Seed Sovereignty

As of 2006, the top ten commercial seed companies, the first link in the food chain controlled more than 50% of the world’s seed sales, an increase of l7% in two years.

Five grain companies controlled 75% of the world’s cereal commodities by 2000, and in vegetable seeds, one corporation dominates- Monsanto, with 31% of bean seed sales, 38% of cucumber seed sales, 34% of hot pepper sales, 29% of sweet pepper sales, 23% of tomato seed sales, and 25% of onion seeds.

As of 2004, Monsanto accounted for 88% of the total land acreage producing genetically modified seeds, including 91% of the genetically modified soybeans, 97% of the genetically modified corn lands, 63.55 of the GM cotton, and 59% of the canola. (IFG)

Endangered Seeds - Endangered Relatives

Indigenous Corn Varieties are largely endangered, yet contain very significant potential for future sustainability. Today, less than 20,000 Native families in the United States farm and only a small percentage of these grow the heirloom crops of our ancestors. Traditional cultural knowledge of ecosystems, agriculture, food preparation, feasting and medicines are the key to the integrity of our culture, and they are essential to the protection of biodiversity, health and land stewardship.

Beginning five years ago, we were able to secure a handful of Bear Island Flint Corn from a seed repository, and since that time have worked to restore that variety- today we have corn fields of the Bear Island Flint corn, and hope to work with the Leech Lake reservation (the location of Bear Island) to repatriate this corn in 2008. We also hope to restore other corn varieties to our people.

Good Food Is Good Medicine

Our community suffers from Type 2 Diabetes, due to the rapid destruction of the traditional diet of Native people and the substitution of our traditional diet with the diet of poverty. The prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes among Native people in the United Statesis 12.2% of those over 19 with the figure climbing 30%-40% in adult populations over forty years of age. On the White Earth reservation, according to the Indian Health Service registry we have 988 diabetes-diagnosed clients at White Earth, which represents 29% of our population. This number increased from the previous year when there were 689 diagnosed diabetics, a 20% diabetes rate. As well, there is now an increase in youth diabetes in our community, a circumstance which will deeply compromise our future generations.

“… It is widely recognized that the replacement of indigenous foods with a diet composed primarily of modern refined foods is the centerpiece of the (diabetes) problem….” Dr.Harriet Kuhnlein,McGill University, Canada

Research in various parts of the United States has shown that an indigenous diet of minimally processed, locally produced foods has a positive affect on Native Americans’ health, in contrast to the “reservation diet” of white flour, sugar, and processed food. In particular, studies on traditional diets at the Tohono O’odham (Pima) communities found “The traditional high fiber-complex carbohydrate and low fat diet resulted in a slower release and uptake of sugars from the intestines”, while the convenience store diet, “soon produced higher blood sugar levels”, severe enough to trigger diabetes. Other studies in Native Hawaiian and Aboriginal communities echo these findings, noting that Native American traditional foods have nutritional value in the battle against diabetes.

Studies by the University of Minnesota on the traditional foods grown in the tribal gardens found the following:

    * Hominy corn is high in carbohydrates and protein. One serving of hominy yields 47% of the DRV for fiber and 33% of the B vitamin Thiamine and has half the calories of market corn.

    * Arikara squash has l3% of the DRV for fiber, 64% of the DRV for vitamin A,and half the calories and double the calcium and magnesium of the market equivalent.

    * Similarly,Potawatomi lima beans are low in fat, and high in carbohydrates and protein. B vitamins are found in abundance, including thiamine, pantothenic acid, niacin and B6. Potawatomi lima beans also provide 24 grams of fiber per serving, and 2l times the anti- oxidants found in market beans.

In an article published in the Journal of Medicinal Food (10:2 [2007]) Kwon, et al. of the University of Massachusetts report that in vitro studies show that upon digestion, corn, beans, and squash perform “enzyme inhibitory activities” that may prove conducive to blood sugar and blood pressure management, without the side effects of commonly prescribed drugs. **

Restoring these traditional foods will have an impact on reducing diet-related illness in our communities.

NATIONAL WORK

We are involved with the Indigenous Seed Sovereignty Coalition, a coalition of organizations including the Traditional Native American Farmers Association,Tohono O’odham Community Association, Tsjuenkwa Project at Oneida, New Mexico Acequia Association, Tesuque Pueblo, and Native Hawaiian Farmers. Together, we are broadening and enriching our discussions relating traditional foods, diabetes, and community food systems. We are keen on the restoration of traditional food knowledge. This was paired with work by the White Earth Land Recovery Project on the increasingly significant issues of bio-piracy, seed patenting and genetic engineering.

As the White Earth Land Recovery Project and the Anishinaabeg people continue to work to protect wild rice from genetic engineering and patenting (winning the International Slow Food Award for this work in 2003), our people have become increasingly concerned about the implications of seed patenting and genetic engineering for Indigenous seed varieties, and indeed the food knowledge and medicinal plants of our region and larger Indigenous territories.

This work includes strategies like:

l) Informing local and regional non-Native, industrial, organic, commercial and other farmers as to the environmental, social, health, and economic impacts of genetic contamination and seed patenting on our region, creating a regional multi-racial alliance on food sovereignty

2) To join with other Indigenous farming and seed saving communities, like the Traditional Native American Farmers Association and community group nationally to address food sovereignty and the protection of our seeds.