Community Food Systems Mentor Profile: Zach Ducheneaux
The Community Food Systems Mentorship Program offers Network members the opportunity to work directly with a food systems expert to support their growth, learn best practices, and connect with seasoned food movement leaders.
Zach Ducheneaux
Executive Director, Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC)
Founding Board Member, Akiptan CDFI
(Photo Credit: Morgan Marley of Western Horseman Magazine)
About Zach:
I’ve had the good fortune of experiencing every single aspect of Agriculture Finance. From a distressed beginning borrower, to farm advocate on behalf of producers, to Tribal Council member implementing policy change, and now as a lender and investor. I currently serve as the Executive Director of the IAC.
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” (W. Edwards Deming)
I don’t like the results, so the rest of my professional life will be devoted to changing it to something that creates better outcomes.
We are fostering a new approach that will displace current capital flows in agriculture and food production in a way that empowers producers to have the economic comfort to have more thoughtful production practices that can lead to improved soil health, human health, and rebuild the connection between rural and urban populations.
Areas of Expertise
Seeking to Mentor
Without ag producers, we have no food system to improve; so that will be first and foremost in our shared work. Systems analysis is only the first part of changing the system. I look forward to sharing and learning with system changers from Indian Country and beyond.
Responses