Our focus is to utilize our lands, our people and our traditional thoughts and systems to bring ourselves up and become the once thriving Oglala Lakota Oyate.
Our Story.
Makoce in the Lakota Language means “Homeland”. This word encompasses what it means to identify with a place. Throughout history, Lakota people have always been identified as the “People of the Plains” or “The people of the Black Hills”, but the reality is, we have always identified to any place(s) we called home. Our traditional homelands are the northern great plains and the black hills region, but the places we called home began to change with the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties and the unceded territory of our homelands. These treaties outlined areas of land that are still relevant to us today and we continue to have a relationship with the traditional territory and all that it provides to our relationship as a sovereign people. Our land continued to be taken from us with the establishment of five reservations across South Dakota. Today we call our modern homelands the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Est. 1889) which resides in the southwest corner of what is now known as the state of South Dakota. This reservation is home to the Oglala Lakota Oyate (People) and its 25,000 tribal citizens and its 9 districts. As Lakota people, we have always valued the origins that root us back to our history and our relationship to Unci Maka (mother earth), through our culture and spirituality. When we use the word Makoce we are talking about a place and the land that is the foundation of who we are, that which created us, and a relative past that we will not forget, and the future that is ours to create.
The Challenge.
The Oglala Lakota people thrived for centuries as a self-sustaining community. In modern times, 95 percent of food and basic goods are hauled onto the Oglala Lakota Nation by trucks, perpetuating a phenomenon known as a “food desert”. Often the food that is sold locally is expensive and consists of “junk foods”. Many families drive over 75 miles to access fresh produce and affordable foods. While we have a huge land base here, 95% of all our food is shipped onto the reservation. This primarily comes in the form of “junk foods” for the 9 local convenience stores/gas stations. We need to work to improve policies around land access for Native producers, education on healthy growing practices, and develop the infrastructures and processors for agriculture and food production. For so long, the communities have been disconnected from where their food comes from. This is impacting the childhood obesity rates because youth are eating the food available to them through commodities, convenience stores, concessions at sports and community events. By creating a local food system, we will create uses of our own lands that will build our local economy and strengthen our community and relationship to the natural environment.
The Opportunity.
This Pine Ridge Reservation is a large land base of 1.9 million acres of tribal land. The population here is 30,000 tribal members and a potential workforce of over 5,000 local community members. We have been systematically disadvantaged but now is the time for real local systems change designed and developed with our own place based ideas and solutions. Agriculture and food systems development will always be a foundational focus for human life, economy, community and health. Makoce Agriculture Development is a modern organization focused on developing modern food systems with the principles of holistic environment connection and regenerative agricultural practices. Our focus is to utilize our lands, our people, and our traditional thoughts and systems to bring ourselves to be a thriving Oglala Lakota Oyate. Makoce Agriculture Development focuses on diverse food systems development. We will work with Market research, a large land base, large workforce, development of tribal lands, local markets, business and job creation, and partner with existing and new local producers to develop a local food system. We want to develop a central location we will call the Local Food System Institute that will be a farm designed to educate, train, collaborate, and be a local for the local community to visually see and participate in.
With the legalization of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, Makoce Agriculture Development will help develop opportunities for local growers and create processing outlets for local supply. Makoce Agriculture will be a central location for local poultry and hemp producers as an access point for their local produce. We will lease out and develop infrastructure and facilities as a local needed investment for the benefit of developing access, economy and entrepreneurship. Makoce Agriculture Development will help lead a local and grassroots effort focused on developing the needed infrastructure and resources needed to create local agriculture and a local food system for the betterment of the environment and community.
