A food sovereignty initiative… grounded in community… strives to increase both food independence… and accessibility to Native foods.
Transcript
Leah: Next, I talk with leaders of Ogema Organics. I met JoDan Rousu and Bridget Guiza at the 16th Annual Indigenous Farming Conference in Callaway, MN.
JoDan Rousu: Ogema Organics. We founded it in 2016. What Ogema organics is, is a food sovereignty initiative for White Earth Yeah.
Leah: JoDan Rousu is the COO and founder of Ogema Organics which is working to create food sovereignty and access to more local fresh food.
JoDan Rousu: Food is medicine. It was traditionally during our feasts and celebrations when, when it's time to feast the, the younger people would dish up the elders and bring them a plate.
The youth are watching us. If they see us bringing a plate to the elders, they learn that, but they're watching what we put on the plate.
Leah: Community is the foundation of the organization’s operation. Bridget Guiza is the CEO of Ogema Organics.
Bridget Guiza: We've also intentionally been transparent with the community about our approach and our intentions and the vision that created it. But it's guided by the community. And so we do meet up informally and formally with various community members and just mentioned what we're doing and get their feedback in that way.
That's one thing I want to be very clear about is that yeah, we're Ogema organics, but it's much bigger than that.
Leah: For Minnesota Native News, I’m Leah Lemm.