Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit

MONDAY, APRIL 6

8-9:45 a.m.

Registration and Vendor Set-Up

9:45 a.m.

Opening Ceremony / Welcome 

• Kevin Leonard and Emily Proctor, IFSS Co-Chairs
  

• Kwesi Bookins, MSU Vice Provost for University Outreach and Engagement
  

• Jamie Stuck, Michigan Legislative Tribal Liaison
  

• Opening Prayer and Welcoming Songs - Aarin Dokum and Dan Jackson 
  

• Introduction to MDARD's Farm-To-Family Program 

Vendor Tradeshow Opens to Attendees

10:30 a.m.

Keynote Panel: What is Food Sovereignty?

Panelists: Rosebud Bear Schneider, Jahi Chappell, Robin Michigiizhigookwe Clark

Moderator: Shiloh Maples

12 p.m. 

Lunch and Visit Vendor Tradeshow

1:30 p.m. 

Keynote Panel: Culturally Significant Indigenous Foodways

Panelists: Doug Craven, Kaya DeerInWater, Kathleen Smith, Robert Hart

Moderator: Kristin Arola 

3 p.m. 

Break and Visit Vendor Tradeshow

LOCATION

ROOM 106

ROOM 105AB

HERITAGE 

OFFSITE 

3:30 p.m. 

Manoomin - A Sacred Food and Medicine 

Cortney Collia, Roger LaBine

What's Happening in Waawiiyatanon?
Rosebud Bear Schneider, Kaela Wabanimkee-Harris,

Growing Strong and Resilient Regional Food Economies Through Tribal Food Producer Assistance Programs

Land, Seed, and Story: An Offsite Visit to the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center

4:30 p.m.

Deepening relationships with plant relatives through knowledge sharing
Mary Parr, Lori Gambardella, Joshua Cohen

 Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative: Supporting Tribal Food Sovereignty and Growing Tribal Food Operations
Satara Fountain

5 p.m. 

Break and Visit Vendor Tradeshow 

5:30 p.m. 

Cultural Event and Community Meal

8 p.m.

Adjourn

Vendor Tradeshow Closes

Tuesday, April 7

8 a.m.

Breakfast

Vendor Tradeshow Opens to the Public

9 a.m. 

Keynote Panel: Rebuilding the Path: Rematriation, Community Food Systems, and the Work of Bringing It All Home?

Panelists: Dan Cornelius, Angela Ferguson, Rebecca Webster

Moderator: Emily Proctor

10:30 a.m. 

Break and Visit Vendor Tradeshow 

10:45 a.m. 

Keynote Panel: Food Sovereignty Across Generations

Panelists: Jessica Barnes-Najor, Amy McCoy, Elan Pochedley

Moderator: Kaya DeerInWater

12:15 p.m. 

Lunch and Visit Vendor Tradeshow

LOCATION

ROOM 106

ROOM 105AB

HERITAGE 

OFFSITE 

1:45 p.m. 

Foraging with Young Kids
Wiba Anung Team: Jessica Barnes Najor, Michelle Cypher, Amanda Rinna, Jessica Saucedo & Haley Shaw

Preserving Culture through Food Preservation with Tribal Communities

Stephane Ostrenga Sprague, Karen Fifield, Deborah Shawa

Painting a Picture of Soil Health and Community Wellbeing
Olivia Craig, Monica Jean, Stephen Stresow, Emily Proctor, Biidaaban Reinhardt, Elisa Grossman

Growing at
the Student
Organic Farm:
Food Forests,
Hoop Houses,
Cover Crops,
and Season -
Extension

2:45 p.m. 

Break and Visit the Vendor Tradeshow 

LOCATION

ROOM 106

ROOM 105AB

HERITAGE 

3:15 p.m. 

Sugar Bushing
Sonja Ballew, Jefferson Ballew, and Wyatt Szpliet

Setting the Straits on Fire - Fire History in the Little Traverse Bay Bands of
Odawa Indians' Blueberry Plains
Joshua Cohen, Mae Wright, Derek Hartline, Mary Parr, Nicole Smith, Kurt Kipfmueller

Igniting Growth: Ecological Assessment of Blueberry Response to Forest
Management Treatments on the Menominee Reservation
Tanikwah Lang

Reigniting Memories of Trees and People: A Process for Anishinaabek Engagement in USFS Fire Policy for Miinan
Jesse Bowen, Aubrey Maccoux-LeDuc, Jerry Jondreau

Stories that Sustain: Floral Medicines, Narrative Knowledge, and Harvesting with the Seasons
David Pitawanakwat, Kaela Wabanimkee-Harris

4:15 p.m. 

 Reawakening Indigenous Sea Gardens: A Tool for Supporting Intergenerational Food Sovereignty & Climate Resilience
Olivia Horwedel

4:45 p.m. 

Break and Visit the Vendor Tradeshow 

6 p.m. 

Vendor Tradeshow Closes 

6-8:00 p.m. 

Intergenerational Knowledge Share (in partnership with IFSS Youth Cohort) - at the MSU Multicultural Center 

Join the IFSS Young Adult cohort for dinner and networking at this informal session. Enjoy time connecting with conference attendees, reflecting on you experience at the summit, and engaging with young indigenous food sovereignty leaders. This session will include a ceremonial fire from 7:00-8:00 PM with John Ostrander as the firekeeper. Dinner will begin at 6:00. This session is open to all conference attendees. We look forward to sharing this time together.

8 p.m. 

Adjourn and Vendor Tradeshow Closes

Wednesday, April 8

7:30 a.m.

Breakfast

Vendor Tradeshow Opens to the Public

8:30 a.m.

Keynote Presentation: How do Indigenous Peoples' Climate and Food Actions Scale Up?" 

Kyle Powys Whyte

10 a.m.

Break and Visit Vendor Tradeshow

LOCATION

ROOM 106

ROOM 105AB

HERITAGE 

TBD

10:15 a.m.

Bringing Ancestral Seeds Home
Shiloh Maples, David Michener

Foundations of Tribal Food Sovereignty in Lower Michigan
Kaya DeerInWater

Feeding Our Sovereignty: Reclaiming Health, Culture, and Land at Ukwakhwa
Rebecca Webster, Stephen Webster, Giselle Oliva-Metoxen

NHBP Food Sovereignty Journey
Nickole Keith

Knowledge Sharing & Networking Session: Centering Indigenous Storytelling in Evaluation for Tribal Food Sovereignty 
Trena Bizardi, Kaitlyn Walsh

Birchbark Small Winnowing Dish
Jillian Waterman

10:45 a.m. 

All Our Relations: Public Planting Partnerships for Sustaining Seed Stocks 
Ryan Conway 

11:15 a.m. 

Growing Seed Sovereignty: Intertribal & Intercultural Cooperation across the Upper Midwest
Kaitlyn Walsh, Rosebud Bear Schneider, Rebecca Webster, Kaya DeerInWater, Anna Roush

Renewing Our
Relationships
with Northern
Flint Corn:
2025 Variety
Performance,
Grain Quality and
Sensory
James DeDecker

12:15 p.m.

Lunch and Visit Vendor Tradeshow 

1:30 p.m.

Planting Seeds for the Future: Working, feedback, and visioning session for the 2028 Summit

A working feedback and visioning session to wrap up the 2026 Summit and help shape the 2028 Summit.

3 p.m.

Adjourn