Selected Publications - Abstract

Cleveland, David A., Fred Bowannie, Jr., Donald Eriacho, Andrew Laahty, and Eric Perramond (1995) Zuni Farming and United States Government Policy: The Politics of Cultural and Biological Diversity. Agriculture and Human Values 12(3):2-18.
Article as pdf file.

ABSTRACT
Indigenous Zuni farming, including cultural values, ecological and biological diversity, and land distribution and tenure, appears to have been quite productive and sustainable for at least 2000 years before United States influence began in the later half of the 18th century. United States Government Indian agriculture policy has been based on assimilation of Indians and taking of their resources, and continues in more subtle ways today. At Zuni this policy has resulted in the degradation and loss of natural resources for farming, reduction in the number of Zuni farmers and their control over farming resources, individualization of rights in farmland, consolidation of farm fields, and declining biological diversity in agriculture. The Zuni Sustainable Agriculture Project with the Zuni Irrigation Association and the Zuni community, are now working to revitalize sustainable Zuni farming, based on traditional values, knowledge, and technology, combined with modern knowledge and technology where appropriate.