A logo of a bison with stylized flowers, with the words 'Montana Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative' below

The Montana Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative (MIFSI) is a 501c-3non-profit intertribal collaboration of Indigenousyoung professionals and elder-mentors committed to working as relatives to build shared capacity for Indigenous food sovereignty. The mission of MIFSI is to collaborate with people across the state on local, regenerative, and culturally specific food systems that aim to protect, cultivate, distribute, and increase access to Indigenous foods through the exchange of knowledge, skills, and equipment. 

MIFSI is part of the Buffalo Nations Food System Initiative (BNFSI) at MSU. BNFSI is Indigenous-led and builds collective, collaborative, and proactive capacity for Indigenous food sovereignty. BNFSI at MSU will credential Indigenous food systems professionals and enhance research using Indigenous knowledge systems as a primary source of understanding and Western Science as a companion way of knowing.

Beginning in 2021, MIFSI has a plot at MSU's Horticulture Farm dedicated to growing ancestral vegetables for seed production. This Ancestral Garden is an act of Indigenous food sovereignty and cultural knowledge recovery of traditional foodways. The seeds planted here—corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers—are ancient seeds that originated with the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara who grew these plants on the Upper Missouri river bottoms. Tribes from Montana and beyond traded with the agricultural tribes of the Upper Missouri for these foods and their seeds. The seed that is generated by this garden will be saved and added to the newly established Ancestral Seed Cooperative, a project of the Buffalo Nations Food System Initiative at MSU in cooperation with MIFSI. The Cooperative aims to increase access to ancestral seeds in Montana's Indigenous communities. Seeds generated in this garden will increase the Cooperative's supply of seeds and allow us to reconnect ourselves to the plant relatives that have sustained us for millennia. 

In the spring,Buffalo Nations and MIFSI also sends seed bundles to more than 200 family and community gardens located on all eight MT reservations and in MT Indian urban centers, an effort aimed at increasing household and community food sovereignty. Seed bundles include only organic, non-GMO, and ancestral seeds. MIFSI also supports Indigenous Learning Gardens at Bozeman’s Story Mill Community Park and MSU's American Indian Hall.

To get involved, visit MIFSI's webpage.