Data, Mapping, and Federal Statistical Resources

Native Land Information System

The Native Land Information System (NLIS) was created by Village Earth in partnership with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) to provide Tribes with accurate data and data visualization that can support Tribal policy development around food sovereignty. NLIS uses publicly available federal datasets and provides data dashboards and data visualization at no cost. With data visualization and maps available across a broad range of subjects including water quality, tree canopy coverage, wind energy generation, soil health, rain and snow patterns, forestlands, and more, this tool offers a multitude of resources that can be used to support food sovereignty planning efforts.

2022 National Census of Agriculture: American Indian Reservations

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, August 2024
The National Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides a snapshot of most American agricultural production. The American Indian Reservations publication provides a report on selected producer and agricultural operation data for 72 American Indian reservations. These data can support Tribes as they make food sovereignty plans.

2022 National Census of Agriculture: Ag Census Web Maps 2022

National Census of Agriculture
The National Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides a snapshot of most American agricultural production. The Web Maps tool will visually display one of many datasets in the Ag Census and can be an easy way to generate visual representations of agricultural production data.

2022 National Census of Agriculture Highlights, American Indian and Alaska Native Producers

U.S. Department of Agriculture
The National Census of Agriculture, conducted every five years by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides a snapshot of most American agricultural production. This special subject series publication from USDA centers on national-level data for American Indian and Alaska Native producers, discussing the overall number of AIAN producers reporting in, acres of land in AIAN agricultural production, generation of agricultural sales dollars, and more.

Mapping the Meal Gap: Food Insecurity among the Overall Population in the United States
Feeding America
This resource provides food security data by county for the entire United States, including estimated average meal costs, additional dollars required to meet food needs, and estimated food assistance program eligibility.

Community Subsistence Information System (CSIS)

Alaska Department of Fish and Game
This database compiles information and data on subsistence uses across Alaskan communities. It includes information on rural Alaskan economies, subsistence fishing, and more.

Community Observer Interactive Map of Geographic Survey Data

Alaska Department of Fish and Game
A subset of the Alaska Community Subsistence Information System, this mapping tool provides information about subsistence harvest across rural Alaskan communities.

“My Tribal Area” Statistical Tool

U.S. Census Bureau
This qualitative data resource quickly displays demographic and economic data for Tribal statistical areas. This may be useful for a wide range of food sovereignty activities such as policy and program planning, grantwriting for funding support for food sovereignty efforts, and more.

U.S Drought Monitor

Tribes incorporating agricultural operations into their food sovereignty planning, or Tribes supporting their agricultural producers as part of their food sovereignty initiatives, may find the U.S. Drought Monitor useful. This national dataset is updated each Thursday and provides recent snapshots of drought conditions; it is used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to trigger disaster declarations that may provide emergency relief to agricultural producers.

Food Access Research Atlas

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
The Food Access Research Atlas visually maps federal datasets on food accessibility across the country.

Food Environment Atlas

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service,
This tool enables users to generate visual representations of federal datasets that show communities’ available food sources, such as access and proximity to grocery stores or restaurants, food assistance availability and usage, local foods, and more.

Tribal and Intertribal Food Systems Surveys & Assessments

Food Security, Food Access, and Traditional Foods across Northwest Communities in the Wake of Covid-19: Findings from the NW Tribal Sovereignty Survey

Walker, Shoshoni; Warren-Mears, Victoria; Green, Luca; Ayala, Sofia G.; Quinn, Emilee; Ismach, Alan; Otten, Jennifer J., June 2024
In response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center along with University of Washington launched the Northwest Tribal Food Sovereignty Survey to study food access and security changes in the wake of the global health crisis. The report discusses findings from the survey, including high household food insecurity, loss of income, reliance on food assistance higher than pre-pandemic rates, and more.

Reimagining Hunger Responses in Times of Crisis: Insights from Case Examples and a Survey of Native Communities’ Food Access During COVID-19

Native American Agriculture Fund, 2021
The Native American Agriculture Fund, Food Research & Action Center, and Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative developed this report after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report provides an analysis of food insecurity survey data collected in a representative sample of American Indian/Alaska Native households throughout February 2021, and offers policy recommendations centered on Tribal sovereignty.

Food Security and Sovereignty in Alaska Native Communities: Recommendations for Improving Language and Inclusivity in Food and Agriculture Programming

Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Food Policy Council, January 2024
This report discusses the incredible diversity of food sovereignty pathways and foodways across Alaska Native Villages, both historically and today, showcasing Indigenous food stories and discussing opportunities to improve food sovereignty efforts in Alaska.

Diné Food Sovereignty: A report on the Navajo Nation Food System and the Case to Rebuild a Self-Sufficient Food System for the Diné People

Diné Policy Institute, April 2014
The Diné Policy Institute conducted a comprehensive food sovereignty assessment focused on five chapters of the Navajo Nation. The assessment collected both qualitative and quantitative data and utilized community-based participatory research methodologies to do so. The report details assessment findings, discusses historical Diné lifeways and foodways in comparison to contemporary food access, and offers recommendations to improve food sovereignty efforts.

Intertribal Food Systems: A National Intertribal Survey and Report

Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, 2015
This report discusses the results of the 2014 National Intertribal Food Systems Survey conducted by the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. The report discusses key findings from the survey and incorporates brief case studies of Tribally-led food sovereignty efforts from across Indian Country.

Food Sovereignty & Health Research

Food Sovereignty as a Path to Health Equity for Indigenous Communities: Introduction to the Focus Issue

Jernigan, VBB, Demientieff, LX, Maunakea, AK, November 2023

This article offers Practice Notes discussing food sovereignty efforts among seven different Indigenous communities: the Osage Nation’s tribal farm, the Choctaw Growing Hope program, the Alaska Native Health Research partnership with Denakkanaaga, Inc. supporting community elders, the Southcentral Foundation serving Alaska Native elders, the Karuk Tribe’s Agroecosystem Resilience Initiative, the Ka’aha Lāhui O ‘Olekona Hawaiian Civic Club, and Ma’O Organic Farms.

Feeding Ourselves: Food access, health disparities, and the pathways to healthy Native American communities

Echo Hawk Consulting, 2015
“Feeding Ourselves” discusses the history of federal Indian policy and its impacts on Native foodways and food systems, including the significant health disparities faced by Native communities, then pivots to a solutions-oriented approach through the lens of Tribal sovereignty.

A Scoping Review of the Use of Indigenous Food Sovereignty Principles for Intervention and Future Directions

Current Developments in Nutrition
Maudrie TL, Colón-Ramos U, Harper KM, Jock BW, Gittelsohn, J, 1 July 2021
This literature review examined dietary intervention studies that utilized principles of Indigenous Food Sovereignty (IFS) during a twenty year period from January 2000 to February 2020. The review discusses four major IFS principles existing among the interventions identified: community ownership, inclusion of traditional food knowledge, inclusion and promotion of traditional or culturally appropriate foods, and sustainability.

Addressing food insecurity in a Native American reservation using community-based participatory research

Health Education Research
Jernigan VB, Salvatore AL, Styne DM, Winkleby M., August 2012
In partnership with the Round Valley Indian Reservation community, the authors utilized a community-based participatory research model in combination with culturally adapted community assessments to identify and reduce structural determinants of food insecurity and introduce policy interventions that improved health disparities.

Food Sovereignty Indicators for Indigenous Community Capacity Building and Health

Jernigan, Valarie, et al., Front. Sustain. Food. Syst., 24 August 2021
This literature review focuses on common broad indicators in scientific literature that have provided support for community health and capacity-building in food sovereignty efforts, including: access to resources, production, trade, food consumption, policy, community involvement, and culture.

Framing an Indigenous Food Sovereignty Research Agenda

Health Promotion Practice
Nguyen CJ, Wilbur RE, Henderson A, et al, 2023
The authors discuss the connections between food sovereignty and health as explored in the literature to date. They further analyze the gaps in research between Indigenous food sovereignty and key concepts, such as health and well-being, economics, and the environment.

Indigenous Foodways & Cultural Knowledge

Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to Assess the Arctic from an Inuit Perspective

Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska, 2015
This report locates the concept of food security within Indigenous identity, providing an Alaskan Inuit definition of food security that is connected to the land and natural resources of Inuit communities as well as cultural practices around language, Indigenous knowledge, spirituality, policy, and self-governance. The report is comprehensive and includes recommendations to support food security as so defined, along with an identification of barriers and a conceptual framework for success.  

Ahwahsiin | The Land/Where We Get Our Food: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Contemporary Food Sovereignty on the Blackfeet Reservation

Beck, Abaki, May 2017
Beck’s report examines both traditional and contemporary Blackfeet foodways, providing an oral history of the Tribe’s foods, from berries to meats and teas, and guidance on how these foods have been traditionally used. The comprehensive report also discusses American Indian health overall, identifies existing barriers to accessing traditional foods, and makes recommendations to improve the community’s access to these foods for future generations.

Policy & Governance

Tribal Food Sovereignty in the American Southwest

Journal of Food Law and Policy, Guarino, J., 2015
A policy analysis of the connection between food and Tribal sovereignty, this article discusses traditional foodways of Tribal Nations in what is today the American Southwest, examines the federal policies that separated Indigenous peoples from those food traditions, and looks to Tribal food sovereignty as a mechanism for healing.  

Land & Forest Management

Breaking Point: The State of Tribal Forestry Today

Corrao, Vincent, et al., Intertribal Timber Council: Indian Forest Management Assessment Team (IFMAT), 2023
The IFMAT team produced this assessment and story map of Tribal forest management after two years of research and analysis. The resource includes discussions of 37 Tribal forests, detailing the various successes, challenges, and opportunities that Tribes face in managing their forestlands. The resource incorporates video interviews and dynamic mapping resources to discuss ongoing Tribal considerations in forest health, co-management, workforce and labor development for Tribal foresters, and policy recommendations for future improvements.