Makoce Food Systems District Vision Plan

For centuries, the Oglala Lakota people thrived as a self-sustaining community rich in food production but in modern times, 95 percent of food and basic goods are hauled onto Pine Ridge Reservation by trucks. Much of the food sold locally is expensive and heavily processed “junk food”. Many families are forced to drive over 75 miles to access fresh produce and affordable foods.

The mission of Makoce Agriculture Development (Makoce) is to develop Indigenous Agriculture and Food Systems designed to regenerate equitable healthy communities, economies, and the environment. This system would be comprised of entrepreneurs guided by traditional Indigenous knowledge of land and animal stewardship, nutrition, and health, who come together to learn, produce food, create products, and market and sell these both locally and regionally.

Substance Architecture was retained to assist Makoce in developing a vision plan for a food district that uses its land to build the local economy and strengthen its community and relationship to the natural environment through education and the provision of infrastructures and processors for agriculture and food production.

The Food Systems District will be a 24-acre development in the heart of the Pine Ridge Reservation and a key piece of infrastructure in the local food system. Central to the district is the 45,000 square foot Food Hub which will include a commercial kitchen; bakery; cafe; deli; market; meeting, conference, and event spaces; food processing, packaging, and storage facilities; a greenhouse; and offices where local chefs, cooks, teachers, and leaders can not only prepare and sell their products but also share ideas and support each other in building a collaborative, local, regenerative food system.