Bringing Indigenous Insight to Discussions about Climate Change

By Alayna Payne

Published December 9, 2022

Agriculture is more than a means of food production. For many communities, each step in the process of farming is an act of retaining and exercising their cultural and communal sovereignty. Indigenous farming communities have experienced decades of adapting not only to agricultural changes, but also to communal and familial changes. To learn more about how Native farmers have been adapting to such changes, I interviewed Amy Juan. Juan is the administrative manager of San Xavier Co-operative Farm (SXCF), a local Indigenous-owned farm in Tucson. At the time that we spoke, she was preparing to attend the Cop27 conference in Egypt, allowing her to provide a unique perspective on local climate issues. Despite substantial cultural shocks, local farms like SXCF have maintained quality, natural produce and service to their communities. Thus, as world leaders in environmental law and policy gather to discuss possible solutions to serious widespread effects of climate change, it would be wise to heed insight offered by Indigenous farmers and communities.

The San Xavier Reservation was established in 1874.[1] Thirteen years later, Congress passed the Dawes Allotment Act, granting the President the legal authority to divide and allot parcels of land to individual Native families who met the specified requirements.[2] The enforcement of this Act had profound impacts on the way Native families in the San Xavier district used the land. As families grew larger and land titles were divided by multiple family members, the plot of land that each family member owned grew smaller (called “fractionation”). Juan explains that the landowners retained strong communal ownership of the land by “combining all of their allotments to create this cooperative farm.” Thus, in 1971, the SXCF was established.[3]

However, about ten years after the farm’s establishment, one of its main water sources, the Santa Cruz River, was no longer the perennial source of water it had been for centuries.[4] Due to decades of immense population growth in Tucson[5], the river suffered a serious decline in its water supply. Then, as a result of downcutting and increased groundwater pumping made possible by advancements in turbine pumping technology[6], the river finally dried up.[7]

The loss of the Santa Cruz River and conflicts over access to water sources with non-Natives in nearby cities and towns led to numerous Native tribes in Southern Arizona fighting for water rights. In 1982 the Southern Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act was passed, allowing for eligible Southern Arizona districts to receive yearly allocations of water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP)[8]. SXCF, being in one of those eligible districts, has been receiving CAP water ever since.[9]

In addition to responding to water access issues, Juan explains that the San Xavier community also had to adapt to changes as more Natives began “having jobs--office jobs, moving to the cities, going to school, going to boarding schools and . . . [experiencing] fragmentation of the family system.” The San Xavier community and its leaders have responded to these structural changes by utilizing the communal nature of farming and agriculture. Specifically, Juan, a former teacher and youth leadership program coordinator with Tohono O’odham Community Action, emphasizes the importance of speaking to young people about healthy, traditional foods and getting them actively engaged in their communities.

For the past ten years, Juan and her fellow colleagues have endeavored to shift young people’s dependence on the grocery store to dependence on and knowledge of natural sources of food, like community gardens. After talking to students at schools and implementing a youth internship program at the farm, Juan has observed a great deal of growth in the youth’s understanding of healthy, traditional foods. She has also seen more youth from the SXCF and other farms in the Tohono O’odham Nation getting involved in food and nutrition-based work and education for the community.

Farmers must always be prepared for changes, especially by being attentive to changes in their surroundings. One of the most visually significant signs of serious climate change, Juan observes, is from the Saguaro cactus. She noted, “We’re seeing earlier blossoms of the Saguaro. We’re seeing blossoms on different sides of [the cactus].” And this year, before it got cold, Juan saw the Saguaro still blooming late into the fall season. Because Native plants like the Saguaro have known the environment longer than us, “it is really important to pay attention to [Native desert plants] and how the changes are impacting them because it’s [going to] impact us,” Juan explains.

Native plants are not the only beings who have developed resiliency and an intricate knowledge of the land. Indigenous people have long inhabited, closely observed, and intimately cared for their land. Their experience with repeatedly adapting to significant agricultural and societal changes makes their insight incredibly important. Their insight can guide everyone on how to best respond to challenging environmental and societal problems. As legislators, politicians, and environmentalists contemplate the best course of action for climate change, Indigenous peoples who have in-depth experience and knowledge with the land must be given priority at these high-profile discussions.

San Xavier Co-operative Farm is located at 8100 S Oidak Wog, Tucson, AZ 85746. SXCF is the only Indigenous-owned and operated farm in Tucson. As a Certified Naturally Grown farm, SXCF does not use any pesticides or other harmful chemicals in their operations. They also provide catering services, tours and traditional foods for purchase. Please consider supporting the local San Xavier Co-operative Farm. To learn more about the farm, you can visit their website at www.sanxaviercoop.org.

[1]118 Stat. 3539, at 63 (2004).

[2]Dawes Act (1887), Nat’l Archives, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act.

[3]Our Mission, San Xavier Co-Op Farm, https://www.sanxaviercoop.org/about/.

[4]Robert H. Webb et al., Requiem for the Sana Cruz: An Environmental History of an Arizona River (2014).

[5]Id. at 114.

[6]Id. at 123, 181.

[7]Id. at 172.

[8] 118 Stat. 3478, at 16, 73 (2004).

[9]Id. at 63.