Winona LaDuke receives the 2022 “Mother Earth Award (Lady of Agriculture) Award” for her Expanding Entrepreneurial Hemp Operations on the White Earth Reservation and Elsewhere
Here is Mary Jane Oatman, THC Magazine, received the award on our behalf and we are so grateful for the acknowledgement for all of our work !
“ …This award is to honor a woman whose entrepreneurial spirit has ushered a new era of business leaders through her skills and execution in agriculture. She is a visionary who has cultivated relationships through education, inclusivity, and collaboration. Her determination and dedication support our farmers and contribute immensely to building the supply chain making her a trailblazer and inspiration to others.”
APR 12, 2022
WRITTEN BY EMMA HARRISON
April 12, 2022 – Winona LaDuke has been growing hemp, teaching about it, proclaiming it as an alternative to many oil- and chemical-based products, experimenting with it, and steadily expanding her Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm operations for seven-plus years. She also continues to be recognized as a champion of hemp after picking up her second award* in two years for her hemp entrepreneurship and expertise on the White Earth Reservation and elsewhere.
LaDuke recently received the 2022 “Mother Earth Award” at the annual NoCo8 Hemp Expo** in Denver, Colorado, late last month. The Global Hemp Association joined WAFBA and sponsored the event at NoCo8 to honor the finalists and winners of the WAFBA Awards of Excellence program, recognizing “those who have been dedicating their lives to this movement.”
According to WAFBA award presenters:
“Every year, The Mother Earth Award honors a woman whose entrepreneurial spirit has ushered a new era of business leaders through her skills and execution in agriculture. Winona is a visionary who has cultivated relationships through education, inclusivity, and collaboration. Her determination and dedication support our farmers and contribute immensely to building the supply chain making her a trailblazer and inspiration to others.”
Rare Hemp Seed Collection, Carbon Sequestering, Hemp 101, and 800 More Acres on White Earth – All Part of the New Green Revolution
“I am honored to receive this year’s Mother Earth Award, since it affirms the work we have been doing at the Hemp & Heritage Farm for the past seven years,” LaDuke noted. “It will help us move forward with the many hemp-related activities we have been doing on White Earth and on other Tribal lands – and those activities that we have planned as part of the New Green Revolution. Hemp could be the future for many basic things, from building materials to clothing, plus it sequesters carbon more quickly than most plants so it’s an ideal crop to help mitigate against climate crisis impacts”
Upcoming things at Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm include:
Collaborating with the University of Minnesota researchers about how to properly grow a rare hemp seed collection that she recently acquired.
Akiing, the community development corporation, purchased 800 acres of land near Pine Point and in the l855 treaty territory to grow hemp, perennialized grains and to restore agro biodiversity.
Continuing to teach Hemp 101 courses throughout the U.S, and hosting hemp conferences on other reservations, including Yankton, South Dakota and Red Lake in Minnesota.
Further development of the Indigenous Hemp Farmers Coop – “practicing cooperation, not competition, among growers”
*LaDuke was the recipient of the 2021 Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award - Emerald Cup
“ … for her unrelenting activism toward social justice for Native Americans and their sacred lands, cultures and heritage, according to Emerald Cup founder Tim Blake. “Her work in establishing the Anishinaabe Agricultural Institute to promote hemp cultivation at the White Earth Indian Reservation is the basis for an ambitious ecological effort. Her vision for the “Indigenous Green New Deal” is a timely platform that will spur growth and change across our industry.”
The Emerald Cup is the world’s premier virtual cannabis destination and iconic live event. While advancing the concept of sustainable, outdoor farming the 18-year-old organization is the largest, most respected, outdoor cannabis competition in the world, bringing together experts and educators in the cannabis industry to our fellow farmers, patients, and patrons each year.
**More about NOCO8
Now in its 8th year, NoCo Hemp Expo, produced by the Colorado Hemp Company, is the world’s most comprehensive hemp exposition and trade show. NoCo has been built upon the fundamental pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental and social. The platform that is now in place resonates with our mantra
— We Are For Better Alternatives — and hemp, along with many other plant and bio-based materials, are better alternatives.
From farmers and producers to retail and wholesale buyers, processors and equipment manufacturers, and technology and innovation companies, NoCo Hemp Expo brings together industry leaders and professionals spanning the entire evolving hemp supply chain.
