United Tribes Launches First Net Zero Emissions Greenhouse at Tribal College – InForum

United Tribes Technical College set a milestone in sustainable agriculture earlier this month by opening a net-zero greenhouse, the first operated by a tribal college. The innovatively designed facility, powered entirely by solar energy, increases access to culturally significant crops while offering a year-round growing season. The net-zero construction aims to achieve a zero-emissions balance by prioritizing energy efficiency while also utilizing renewable energy sources.

“We hope this will be an inspiration to all of Indian County,” said Mervin Packineau, treasurer of the Three Affiliated Tribes and representative of the Northeast Segment, during the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Aug. 2.

Packineau referenced MHA Nation’s recent greenhouse initiative to power hydroponic growing systems using captured natural gas. The UTTC greenhouse will grow tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce that the campus community will be able to eat in the cafeteria, the Theodore Jamerson Elementary School cafeteria or in free refrigerators in campus buildings.

As UTTC Land Grant Director Edwin Kitzes told Buffalo’s Fire, the year-round availability of fresh local produce is significant in a state where the growing season lasts four months.

Students in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems program will gain hands-on experience in crop production, as well as valuable industry experience in operating greenhouse climate and water systems. The facility will also serve as a nursery for culturally significant plants used in medicine and ceremonies.

UTTC hopes to expand its educational outreach to include growing some varieties and distributing seeds or starter plants. That might look like providing 100 sweetgrass seedlings to tribal communities, along with UTTC research into growing that variety, Kitzes said.

The work will support ongoing rematting of native seeds, some varieties hundreds of years old, often from U.S. Department of Agriculture seed banks. Many tribal communities view seeds as living beings and relatives, Kitzes noted, making the rematting process even more meaningful.

The greenhouse’s grand opening ceremony featured a keynote address by architect Victor Pascual, a design intern with Minnesota-based architectural firm DSGW, which worked with Native American construction firm Woodstone to create the greenhouse.

“We’re trying to find the best way to use the least amount of energy possible, and materials play a big role in that,” Pascual told Buffalo’s Fire.

Sustainable design considerations included the building’s south orientation and painting the northernmost wall black to retain heat in the winter. The concrete walls were combined with an insulating concrete form, a material that retains as much heat as possible in the winter and stays cool in the summer, as a “response to the environment,” Pascual said.

The UTTC project, which reduced greenhouse gas emissions to zero, was funded in part by the Native American Agriculture Fund, an organization with a rich local history that was created as a result of a lawsuit filed by farmers on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

In 1999, farmers Marilyn and George Keepseagle, citizens of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, filed a lawsuit after they were repeatedly denied USDA loans. The class action lawsuit revealed that Native farmers and ranchers were consistently denied the opportunity to obtain credit and loans from the USDA Farm Loan Program, compared to white farmers and ranchers.

It took a decade to reach an agreement in Keepseagle v. Vilsack. In the end, the USDA adjusted its lending policies, forgave some debt and provided a monetary settlement that funded the creation of the Native American Agriculture Fund in 2018. Based in Bismarck, NAAF offers educational and economic support services to Native producers.

UTTC applied for NAAF funding to help cover construction costs, as well as a contribution from the Three Associated Tribes, also known as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation, tribes with a long history of farming. When you factor in all the local people who fought for the rights to ranch and farm, the new net-zero facility is “more than just a greenhouse,” Kitzes said. “This is where it all happened.”

This story was originally published on BuffalosFire.com