The U of A School of Law's Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) recently announced Carly Griffith Hotvedt, J.D., M.P.A. (Cherokee Nation), as the organization's executive director.  

"Since our formation in 2013, the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative has served as Indian Country's agricultural law and policy research experts. I look forward to building on this foundation while helping IFAI adapt and expand into the next era," Griffith Hotvedt said. 

Housed at the U of A School of Law, IFAI enhances the health and wellness of Tribal communities by advancing healthy food systems, diversified economic development and Tribal food traditions. 

"We are pleased that Carly will continue to lead IFAI," said Cynthia Nance, dean of the U of A School of Law. "She has been an integral part of the growth and expansion of IFAI's services, and her work has been incredibly impactful in Native communities." 

Griffith Hotvedt joined IFAI in 2019 as the director of Tribal enterprise. Prior to her role at IFAI, she directed the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.  

While at Muscogee Nation, Griffith Hotvedt streamlined the Tribe's agribusiness endeavors by vertically integrating operations, increasing asset quality, reducing loss margins and developing new services, setting the program on the path to long-term success.  

Using that experience and knowledge, she grew IFAI's portfolio of service as IFAI's first director of Tribal enterprise. In that role, she provided guidance to Tribes in developing agribusiness enterprises, starting departments of agriculture, adopting food and agriculture codes, offering new agriculture and nutrition service programming and identifying federal resources to support their efforts. 

In 2021, Griffith Hotvedt accepted the role as the organization's associate executive director, where she oversaw IFAI's day-to-day operations and supervised staff.  

Griffith Hotvedt has also led IFAI's work as the Native Farm Bill Coalition's research partner. In the run up to the expiration of the 2023 Farm Bill, she quadrupled the number of Tribal roundtables held around the country. Along with NFBC partners, she logged thousands of miles to meet Tribes and Tribal producers across the country to hear their priorities for the next Farm Bill.  

"We used information shared from those outreach efforts to identify policy change needs and compiled our findings into Gaining Ground, which includes more than 150 of Indian Country's priorities for the next Farm Bill," Griffith Hotvedt said. 

"The NFBC's work resulted in 63 Tribally specific provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill. We are hopeful that our support and expertise can help NFBC with its charge to make this next Farm Bill the most inclusive to date for Indian Country."  

In addition to Tribal enterprise support and policy expertise, IFAI's teams also support Tribal conservation, food safety education, food and agriculture-related curriculum development and youth programming. 

IFAI has held an annual Native Youth in Food and Agriculture Leadership Summit since 2014, impacting more than 500 Native youth throughout the past decade. The organization also facilitates Native American student programming at the U of A through the Native American Student Services, as well as additional partnerships and collaborations. 

"I feel very lucky to get to do this work, helping Tribes and stakeholders across Indian Country in securing food sovereignty for themselves," Griffith Hotvedt said. "We cannot be truly sovereign unless we can feed our own people, and in this role, I will continue to support growth in Tribal food and agricultural sectors to reach that goal."  

Learn more about the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at indigenousfoodandag.com.