Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes LFPA Plus Executive Summary

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of the Flathead Reservation in Montana will strengthen the Tribes' Food Access and Food Sovereignty movements by implementing the Flathead LFPA: Building Food Sovereignty on the Flathead Indian Reservation, a project to purchase locally produced food from socially disadvantaged producers. Vegetables, beef, bison, fish, grains and legumes will be purchased to distribute high-quality, nutrient dense, low-fat foods to low income, food insecure Tribal families. A collaborative and innovative approach engages existing producers with new marketing opportunities, with emphasis to increase the number of Tribal Members with the interest and capacity to enter the local production and marketing of agricultural products. The Tribes' Food Sovereignty Team (CSKTFST) will implement the project and have in-kind technical support from Mission West (MW), a USDA inspected food innovation and marketing center, in-kind participation from Salish Kootenai College Extension (SKCE) with gardening expertise through the Gardens for Life (GFL) program and nutrition and food utilization information. Expected outcomes are that food will come from a majority of socially disadvantaged producers, food will be distributed to low-income Tribal Member families, we will increase the number of socially disadvantaged producers of beef, bison, vegetables, and fish. New markets will be developed to support Tribal Member produced products.