Red Lake Nation’s Economic Development and Planning Committee has been working on ways to improve food security concerns for the community of Red Lake by creating three agriculture divisions.

In 2015, Red Lake Nation Chairman Darrell G. Seki, Sr. had a series of community meetings around food sovereignty. This sparked the plan in 2017 to build a Department of Agriculture for Red Lake, which includes a Red Lake buffalo ranch, garden acres, and a hemp farm.

The buffalo ranch in Gonvick is currently fenced in with 280 acres of land, and it will fence in another 300 acres this coming year.

Alongside the buffalo ranch will be 140 acres of hemp and hay for feeding the buffalo that will rotate each year. There will also be about 8 acres of a fenced-in garden with fresh produce to provide food for the community of Red Lake.

The Red Lake Department of Agriculture hopes to build future classrooms on the ranch in order to help both youth and the public learn more about agriculture. They also hope to have around 600 acres of land for produce and buffalo when fencing is complete.

By — Emma Hudziak