Tanzina: At the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, consumer panic and hoarding led to long lines at grocery stores and shortages of certain food staples. That behavior, along with widespread restaurant closures, resulted in rising prices and disruptions in the supply chain. While food shortages for some goods were temporary in some parts of the country, these straints have been felt more acutely in indigenous communities. While the effects of COVID-19 on Native American communities have been most visible through high rates of infection and death, the pandemic is also affecting food supply for a number of tribes, leading to scarcity in some reservations. Carly Griffith Hotvedt is the director of tribal enterprise at the University of Arkansas Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative and a citizen of the Cherokee nation. Carly, thanks for joining us.

Carly Griffith Hotvedt: I'm happy to join you today.

Tanzina: Tell us how food supplies for tribes were disrupted by the pandemic.

Carly: Food supplies for tribes have been disrupted at a variety of levels along the food supply chain, whether it's production, processing, warehousing, distribution, transportation or retail. We've seen COVID-related impacts along the line everywhere. Sub-tribal nations have been more affected than others, but we frequently see a reduction in transportation because of an inability to have a full truck, and that it's not profitable for those privately contracted transportation trucks to be delivering produce or other types of food supplies to rural or less populated areas. So as we've seen a decrease in availability, as we've seen bottlenecks in the processing chain, as we've seen challenges with even getting foods to market, we end up seeing the scarcity of our grocery store shelves or limited availability in our nutrition programs. There's been a variety of impacts along the chain at every level of the process, so it's been very concerning.

Tanzina: What are some of the trends that we've seen since the pandemic began in terms of tribal reliance on federal nutrition programs?

Carly: We've seen some big increases in demand on our federal nutrition programs that really support a lot of our tribal communities. Across the board, it's been about an 11% increase, but some communities have seen up to a 50% increase in demand on the federal nutrition program, specifically the food distribution program on Indian reservation, which is kind of a commodities bundle package. There are healthy foods that are included, and people are encouraged to take what they're eligible for. We call that the take rate.

Now, in addition to the increase in demand overall, the take rates have increased, so the bundle of food options that are available, people take what they want, but we've seen more people, as the system has become more in demand, take more of what they're eligible for. So, not only is there an increase in demand, there's an increase of what products are actually being taken home.

Tanzina: Is there something that you would want from the federal government at this moment to help with food insecurity issues in indigenous communities?

Carly: When we're talking about right now, from an immediate need, inclusion in any additional CARES act, funding is incredibly important. I know a lot of tribes are attempting to utilize their current funding to address some of the challenges with a lack of redundancy in our food systems, specifically from a processing side, but we also need the federal government to live up to the funding obligations that come along with our treaty provisions. I'm not aware of any one time when 100% of the funding obligations from the federal government through our treaties have ever been fulfilled.

We've seen that an issue from the Indian health service, from nutrition programs, from general tribal funding, and this has all been compounded to result in something that shows through this COVID-19 system not that COVID-19 has broken anything, but it has significantly revealed what's already been broken. So we would ask the federal government to live up to its obligations to tribal communities into our tribes, into our tribal citizens, but also respect our sovereignty, allow us the decision-making process to pick, choose and prioritize what's most important for us when it comes to feeding our own people.

Tanzina: Carly Griffith Hotvedt is the director of tribal enterprise at the University of Arkansas Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. Carly, thanks so much for being with us.

Carly: Absolutely. Thank you.

Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.