{"id":190115,"date":"2022-09-15T07:45:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T11:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=190115"},"modified":"2022-09-16T09:56:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T13:56:10","slug":"respecting-roots-and-growing-for-the-future-with-the-mashantucket-pequot-tribal-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/09\/respecting-roots-and-growing-for-the-future-with-the-mashantucket-pequot-tribal-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Respecting Roots and Growing for the Future with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six years ago, there was a 300-acre parcel of wooded land in North Stonington. A dirt road led into the property, and Jeremy Whipple, executive director of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation (MPTN) Department of Agriculture<\/a>, had a dream of building a farm for the tribe on the land and reconnecting to their agricultural roots.<\/p>\n

That parcel of land has transformed into Meechoo\u00f4k Farm, a vibrant agricultural operation for the tribe. Today, there are two parcels of land that total 600 acres. Now the land is used for production, with greenhouses growing hydroponic lettuce and tomatoes year-round, fruit plantings, livestock, and plans to further expand the farm and the agricultural products they can grow.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Meechoo\u00f4k Farm located in North Stonington, Connecticut. Expansion of the agricultural enterprise is ongoing as part of the partnership between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and UConn Extension. (Remsberg Inc.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The transformation of the land was made possible through support from UConn Extension<\/a> educators and the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP).<\/p>\n

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The USDA recently funded the project for an additional four years thanks to the success of Meechoo\u00f4k Farm and other programs that strengthen the tribal community, their land-base, and self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brought back a lot of traditions that were lost,\u201d says Whipple. \u201cThis project means everything to me because we\u2019re growing food for our people and training family to grow their own food.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the tribe\u2019s agricultural activities are having immediate impacts on the community, the goal is also to support future members.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important because it\u2019s part of our culture,\u201d Whipple says. \u201cTeaching the principles of the Seven Generations, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing it for. The Seven Generations is a mindset the tribe has where every decision is considered based on how it will impact the next seven generations.<\/p>\n

Embracing their agricultural roots and adapting practices for the future allows the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and UConn Extension, which is the outreach arm of UConn\u2019s College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a>, to address critical issues surrounding food and agriculture sustainability, health and well-being, and climate resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation<\/a> goes to the core of who we are,\u201d says Indrajeet Chaubey, dean of the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources. \u201cWe\u2019re committed to this partnership both as part of our land-grant mission and our dedication to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The history of the Mashantucket Pequot tribe traces back 10,000 years in southeastern Connecticut, and many of those years were spent fighting to keep their land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs tribal people we have an obligation to the next seven generations and what better gift to leave than clean water and food,\u201d says Daniel Menihan, Jr., a tribal councilor. \u201cIt\u2019s getting right back to our roots from a cultural and historic standpoint. But when it comes to agriculture, it\u2019s really the tribe just repositioning ourselves as we always have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health education has enhanced the return to agricultural roots, says Whipple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a Food Rx program that diabetics in the tribe are able to purchase produce from the farm as a prescription, like going to the pharmacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the FRTEP program, UConn Extension educators who specialize in nutrition have provided virtual cooking and nutrition classes. Youth members also have the opportunity to participate in fitness classes and are actively involved with agricultural production on the farm.<\/p>\n

Meechoo\u00f4k Farm has progressively evolved through the dedication of the tribal members, as well as the vision that Whipple has shared with everyone. Progressive improvements have included selling their products to restaurants at Foxwoods Casino and through a farm stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long-term goal is to increase the institutional capacity of Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to meet their own food production needs,\u201d explains Shuresh Ghimire, assistant extension educator and principal investigator on the project. \u201cTribal food security, food sovereignty, youth engagement, and health of the tribal members, are among the top priorities for the tribal nation and those goals align very well with the FRTEP program goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further land clearing and expansion of the agricultural enterprise is underway. The tribe is building more greenhouses, a meat processing facility, as well as a winery, and commercial kitchen to expand sales beyond fruit and vegetables. They plan to partner with other local farmers and share their resources, with the goal helping other agricultural producers in Connecticut to increase food security in the state.<\/p>\n

UConn Extension is helping the tribe form a 4-H club to continue to serve youth members through traditional agricultural training, STEM-focused programming, and leadership opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn Extension has been great partners and great friends,\u201d says Menihan. \u201cThe relationship is a cornerstone to what we have here today; it\u2019s a two-way relationship. We\u2019ve had very young tribal members extremely inspired by what\u2019s happening here and that\u2019s probably the most rewarding \u2013 the team\u2019s ability to have built up the interest and inspire the next generation that will carry this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Financial support for this work was provided by the USDA NIFA Federally-Recognized Tribes Extension Program (FRTEP Awards 2017-41580-26950 and 2022-41580-37944).<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0<\/em>UConn CAHNR<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on social media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A partnership between UConn and local tribes led to the development of Meechoo\u00f4k Farm and other programs that strengthen the tribal community, their land-base, and self-sufficiency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":190118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,1715,2304,2199,2076,2235,2306,2227],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2140],"class_list":["post-190115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-community-impact","category-extension","category-new-london-county","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices","category-uconn-edu-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 07:14:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190115"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190353,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190115\/revisions\/190353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/190118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190115"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=190115"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=190115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}