What is a Food System? Local vs Global Supply Chains

Global Commercial System: Highly mechanized mega-farms, heavy pesticide and petroleum inputs, plastic packaging, and thousands of freight miles.

Dena’ina Subsistence System: Directly harvesting wild salmon, moose, and berries from local ancestral lands with intimate ecological knowledge, sharing harvest with elders, and returning waste to the land.

Alaska imports over 95% of its commercial food supply. If a major earthquake damages the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, or winter blizzards ground cargo planes into Tyonek, grocery shelves empty in 72 hours.

Strengthening local agriculture through Tyonek Grown high tunnels and preserving traditional subsistence lifeways are essential national security measures for tribal communities.

Students take a common breakfast item (e.g., banana, cereal box, yogurt, or smoked salmon) and trace its complete journey:

Where was the raw ingredient grown? Where was it processed and boxed? How many fuel gallons were burned transporting it? Where does the plastic wrapper go when you throw it in the trash?

Food security simply means having enough calories. Food sovereignty goes much deeper: it means having the sovereign right to culturally traditional, healthy, and self-determined food.

When Tebughna youth learn to harvest wild celery, smoke king salmon, and manage greenhouse soil, they reclaim sovereignty over community health and culture.

Students present their breakfast origin maps and discuss one concrete action to shorten local food miles.

Ideas include expanding potato cultivation, building community smokehouses, and composting food scraps.