Friday, August 9^th was designated as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in December of 1994 by the UN General Assembly resolution 49/214. The specific date was chosen to commemorate the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. Indigenous peoples occupy or use approximately 22% of global land area and represent an estimated 7,000 languages and 5,000 different cultures, yet share common problems related to marginalization, extreme poverty, and the protection of their rights. These issues impact the estimated 476 million Indigenous Peoples living across 90 countries.

Despite these challenges, Indigenous Peoples have retained distinct social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics including ways of relating to the environment. Within research on agriculture and food systems, there has been increased interest in Indigenous knowledge systems in particular, with the recognition that deeply connected place-based relationships with the land produce unique forms of knowledge that should be documented and valued.

To recognise International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems are featuring the following five articles selected by Editor-in-Chief Katherine Dentzman. These papers cover a wide range of issues including approaches to enhancing food security and socioeconomic well-being of Indigenous groups as well as reports on efforts to provide institutional support to Tribal food and agriculture related initiatives:

Johnson et al.’s 2024 paper, ‘Never cry for food’: Food security, poverty, and recurring themes in news media regarding rabbit farming in East Africa, addresses food security and poverty for low input agriculture—particularly indigenous, smallholder farms—through an analysis of the strategy and utility of rabbit farming, finding that it has high potential for enhancing food security.

Sliva-Galicia et al., 2022, authored Agroecological and agroforestry strategies to improve organic hibiscus productivity in an Indigenous non-governmental organization from Mexico. They work with an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Southern Mexico to explore how the organization, which gains most of its income through trade in organic hibiscus, can increase productivity and halt land degradation using agroecological fertilizers.

Sathoria & Roy’s 2022 paper, Sustainable food production through integrated rice-fish farming in India: A brief review investigates the traditional and Indigenous practice of integrated rice-fish farming, suggesting a reintroduction and scaling-up of the practice to optimize resource use and provide much-needed socio-economic stability.

Duren, 2020, published The Native Farm Bill Coalition and the 2018 Farm Bill: Building a strong, sustained voice on food and agriculture issues in Indian country to summarize the efforts of the Native Farm Bill Coalition to represent multiple Tribal interests in the 2018 Farm Bill. These endeavors were largely successful, as the 2018 Farm Bill widely addressed infrastructure, research, and education issues facing Tribal governments and Tribal food producers. The paper summarizes the formation of this group and it’s relevant priorities, while also drawing lessons for the future.

Finally, Reyes et al., 2018 authored Building collaborative capacity: Supporting tribal agriculture and natural resources in a changing climate. This article reports on the results of a working group to build collaborative capacity on issues related to Tribal agriculture and natural resource management in a changing climate. In particular, it highlights ongoing opportunities and areas of critical importance for partnerships and coordination.  We hope you take this opportunity to read one or more of these articles and reflect on the important roles, challenges, and opportunities of Indigenous Peoples in our agrifood system.