Growing Food, Growing Sovereignty: How Tribal Leaders Are Planning Local Food Security on Their Own Terms
Tribal nations and First Nations are taking the foundational steps to reclaim sovereignty over their food systems, community health, and local economies. In the panel, Growing Food, Growing Sovereignty, Indigenous leaders from Southwest Alaska, Oklahoma, and Treaty 8 territory in Alberta gathered to discuss how they are planning and laying the groundwork to grow fresh food close to home, year-round, on their own land and on their own terms. Moderated by Corey Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Growcer, the panel featured Councillor Tracy McLean of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Michael Peters, Tribal Administrator for Naknek Native Village, and Councillor Rusty Creed Brown of the Delaware Tribe of Indians.
All three communities are currently in the planning, pre-construction, and setup stages of their projects—preparing infrastructure, securing site approvals, and building business models.
The Catalysts: Inflation, Climate Change, and Community Health
The drive to plan these sovereign food systems stems from urgent challenges, including severe grocery inflation, supply chain vulnerabilities, and health disparities. In Naknek, Alaska—the wild sockeye salmon capital of the world—basic fresh produce must be flown in at exorbitant rates. Michael Peters highlighted the financial strain on local families:
"If I want to go buy ice lettuce or romaine lettuce locally, it's anywhere from $5 to $11 a head. So those prices, I wanted to cut it down and make it reasonable for the community to have fresh, nutritious products available to them in the schools."
For Rusty Creed Brown, witnessing climate disruptions while working in Arctic whaling villages exposed the fragility of traditional food stores:
"With the ice cellars being so important to keeping the whale meat and the seal meat and then them melting... seeing and hearing stories from the whalers and their families about how their meat that was rotting and that things that were supposed to sustain them throughout the entire year was going to waste because they couldn't properly keep it anymore... is when I really started thinking about food security and what that means for communities."
In Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, high rates of diabetes and low household incomes prompted leaders to design a comprehensive food sovereignty plan. Councillor Tracy McLean explained:
"For us it was basically having that vision to be able to accommodate our community members and healthy foods because we have low-income families and thinking about their good health and we have quite a high population that our people have diabetes, for example, and they can't afford fresh produce."
Overcoming Colonial Barriers and Environmental Threats
Building sovereign food systems also requires navigating historical suppression and ongoing environmental hazards. Tracy McLean shared the story of her grandfather, Dan McLean, who farmed productively until colonial policies intervened and how industry developments threaten traditional ways of life.
Today, modern threats complicate planning. Recent wildfires destroyed 38 homes in Sturgeon Lake and burned traditional berry patches and medicinal plants, while proposed industrial projects—like the "Wonder Valley" AI data center—threaten local water supplies. Meanwhile, the Delaware Tribe has faced municipal zoning hurdles in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, requiring ongoing negotiations to finalize site permits before breaking ground.
Partnering with Growcer for Modular Hydroponics
To overcome northern climates and land constraints, each tribe chose to partner with Growcer to integrate modular, containerized hydroponic farms into their long-term plans:
Naknek Native Village connected with Growcer early in Michael Peters' tenure. The council immediately backed the plan to purchase a hydroponic hub unit designed to withstand harsh Alaskan winters. Naknek is currently driving pilings and setting up electrical connections ahead of barge delivery.
The Delaware Tribe of Indians discovered Growcer at a conference while seeking ways to supply their newly established food pantry and orchard. They purchased a container unit, which is currently staged while the tribe completes local municipal zoning processes.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation is partnering with Growcer for technical, planning, and funding support as they design an integrated facility combining hydroponics, traditional greenhouses, and root cellars.
A Shared Mission: "Taking Care of Our People"
Despite distinct geography, a single unifying philosophy guides every project. Rusty Creed Brown captured this shared motive:
"Having three different tribal nations on the call from three very different locations, I think the one thing that I see as a common thing... is that we just want to take care of our people. We want to make sure our people have food, fresh food... it is really about taking care of our community."
To support these goals sustainably, each community is crafting innovative operational models. Naknek plans to sell excess produce to commercial salmon processors during the summer fishing season to subsidize winter deliveries for elders and schools. As Michael Peters emphasized:
"I want to provide the produce to the schools in what we call our off season, the winter, at cost. I don't want to make any profit off feeding our own kids."
Empowering Youth and Moving from Resilience to Thriving
A central pillar of these early-stage plans is engaging youth. In Naknek, the tribe has partnered with the Bristol Bay Borough School District to have students manage the day-to-day operations of the hydroponic farm once installed. Peters noted:
"They're the ones that have come up with the name. They're currently having a contest to come up with a logo. So, we're giving them a sense of ownership. That way, when they graduate, they know the importance of what we're doing and they have a deeper understanding of why we did it."
Ultimately, these initiatives represent a shift from historical survival to future flourishing. Rusty Creed Brown highlighted this transition:
"We talk about how resilient our nations are, which is absolutely a fact... But I also want to get to the point where we start talking about how our people thrive."
Tracy McLean echoed this sentiment, grounding her work in ancestral ceremonies and future generations (*nôsisimak*):
"I think about leaving that legacy for our future and our unborn children that we make sure that they have something here when I'm not here. I think about our nôsisimak, that's grandchildren in Cree, that they are going to have something here for them."
By laying the groundwork today, these Tribal leaders are demonstrating that establishing community-led food security is an essential step toward long-term self-determination.