gave the example of analyzing crop land, seeing marginal areas, and converting it back to grasses and forages. While it’s not necessarily an Indigenous practice in and of itself, knowledge and reading the land is.

“It’s kind of a principle of knowing and understanding that the land is telling us what it can do, rather than to kind of force it to do something and bend to our will,” she said. “Working with what the land is able to provide and respecting that, at least in principle, is very much a sort of Indigenous or Cree way of thinking.”

Another key idea is intercropping and companion cropping, with the traditional ‘three sisters’ system.

That refers to corn, beans, and squash that when planted in the traditional fashion, they compliment and assist each other as they grow. Corn provides a pole for beans to grow on, beans are a nitrogen fixer and squash retains moisture as a ground cover.

But this idea can transfer to commercial crops, as is seen with pairings like peas and canola or oats.

“Those same sorts of benefits can apply where there’s this sort of synergistic use of resources,” Arcand said.

It can also apply to varying root depths with different plants as they tap in to different levels of nutrients, resources, and moisture, that can be pulled up for their sister plant.

Growing knowledge

In recent decades, these concepts have been studied to identify what further benefits practices like intercrops, respecting biodiversity zones, and livestock integration can bring to the table. These are ideas that were understood and utilized for generations, but were lost along the way. Now, the science is catching up.

Projects at the University of Saskatchewan, University of Manitoba, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are diving into work like corn-forage intercrops for grazing and cover crop benefits on grain land. And as ideas are trialled and become science-backed, more farmers are willing to give them a try. Like Lance Walker, a grain farmer near Borden, Sask. who integrated livestock to his operation and has seen improvement to the land like better water retention and reduction of synthetic fertilizer use.

“We’re just now applying other tools to advance it more quickly, or to be more selective,” said Arcand on the research. “But the actual like, doing of the thing, those practices may have been around for centuries, millennia.”

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There are “endless” opportunities for Indigenous-led agriculture projects in Canada that could strengthen the entire sector while also advancing Canada’s goals for reconciliation, food security and economic prosperity.

However, these opportunities can only be realized — while driving sustainable and lasting progress for all stakeholders — if the approach is rooted in strong relationships between Indigenous communities and partners.

This was the main message during a session at the Indigenous Ag Summit, part of Canadian Western Agribition programming in Regina Nov. 27.

WHY IT MATTERS: Economic reconciliation has been a major part of the reconciliation conversation when it comes to Indigenous participation and relationships with agriculture.

“It’s all about relationship. It really is,” said Kallie Wood, president and chief executive officer of the National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food (NCIAF), a non-profit organization aiming to strengthen Indigenous participation in Canada’s agriculture and food sectors.

The NCIAF approach is unique from that of other government-led Indigenous agriculture-related initiatives, Wood says, in that it is focused on building capacity from the ground up in the communities it serves and assessing needs of each unique community on a case-by-case basis.

For example, one project in the Ochapowace First Nation, based in southern Saskatchewan, was originally proposed as a greenhouse. After NCIAF representatives engaged with the community to assess excitement and readiness, the project was revised, said Chris McAfee, NCIAF’s senior vice-president for business development.

“We scaled it back. We went in and got a community garden going. We got volunteers involved. We have elders involved. We have youth involved. You get their hands back in the dirt. You get them excited.”

“The outcome from funding and grants … is this beautiful infrastructure or massive project or huge cattle herd. But if you don’t have the pipeline of the youth and everyone involved in the community to do that, you’ve got a really sweet project for a year, year and a half and then you’ve just got a whole lot of infrastructure because we didn’t take the time to build those supports.”

He says in the case of the community garden, it’s about setting a foundation to then scale up to projects that can have an economic impact.

“The plants are still there when the pipeline is built to scale it up to the greenhouse, to processing, to those other things. But this is where it starts.”

Birth of an initiative

NCIAF was launched in 2024, with an initial goal of a $1.5 billion boost in primary agriculture and a commitment of $1 million in funding annually from Farm Credit Canada.

Since its inception, the NCIAF has launched 64 projects across Canada, ranging from initiatives focused on food security, business development, export readiness, land-based education and economic diversification, says Wood, who was previously a senior Indigenous adviser with Saskatchewan Agriculture.

And there are ample opportunities to do more.

She says communities continue to reach out for help navigating government programs, building partnerships and identifying sustainable agricultural paths connected to their land and culture, particularly in the northern part of the province, where food security is a constant concern.

“The phone calls that are coming in, and the questions … it’s endless,” she said.

Wood said she had just had a conversation with an Indigenous chief at the Agriibition event who came to her and said, ‘we’ve got all this land, we have the opportunity, we have the capacity, we have the capital — we need to know where to start.’ ”

Looking to the future

Going forward, Wood says there are plans to quantify the opportunities available and to track progress.

“We have a long way to go.”

But in the meantime, she hopes that the agriculture sector will embrace these types of projects, helping NCIAF better bridge the worlds between western science and Indigenous agricultural experience and knowledge in order to drive economic empowerment for Indigenous communities and all Canadians.

“The eagle has a right wing and a left wing; you need to have the two in order to fly,” she says.

“We really are trying to bring it together.”

The post Seeding Indigenous agricultural prosperity appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

For example, while attending the Indigenous Farm and Food Festival at Batoche, Sask., I learned about history and culture as well as agriculture and, most importantly, how those things can all come together.

It can be seen in the ‘three sisters’ tradition: An intercrop of corn, beans, and squash planted together for collective benefit to all three. The corn acts as physical support for the beans; beans fix nitrogen, while squash conserves moisture as a ground cover.

Indigenous people across North and Meso America have done this for generations, finding ways to adapt the tradition to their needs and climate.

The knowledge about intercropping was always there. It’s just that now we’ve got the science to explain why it works.

Why did it take centuries of post-European contact for the wider farm community to realize that “ancient” techniques, which had obviously passed the test of time for generations, actually proved to be beneficial for the plants, the land and human beings?

It’s a question that can be applied to gardening, cropping and raising livestock.

In a sense, it’s being addressed with the rising interest in regenerative or sustainable agriculture, movements with a notable number of practices that take their cue from traditional or natural systems and the science that is backing it.

There’s a number of linkages that could be cited, either in practices or philosophy. Things like being thoughtful of the land and its biodiversity, intercropping or using livestock management to build soil benefits. There’s an overarching idea of maintaining a balance, while also getting what you need.

One common theme at the festival, among farmers, organizations, agronomists and educators, was an argument that the nature of modern agriculture and people’s mindsets towards it needs to shift. Over the last few decades, those people argued too much has been taken from the land and some effort needs to be spent giving back if production is to continue.

At the same time, they did recognize that large-scale agriculture is a business and businesses need to make money.

It’s hard to entirely disagree, especially when the results of modern research line up as well as farmers who can point not only to the benefit they’ve seen in their land, but also their pocketbooks and productivity.

I feel that in a decade or so, many people will look at practices like seeding marginal acres to forage, cover crops with commodity crops and even livestock integration, and ask why they didn’t do this sooner, just like other conservation practices, like no-till or bale grazing, have found their way away from the margins and into mainstream farm practice.

The post When ag science meets ag culture appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

There’s growing recognition that whatever emerges from the current United States administration’s reforms will bear little resemblance to the country and ally Canadians once knew. For the sake of our own survival, it’s time to move on.

Nowhere is that realization more critical than in food and agriculture.

Farm Credit Canada took a swing at quantifying just what it would take to achieve diversification in a newly released report, using 2023 trade statistics as a starting point.

It identified the chance for Canada to shift $12 billion worth of agriculture and food exports away from the U.S. market by focusing more on growing domestic demand and reducing interprovincial trade barriers, leveraging existing agreements with other trading partners and establishing new international partnerships.

If successful, it would reduce our U.S. market dependence in food and beverage exports to 50 per cent of 2023 levels.

That’s a daunting challenge. Sixty-eight per cent of Canada’s agriculture and food imports originate in the U.S., while 59 per cent of Canadian exports end up there. Breaking it down further, 78 per cent of Canada’s primary agriculture and 65 per cent of food and beverage imports came from the U.S., while 31 per cent of our primary product exports and 76 per cent of food and beverage exports move south.

While the size and scale of our U.S. dependence has increased, especially since the first so-called “free trade” agreement was inked in late 1980s, food and agricultural products in North America have always flowed between north and south.

It’s a pattern that archaeological records show predates European settlement of the region. Food crops such as beans, corn, squash, potatoes and tomatoes followed trade routes northward and were cultivated here centuries before the Selkirk Settlers arrived in the early 1800s.

The value of values

However, a diversified approach to keeping food on the table and exporting the surplus to pay the bills has also always been key to survival in these parts.

Dan Benoit, director of cultures and protocols at the Knowledge Circle for Indigenous Inclusion at Indigenous Services Canada, recently briefed the Canadian Farm Writers Federation on the role Indigenous and Métís peoples played in setting the foundation for today’s agricultural economy.

Métís practised agriculture, but they also hunted, fished and ferried goods across the Prairies, along with anything else they needed to do to make a living. Their ability and willingness to sell goods and services to more than one buyer (in other words, trade) was pivotal. Equally important, if not more so, was remaining true to their cultural identity and values.

It was their knowledge that supported the survival of the Selkirk Settlers and their skills that fostered the food production and trading economy that evolved.

Most of the first farmers from Europe to arrive in the area didn’t stay, but their departure coincided with the merger of the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Co. and the decline of the fur industry. Unemployed fur traders picked up farming where the Selkirk Settlers left off, until they were systematically dispossessed by the waves of new immigrants invited to the region by the Canadian government in the late 1800s.

Louis Riel Sr., a farmer and businessman in the Red River Settlement, was a key figure in breaking the Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly over trade of fur and agricultural goods from the region so that a diversified economy could flourish.

What do we draw from our past as we head into an uncertain future? As the saying goes, it’s never been a good idea to put all our eggs in one basket. In the grand scheme of things, the past four decades of economic integration with the U.S. may prove to be a brief blip in the annals of history.

Canadians are about to learn which is stronger — the allure of that north-south economic flow, or our commitment to our own culture and values.

The post Diversifying Canada’s economy means bucking north-south trade patterns appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

That includes things like funding Indigenous food system projects through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP), or working with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities on initiatives ranging from food production to greenhouse infrastructure development.

But while the province emphasizes partnership in their messaging, Indigenous leaders say more concrete action is needed to move beyond lip service and into real-world results.

“Right now our relationship is cordial,” said David Beaudin, agriculture minister with the Manitoba Métis Federation. “I’ll say it hasn’t been hugely productive in regards to our project proposals, and where the projects that we would like to have completed. So, we do meet with them on a semi-regular basis, but it is a lot of promises so far.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Indigenous leaders and policy leaders say farming has a role in economic reconciliation, but how does agriculture contribute to turning that talk into meaningful action?

Economic reconciliation has been among the concepts getting greater public awareness in Canada in recent years.

Last year, attendees of the Protein Industries Canada convention in Saskatoon were told that, for agriculture, reconciliation must include leaving space for Indigenous agricultural opportunity. The presenter, Cadmus Delorme, is an Indigenous entrepreneur, chief executive officer of OneHoop Consulting and a former chief of Saskatchewan’s Cowessess First Nation, who has often been called to speak on that community’s reconnection to agriculture during his tenure as chief.

In Manitoba, reconciliation has accounted for a lot of air time with policy makers and the provincial government. Since 2015, the province has put out an annual Pathway to Reconciliation progress report.

The most recent, covering 2023-24, pointed to things like the joint provincial-federal investment into OneNorth, the locally driven partnership that has taken over the Port of Churchill and railway leading to it. More directly linked to agriculture, the report cited Manitoba Agriculture’s Indigenous Elder-in-Residence program “to incorporate traditional knowledge into modern food systems, and to support the production of sustainable, local, and culturally appropriate food within communities.”

Also, as part of S-CAP, two new initiatives (Indigenous Agriculture and Food Systems and Indigenous Relationship Development and Engagement) were launched under the auspices of the Indigenous Agriculture and Relationship Development program, the report noted.

Funding under that program, up to $5,000, goes to projects that “tie into future initiatives and support advancing economic reconciliation in Indigenous communities.” Non-Indigenous entities, like municipalities or producer groups, can also access that funding, although they must show that they’re engaging with Indigenous communities and the results of the project must be demonstratively positive to Manitoba’s Indigenous residents.

The province also pointed to their changes to Crown lands, which added Indigenous groups as potential leasees, and added treaty land entitlement reviews to the new lease nomination mechanism. That mechanism lets outgoing legacy leaseholders nominate the next holder for the remainder of the lease term, assuming the parcel isn’t subject to a land claim.

Other economy-building items included road improvements other infrastructure, items on mining and natural resources, education, training and job opportunities.

“A whole-of-government approach is needed to ensure reconciliation is meaningful and lasting,” the report noted.

Treaty rights and Crown lands

The work is a two-way street of learning, Kostyshyn said.

He pointed to Fox Lake Cree Nation’s Food for All program, which received funding under the Indigenous Agriculture Food System Initiative.

“This work supports for learning more between northern and southern farmers,” he said.

The province is also supporting bison projects with First Nations communities like Brokenhead and Sandy Bay, working with the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO).

“It starts with first the treaty rights that we have,” said SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels. “The whole idea was that we’d all benefit from the land.”

The SCO has been working on utilizing Crown lands for agricultural purposes.

“I think that we’re getting to a place where you should have something soon. But it takes quite a number of different partnerships and markets and stuff like that, to really have the entirety of something of this area properly utilized and thought out,” Daniels said.

The Manitoba Métis Federation, likewise, has made agricultural gains, both with and without government support.

“Our biggest win right now is the garden box program that we that we have that our citizens are using to grow their own vegetables,” Beaudin said.

The federation also boasts a small bison herd of about 20 animals and, with the help of the province, is developing community gardens.

They would like to expand that portfolio even more, Beaudin added. Hemp production is one ag sector on their wish list, and the organization is exploring opportunities like beekeeping.

Building from the ground up

Large scale crops like hemp, however, require a land base, and land access is still one major barrier for Métis farmers, according to Beaudin.

“In order to have more of our youth enter the farming industry, they still need access to land, and if they can’t get that land, then they’re going to have a harder time supporting their families,” he said.

He also pointed to changes in the Crown lands system, but in a less positive light.

The current system is a rollback from old rules that, starting in 2019, drastically changed how leasing and grazing Crown lands were managed in Manitoba. Among other changes, the system replaced the old points-based system, which weighed a leaseholder’s application on several factors, including age, with an auction-based system.

Although the points system had been criticized for lack of transparency, leaseholders now worried that young farmers would be priced out of potential leases, unable to match the bids of larger and established farms.

Ranchers, including Métis ranchers, Beaudin told the Co-operator in a 2023 article, struggled financially under the new rules.

“Some of the Red River Métis Crown land leaseholders had no choice but to relinquish their leases, their business and therefore their livelihood and way of life,” he said at the time.

Although Manitoba’s change of government in late 2023 led to a number of controversial Crown land changes being backtracked or amended, the auction system remained in place.

Youth involvement

It’s integral to engage young Indigenous people in agriculture, Beaudin believes.

“We can approach at the Grade 9 level, when they’re making that decision entering high school, if they’re going to take the courses that will stream them into university, into the diplomas and degrees,” he said in a recent interview.

Daniels agrees that Indigenous youth engagement needs to be a priority in agriculture, particularly connecting young people to traditional practices.

“I want to have more of our young people getting experience with horses, with bison, spending time out on the land. And I think that this is a big part of it. So, we want to be able to look at how we can have more of our young people involved,” he said.

Food security

There is also the matter of food security and sustainability, which both the Métis federation and Southern Chiefs’ Organization name as a focus.

“That’s where our energy is being put,” Daniels said, adding that long-term solutions are needed. “We do want a real, true, long-term partnership with the government, and we want to restore our lands at least to a bit of what they used to be, and sort of build that out and create that kind of resilience.”

The MMF has also increased visibility through events like the St. Norbert Métis Market Day.

“We have all of our horticultural people set up there with their canopies, and they’re selling their goods and their vegetables. And it brings a lot of awareness to the to the Métis for what they’re doing as a government,” Beaudin said.

More MMF initiatives will be announced in the nature future, he added.

Next steps to reconciliation

The province remains committed to open dialogue and working with Indigenous communities and organizations, Kostyshyn said.

He added that current initiatives represent early steps in a longer-term partnership. Projects start off small before looking for opportunity to grow sustainably.

Future concepts include processing capacity for agricultural products produced in Northern Manitoba, areas far away from the normal supply chain routes, and supporting market gardens in Indigenous communities.

“I think we’re just in the infancy of a great partnership in the long run, where we want to share ideas, but also we want to learn from the Indigenous circle as well.”

“We are listening, and we will continue to listen and work together,” he also said.

For more truth and reconciliation coverage from the Co-operator and other Glacier FarmMedia publications, see our truth and reconciliation landing page at AgCanada.com.

The post Marking Manitoba’s progress on economic reconciliation and agriculture: National Day Truth and Reconciliation appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Our first history of evidence that the Métis were farming in the Red River Country area is 1806,” said Daniel Benoit, Red River Michif (Métis) and knowledge holder. “They had small Red River lots farmed ranging in size from maybe 10 acres up to 400 acres. Every farm had a small or a large garden.”

Benoit was speaking at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference in Winnipeg on Sept. 20.

The records of Métis agriculture includes horticulture, but also open areas for cereal crops, hay lands, horses – primarily for transportation – and livestock such as cattle, sheep and chickens.

While Métis in the 1800s primarily grew crops and raised livestock for their immediate families or communities, occasionally surplus goods were sold to settlements.

“If there was surplus, it would be a little bit of surplus in a whole bunch of areas,” said Benoit.

Surplus goods such as oak planks, hops and beer, livestock, seeds and vegetables trickled into the Red River economy and, in some cases, as far away as Fort Edmonton.

Keeping goods in Western Canada – particularly food – was essential. It meant that food did not need to be imported from England to run the Hudson’s Bay Company system.

“The Red River really became the local production to run the Hudson’s Bay Company,” added Benoit.

But early model farms of the Hudson’s Bay Company were not very successful. Instead, they relied on Indigenous food and agricultural systems, including the Red River Métis.

“When the influx of settlers come in in 1870 and afterwards, they’re hiring Red River Métis to be the labourers for them,” said Benoit.

“So that knowledge transfer was happening through the white farmers … through hiring and interacting with Red River Métis that are throughout the Prairies.”

Métis agriculture today

David Beaudin, minister of agriculture, and the associate minister of environment and climate change for the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF), said their organization has 500 Métis citizens listed as farmers and ranchers.

In an email, the MMF said Red River Métis producers are relatively balanced in both farming and ranching, though average farm size tends to be smaller than non-Indigenous operations.

“If anybody does list that they’re farming, they’re probably farming hay and alfalfa to feed their cattle,” he said.

Beaudin noted, however, that the Métis demographic of farmers is aging and that more needs to be done to attract the next generation.

“We do know the age of demographics is 72-plus as far as their age,” said Beaudin.

“My big tagline when I talk with citizen’s moms these days is that, you know, your children can be anything they want to be as long as it’s in agriculture,” he added lightheartedly.

The MMF said it’s a priority for their organization to attract more youth into the farm sector, and that educational opportunities for Red River Métis youth, including new or young entrants, are key to increasing participation in agriculture and agri-food sectors.

Crown lands

An aging demographic is not the only hurdle when it comes to attracting young Métis to the farm sector.

Beaudin added that the Crown lands lease program is a hurdle when it comes to acquiring new lands for Métis.

“Existing farmers, ranchers are basically holding on to their land, but they’re getting tired, so we really need succession planning for the industry,” said Beaudin. “Hopefully we can get some help out of the province for that, and we (can) look at succession planning for Métis farmers and ranchers, not just Manitobans.”

The MMF has noted a growing number of citizens expressing interest in sharing agriculture and agri-food knowledge. But much of that knowledge is currently underutilized. The organization lacks program funding to capitalize on the interest.

To learn more about Indigenous contributions to prairie agriculture, Dan Benoit participated in a discussion with the University of Manitoba entitled, ‘Role of Indigenous agriculture in our food systems’ which can be found on YouTube.

For more reconciliation content from the Co-operator and other Glacier FarmMedia publications, see our truth and reconciliation landing page at AgCanada.com.

The post VIDEO: The long farm history of the Red River Métis appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Indigenous communities in North America were cultivating crops such as potatoes and corn long before anyone from Europe had heard of the crops. Materials from the Manitoba Museum cite evidence of agriculture in the eastern United States dating back 3,800 years.

More locally, bison scapula bones found in Gainsborough Creek in 2018 showed convincing evidence of pre-European contact farming in the Melita region. And agriculture was an undisputedly big part of the Métis way of life in the Great Lakes region. Farms surrounded fur trade posts by the 16th century, and some cereals were being farmed in the 1830s.

When it comes to reconciliation, agriculture presents a unique challenge. How can the Treaty rights of Indigenous peoples be honoured in a way that gives them a proper seat at the table when it comes to farming in Canada?

It’s something that groups like the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), headed by Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, and the Manitoba Métis Federation, with its agriculture minister, David Beaudin, have been working on for years. I recently had the chance to speak with both about why they feel agriculture is so important, and what still needs to be done.

Daniels and Beaudin share views on several pivotal issues, including engaging youth and the continued importance of food security. Both expressed that, while regular conversations do take place with the Province of Manitoba, there’s still a ways to go when it comes to proper recognition and reconciliation.

Currently, there are several programs funded by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) that would partner with Indigenous communities, such as the Indigenous Agriculture & Food Systems Program and the Indigenous Agricultural Relationship Development Program. Eligible activities include revitalizing traditional food systems; training, skill and resource development; climate change adaptation; increasing Indigenous participation in agriculture; engagement between industry, academia and Indigenous Peoples and the development and delivery of engagement activities.

I was unable to find a list of specific projects that have benefited, although Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn highlighted Fox Lake Cree Nation’s Food for All program and collaboration with Brokenhead Ojibway First Nation, Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation and the SCO on bison-related projects.

Meanwhile, both the MMF and the SCO have made strides towards agricultural autonomy through their own programming, including garden box programs, community gardens, climate action plans, bison herds and lobbying for more access to Crown lands.

It seems like both Indigenous organizations and the Manitoba government are eager for relationship building and programming designed to reclaim agricultural traditions tied to local Indigenous history and culture.

I think education is another important aspect—not just having Indigenous leaders with ties to the land remind their people, especially the youth, of their rich agricultural traditions, but for Manitobans who descended from settlers to learn that history and those tradition as well. If anything, it will only lead to more common ground between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous farmers, both of whom are tied to the land in real, rich, and meaningful ways.

Hopefully soon, Manitoba’s fertile soil might produce the right growing conditions not just for healthy crops, but for more healthy relationships built on respect, understanding and a motivation to keep moving forward together.

For more truth and reconciliation coverage from the Co-operator and other Glacier FarmMedia publications, see our truth and reconciliation landing page at AgCanada.com.

The post Cutting a path for reconciliation and agriculture: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Indigenous communities in North America were cultivating crops such as potatoes and corn long before anyone from Europe had heard of the crops. Materials from the Manitoba Museum cite evidence of agriculture in the eastern United States dating back 3,800 years.

More locally, bison scapula bones found in Gainsborough Creek in 2018 showed convincing evidence of pre-European contact farming in the Melita region. And agriculture was an undisputedly big part of the Métis way of life in the Great Lakes region. Farms surrounded fur trade posts by the 16th century, and some cereals were being farmed in the 1830s.

When it comes to reconciliation, agriculture presents a unique challenge. How can the treaty rights of Indigenous peoples be honoured in a way that gives them a proper seat at the table when it comes to farming in Canada?

It’s something that groups like the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) in Manitoba, headed by Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, and the Manitoba Métis Federation, with its agriculture minister, David Beaudin, have been working on for years. I recently had the chance to speak with both about why they feel agriculture is so important, and what still needs to be done.

Daniels and Beaudin share views on several pivotal issues, including engaging youth and the continued importance of food security. Both expressed that, while regular conversations do take place with the Manitoba government, there’s still a ways to go when it comes to proper recognition and reconciliation.

Currently, there are several programs funded by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) that would partner with Indigenous communities, such as the Indigenous Agriculture & Food Systems Program and the Indigenous Agricultural Relationship Development Program. Eligible activities include revitalizing traditional food systems; training, skill and resource development; climate change adaptation; increasing Indigenous participation in agriculture; engagement between industry, academia and Indigenous Peoples and the development and delivery of engagement activities.

I was unable to find a list of specific projects that have benefited, although Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn highlighted Fox Lake Cree Nation’s Food for All program and collaboration with Brokenhead Ojibway First Nation, Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation and the SCO on bison-related projects.

Meanwhile, both the MMF and the SCO have made strides towards agricultural autonomy through their own programming, including garden box programs, community gardens, climate action plans, bison herds and lobbying for more access to Crown lands.

It seems like both Indigenous organizations and the Manitoba government are eager for relationship building and programming designed to reclaim agricultural traditions tied to local Indigenous history and culture. There are stories like these emerging across Canada.

I think education is another important aspect—not just having Indigenous leaders with ties to the land remind their people, especially the youth, of their rich agricultural traditions, but for Manitobans who descended from settlers to learn that history and those tradition as well. If anything, it will only lead to more common ground between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous farmers, both of whom are tied to the land in real, rich, and meaningful ways.

Hopefully soon, this country’s fertile soil might produce the right growing conditions not just for healthy crops, but for more healthy relationships built on respect, understanding and a motivation to keep moving forward together.

The post National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: Acknowledging the past, seeking a better future appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“When you’re doing anything in Indigenous agriculture, buffalo is a huge piece of that,” said Kallie Wood, president and chief executive officer of the Regina-based NCIAF.

The two groups signed the agreement during an event hosted by the Saskatchewan Bison Association this April.

WHY IT MATTERS: Canada’s Indigenous farm population has grown significantly in the last quarter-century, and the bison sector is part of the movement.

Prior to heading up NCIAF, Wood worked as a senior Indigenous advisor in agriculture for the Saskatchewan government. It was through this role that she connected with the Canadian Bison Association, also based in Regina.

Those connections followed her when she started working with the then just-formed NCIAF in January 2024.

The NCIAF is a Canadian hub for First Nations, Métis and Inuit to work together on agriculture and food security issues and to remove barriers for Indigenous people in agriculture. The NCIAF has an Indigenous advisory council from across Canada, representing various types of agriculture.

“A lot of communities don’t have the capacity to be able to navigate government, industry, academia and try to figure out what the next steps are,” Wood said.

NCIAF’s goal is to bring all those stakeholders together.

“We’re 100 per cent focussed on Indigenous agriculture and we support communities,” she said. “We support Métis regions and we support the Inuit, anything that has to do with food security or food sovereignty and that economic empowerment between communities.”

In December 2024, the Canadian Bison Association (CBA) joined forces with the NCIAF for the first time.

The industry group and the NCIAF jointly put their names behind an event where the mounted shoulder and head of a bull bison were installed in the Saskchewan legislature, according to Scott Yule, executive director with the Canadian Bison Association.

The bison head is in the caucus meeting room of the building, which is used daily by Premier Scott Moe and his caucus.

The mount was a gift from the Saskatchewan Bison Association to the people of Saskatchewan on behalf of all ranchers. Local First Nations also played a role in the gift. When the bison was harvested at Wigness Bison Ranch in 2023, elders from Nekaneet First Nation did a pipe ceremony at the ranch and smudged the rifle on the day of the harvest.

Following this event at the Saskatchewan legislature, the national bison group and NCIAF started talking about common goals. They later decided to formalize their partnership and to work together on various initiatives.

“A lot of the things that we already do in the CBA are around education and promoting the industry, helping producers and helping marketers who are marketing the meat,” said Yule.

Since many Indigenous people and groups are interested in the bison and the bison industry, or are part of the sector themselves, the partnership fit.

So far, the two are working together on bison-related projects such as policy advocacy and public awareness.

The role of bison

The bison has enormous cultural significance, particularly to First Nations on the plains, said Wood.

“When you look back over time immemorial, they were our way of life. They provided all our essential resources: our food, our clothing, our shelter, our tools,” she said.

Every part of the bison was used and nothing was wasted.

The bison have a special spiritual significance for Indigenous people. Buffalo are considered relatives, said Wood.

“From the non-Indigenous lens, it’s about production and money. From the Indigenous lens, it’s really about that cultural significance and bringing (the bison) back,” she said.

Promoting bison

Wood said the main barriers for getting involved in Indigenous agriculture are a lack of access to capital and difficulty accessing proper educational information.

On the Prairies, Indigenous residents are mainly interested in crop production and raising bison, said Wood, and more Indigenous farmers are starting to raise bison.

The NCIAF will be hosting the Indigenous Ag Summit at the Canadian Western Agribition on Nov. 27 and 28, 2025. The summit will feature a large bison component.

Wood also said the NCIAF is pondering a buffalo harvest with CBA members.

A buffalo harvest is a ceremony that honours the life of the buffalo and demonstrates how the bison were historically deboned and processed, so no part of the animal is wasted.

Wood said many CBA members have never been to a buffalo harvest.

The CBA has a training program for ranchers getting into bison and they’re thinking about creating one with an Indigenous focus that is more inclusive, said Yule. The idea would be that the CBA would share their knowledge about bison ranching, including market access, training and mentorship, while the NCIAF will be able to share their knowledge about Indigenous agriculture, food security and the cultural importance of the bison to Indigenous people.

“I think it’s a win-win,” said Wood. “It’s beneficial to both parties.”

Wood said the NCIAF speaks regularly with the CBA. The partnership is designed with an eye towards reconciliation, while offering up supports and mentorship.

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