Community

One common theme that emerged during my interviews with farmers, community members, policy experts, and scientists regarding the viability of climate-smart crops is the critical aspect of developing a market for these products. The USDA grant for climate-smart foods explicitly highlights this as well. 

Creating markets and consumer interest in climate-smart products is crucial for the long-term viability of climate-smart agriculture. Farmers and ranchers gain access to new income opportunities such as working with different producers and diversified markets like specialty grocers, when consumers place a higher value on climate-smart products.

In December 2022, the University of Arizona received a $4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support climate-smart food production. By working with Local Arizona First (LFA), – a nonprofit organization committed to community and economic development – the USDA grant discusses creating a "climate-smart" logo, branding guidelines, and messaging targeted towards various audiences and marketplaces, such as chefs, restaurants, grocery stores, farmers markets, and events. 

Alyssa Crijns, Local First Arizona's Local Food Systems Marketing Manager, who started her position with the organization in December 2023, says that just recently LFA has begun enrolling farmers in the USDA grant program to support the market development of their sustainable crops. The Arizona Alliance for Climate-Smart Foods Project Brief describes the aim of the project as “collaborating with farmer partners to offer a range of CSAF practices, providing guidance, support, and recommendations for climate-smart seeds, and stock.” Crijns admits that since the program is new  they only have two farmers enrolled thus far.

"It's difficult to get producers to switch to climate-smart practices, even though, in my experience, many people, especially small farmers, do their best to incorporate them. They know it's good for the environment, but it's difficult to make those investments and changes if there isn't a large market for those products yet. And your average consumer may or may not understand how what they eat influences the environment," says Crijns.

Crijns says it is also hard to find distributors who are willing to work with small farms that might inconsistently supply grain to them.  

“LFA wants to promote climate-smart choices without making anyone feel defensive or guilty about their current choices and local events are great education opportunities for LFA and their partners,” says Crijns. For example, the SAVOR Southern Arizona Food & Wine Festival ​is a collaborative culinary festival organized by Local First Arizona, the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance, and the Tucson Botanical Gardens. The festival is an opportunity to spread awareness about the diversity of the heritage foods and ingredients throughout the Southwest region.

Crijns says they also have traditional marketing channels, such as a good food vendor directory, blog posts, social media, and newsletters to spread awareness about climate-smart foods. 

For example, Crijns just wrote an article for Edible Arizona about the climate-smart crop, the Tepary Bean. In it, she interviewed an indigenous woman chef in LFA's food entrepreneurship program. The chef has a food business where she makes several dishes with tepary beans. The article covers how to cook tepary beans, and the chef provided a recipe as well. Part of the article introduces readers to how to grow tepary beans at home.

LFA agrees that education and awareness are the priority in growing and developing a solid market for these products.

For Guerra, self-sustainability has proven to be very secure for his food shed. When the war in Ukraine broke out, Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports caused a global food crisis due to the loss of Ukrainian grain exports. The grain shortage impacted many producers, creating enough scarcity and shockwaves across commodity markets for people to raise prices. Before the war, Ukraine was the world's largest sunflower oil and grain exporter, with around 90% of its agricultural exports transported by sea. 

"What happened here is that I just sidestepped the whole situation because of what we have in our food chain, which is enough grain for two years now just to keep going in the future and banking that grain year after year. It's just a blessing and shows the power of investing in your own communities," says Guerra.

Guerra says he has always wanted to work with heritage grains. He recalls opening a bag of flour and wondering where it came from.  Like BKW, Guerra partnered with Native Seed/SEARCH – a local ​​non-profit that conserves and sells heirloom seeds – to receive bulk quantities of seeds at no cost in exchange for a portion of the harvest returned to Native Seeds/SEARCH. This Native Seeds/SEARCH partnership with community members, businesses, and farmers started in 2011 in what Guerra calls the "local grain Renaissance."

"So it started just with a few meetings and Native Seeds/SEARCH, recruiting farmers interested in growing grain to come in (and join them). Farmers can participate in the grain donation program in which you get 2,000 pounds to plant some acreage and, of course, then return the 2,000 lbs," says Guerra.

Of all the people interviewed for this project, Guerra has, by far, the most positive attitude about the future of sustainable farming and the market for sustainable crops. He credits this to his thriving partnership with Native Seed/SEARCH, which has benefited his business, and the growing partnerships Guerra has created in the community, like with BKW Farms.

"So what used to seem so radical and on the fringe and what would be in the grocery store is becoming just the mainstay of what we do here in southern Arizona and the Phoenix area as more and more producers feel good about going local. It's just been fun to work with a lot of different individuals, from food scientists to farmers, millers, bakers, brewers, distillers, tortilla makers, and pasta makers," shares Guerra.

Like BKW, Guerra partnered with Native Seeds/SEARCH, to receive bulk quantities of seeds at no cost in exchange for a portion of the harvest returned to Native Seeds/SEARCH. This Native Seeds/SEARCH partnership with community members, businesses, and farmers started in 2011 in what Guerra calls the "local grain Renaissance."

"So it started just with a few meetings and Native Seeds/SEARCH recruiting farmers interested in growing grain to come in (and join them). Farmers can participate in the grain donation program in which you get 2,000 pounds to plant some acreage and, of course, then return the 2,000 lbs," says Guerra.

Guerra is hopeful that this is the legacy  he will help lay for the future of sustainable agriculture in southern Arizona. "To me, outreach and education is the strongest pillar of Barrio Bread," says Guerra.

Guerra thinks that having a basic understanding of biodiversity and knowing that small farms can produce unique foods can grow purchasing desire. For Guerra, selling bread and bread mixes made of heritage grains like Einkorn, Red Fife, and White Sonora Wheat introduces customers to different pigments, protein levels, textures, and flavor potential.

Knowing the history of not only these heritage grains belonging to heirloom varieties but also the people who planted them for thousands of years  is essential to understanding what plants have been growing successfully in the desert. 

Johnson actively works with local tribes, including the Tohono O'odham, Whiteriver, San Carlos Apache, Navajo, and Hopi, to encourage the transition of farmers in these communities to climate-smart practices. According to the Arizona Farm Bureau, Arizona has the largest concentration of American Indian farms in the US, accounting for half of all farmers and ranchers in the state. Johnson mentions that there's pockets of Indigenous growers who want to grow more diversified and sustainable crops, but due to a lack of funding support from the Tribal government they have trouble finding capital. 

“I find that a number, even at Ramona Farms, have to try to subsidize their traditional crops with crops that require a lot of water, like cotton and alfalfa in order to make up for that loss of revenue”, says Johnson.

Arizona benefits economically, environmentally, and culturally from not only learning traditional conservation techniques from the tribes but also supporting native farmers in growing native and wild crop relatives. Johnson is a dry-farmer himself, which means he grows crops such as corn without irrigation on the semiarid high plateaus of northeastern Arizona. 

Hopi corn seeds exhibit a unique adaptation. Upon germination, the seed develops a single, strong root that extends deep into the ground, seeking out precious water reserves. This specialized root, called an elongated epicotyl, is absent in most corn varieties and contributes to Hopi corn's remarkable resilience for over 2,000 years.

Through his own experience, education, and focus on restoration of the American Indian food system, Johnson is instrumental in the cultural aspect of this grant due to his awareness of the unique relationships indigenous growers form with their crops. Johnson explains that many indigenous farmers, himself included, practice low intervention farming letting nature guide their practice and if their crop fails one year, they learn to modify their methods. He says there is value in learning to work with nature and become adaptable to it.

“You're learning all that scientific stuff, but not in that scientific way. You're learning a way to survive and pledging your service to nature and the environment  rather than just trying to control it. When you lose your crop, it's as if you’re losing a friend” says Johnson.

Johnson's focus on the nexus of food, water, and energy within indigenous agriculture serves as a bridge between scholars and indigenous communities. 

"I try to ensure that we have good, healthy crops for indigenous communities across the Southwest. For me, it's just finding ways to allow these crops to thrive like they once did and to involve our indigenous communities in that effort," says Johnson.

But for Johnson, it’s more than just farming techniques, it’s the cultural underpinnings of stewardship and reciprocation ingrained in their farming that are valuable and worth preserving. “I would continue to argue that 80% of existing biodiversity is on 25% of the land that is managed by 5% of the population, which happens to be indigenous. That’s because of this underlying cultural belief and faith system that we still have with the environment.”

Johnson doesn’t shun adapted or hybrid crops if they work for him. “I'm not not saying that Hopi is that way because we've adapted different crops over the years. If they work we take them, if not then we don't. For example, when the Spanish brought orchards like apricots and peaches and melons, we adapted those crops. And after time they've got to grow up pretty well in the region. But we've also been given things like wheat and other crops that don't do well out here and need a lot of water.”

So far, when it comes to reaching out to tribes, in his experience, Johnson says it's about finding commonality with indigenous growers and building trust. One of the barriers he sees to tribal participation in a grant program, like the climate-smart one, is proof of land ownership. Individuals need to provide an official tax ID and a property deed to get a farm number from the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA). 

"Many of these native-led food organizations, even the individual tribal farmers, don't hold the title to their land. It's usually held in check by the tribe. The tribe has to approve that type of thing, so it causes a few problems even though it's a necessary procedure. But at the same time, we need to figure out ways that an individual indigenous farmer can take advantage of those drought programs that the US government has, or the crop loss programs that the USDA offers," expresses Johnson.

Johnson is concerned about the lack of systems in place to monitor whether pesticides and herbicides are being used on leased tribal land. If the federal government has to sign off on leased tribal land, why isn't the federal government monitoring that land properly?

"Statistics show that 80% of the revenue generated from agriculture on Indian lands is generated by non-Indians. Why is that? How can we figure out how to get land management back into Indian hands? What tools do they need to manage that land sustainably?" Johnson asks.

Johnson admits that the Indigenous Resilience Center is understaffed, which prevents the Center from establishing the outreach and relationship building they need to do to engage with tribes. 

"We need help from the university administration to get the hires we need in the areas that move our work forward, so we can be effective," says Johnson. He sees outreach to indigenous farmers to help them navigate policy and helping develop sustainable systems –– things like processing centers, food hubs, seed banks –– with native partners as high priorities.

"We're craving a new take on food, a new appreciation of food. This is how communities can support the effort by craving it and asking for it. Purchasing products from local producers, and those producers supporting smaller farms, builds a local, sustainable supply chain. There's also a lot of culinary innovation, with chefs creating food they're passionate about. When you see someone so excited about what they're doing, producing their food and where it comes from, this is what we're craving as a society," says Guerra.