Tribal Food Producer Information Session

December 5, 2024, 12:30 PM EST | 11:30 AM CST

Join the Great Lakes Indigenous Food Coalition and Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center for a virtual meeting on December 5, 2024 to come together for learning about funding opportunities and collaborations.

Meeting hosts, Jen Falck (Oneida Nation) Menominee Tribe’s Department of Agriculture and Food Systems and Dan Cornelius (Oneida Nation) University of Wisconsin Law School’s Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center, will share their insights on programs and funding available to Tribal producers.

They will join Jamie Rahrig and Julie Jesmer of the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center who will share more about the upcoming Business Builder grant program.

Grant funding, provided by the USDA, will soon be available across the Great Lakes Midwest. This includes the first phase of the Business Builder grant program for farm and/or food businesses in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Over $10 million dollars will be distributed to technical assistance providers and eligible business owners over the next four years.

Our Featured Speakers

Jen Falck (Oneida Nation) works for the Menominee Tribe’s Department of Agriculture and Food Systems. She has professional experience in environmental health, food safety, tribal administration, and tribal legislation. Her current projects include the Wisconsin Tribal Elder Food Box Program, developing a Menominee Food Code, and helping to rebuild Menominee foodways. Jen is married and has a twenty-one year old daughter in college, a few dogs, and a menagerie of farm animals. Jen and her husband manage Kahulahele Farmstead, an eight acre farmstead which focuses on food sovereignty, restorative agriculture, conscious animal husbandry, building community, and resilience through bartering.
Dan Cornelius (Oneida Nation), owner of Yowela Farms, grower of heritage Indigenous crops, raises animals, makes maple syrup, and harvests wild rice. His overall approach seeks to balance modern equipment with inspiration from traditional practices with no-and-minimal tillage for crop production and animals to help cycle nutrients. Dan is also the Outreach Program Manager for the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as serving as a judge on the Oneida Appellate Court.

Join us Thursday, December 5, 12:30 PM EST | 11:30 AM CST on Zoom, to learn more about resources to support Tribal food producers. This session will be recorded and shared at glm-rfbc.msu.edu and on Youtube.

Link to register: https://bit.ly/TribalFoodProducerSession

For more information, email glm-rfbc@msu.edu or visit glm-rfbc.msu.edu.

About the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition

The Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition works to heal communities by strengthening Indigenous food networks. Their Tribal Elder Food Box Program provides nutrition, culturally meaningful foods for Tribal members over 55 years old. In 2022, the program reached all 11 tribes in Wisconsin, delivering over 24,400 boxes.

About the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center

The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center is dedicated to offering coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building opportunities for small- to mid-sized or historically marginalized food and farm business entrepreneurs in support of a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MI) coordinates the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center that is comprised of network coordinators – Chicago Food Policy Action Council (IL), Northwest Indiana Food Council (IN), Food Finance Institute of the University of Wisconsin System (WI), and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Food Systems – who seek to take a transformational, rather than transactional, approach. Learn more at glm-rfbc.msu.edu

Support for the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service Regional Food Business Centers Program. The 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers support all 50 U.S. States and Territories, and are inclusive of all types of agricultural products produced locally or regionally.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. USDA Non-Discrimination Statement