2024 Changemaker

The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition

For the 2024 Conference Changemakers of the Year, we are pleased to honor the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC), with Gary Besaw and colleagues representingthe network, which is composed of all Wisconsin Tribes along with Lac View Desert.Their vision is to rebuild a vibrant food system that will provide nutritious and culturallyappropriate foods for people that need it and to support the economic development ofIndigenous and local food producers in the Great Lakes region. For the last several yearsthey have built a network of local producers to provide food for elder boxes. By 2022,their project had expanded to all eleven tribes in Wisconsin. Their work is a model forany community rebuilding a local food system and food access.Gary says, “The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition is one of the steps necessary forIndigenous agriculturalists to come together not only find a ready market for theirsustainably-grown and harvested foods, it also is intended to feed healthy foods totribal populations that truly need this quality food. It also is part of our response tocombating climate change and preparing our communities for food chain disruptions.Validating our efforts with this recognition means exposure to like minds willing to joinour efforts in some way. I humbly accept this but know the award belongs to generations of indigenous agriculturalists and dreamers who passed this knowledge down.”

“Our collective indigenous efforts are a great start towards rebuilding our tribal andintertribal economies, in the ways our ancestors knew was right, meaning throughenvironmentally sound, green economies. The concepts of “food as medicine” and“indigenous trade routes” are important threads in the survival stories of our Nations. Aswe now move to re-establish old trade routes and redevelop our agriculturalindependence, one of the stark realities we find is that there are not nearly enoughindigenous ranchers and producers, for various reasons. By providing a ready buyer these revived systems can allow producers,ranchers, fishers, and gatherers the capital to improve and grow their lands. Giving them access to markets formerly controlled byhigh-volume, chemically-manipulated row crops, that small scale indigenous producers couldn’t compete with pricewise is starting toopen eyes. I am humbled to accept this award for GLIFC, a great team working for the right reasons.”

Recipients of the Marbleseed Changemakers Award

Marcia L. Eiynck of Beargrease Botanicals (2023)

Urban Growers Collective (2022)

Hannah Breckbill of Humble Hands Harvest (2021)

Steve Acheson of Peacefully Organic Produce, Veterans for Compassionate Care, S.C. Hemp Producers Co-op (2020)

Loretta Livingston and Joy Schelble of Bad River Food Sovereignty Program (2020)

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin of Regenerative Ag Alliance (2020)