Featured Organization: Dakota Rural Action
In this Featured Organization spotlight, we share a conversation with staff from Dakota Rural Action, which is a grassroots organizing nonprofit located in South Dakota. DRA organizes people and builds leadership while developing strong allied relationships. We protect environmental resources, advocate for resilient agriculture systems, and empower people to create policy change that strengthens their communities and cultures. Eowyn Corral,
Development & Program Director, Matthew West, Senior Food & Ag Organizer, and Haley Friedt, Organizer, told us about their work advocating for policies that create resilient and equitable food and agriculture systems in the Dakotas.
“Both our goals and programs have been impacted by social distancing measures to keep communities safe. What hasn’t changed but rather has become more clear and further confirmed is DRA’s theory of change and how we organize community members to create, participate in, and demand more resilient public spaces–our communities”
Let’s get started!
Tell us about DRA– what do you all do?
While Dakota Rural Action was originally founded by ranchers and farmers in the midst of the 1980’s farm crisis, we have been working through a transformative change for the past 15 years and endeavor to be a grassroots organization for all South Dakotans; of any community, race, ethnicity, gender, identity, religion or class. We organize in our communities at the ground level to shape policy to create resilient, equitable food and agriculture systems and clean, renewable energy sources to protect our environment for current and future generations.
What is one thing that makes DRA unique?
Our commitment to grassroots power is what energizes our campaigns and ensures policy decisions reflect the needs and values of the communities impacted and the humans there within. It enables us to build strong relationships with producers and eaters from all over the state and mobilize sustained support for campaigns and policy changes that can sometimes take years to achieve.
Let’s talk Systems Leadership…
How does Dakota Rural Action partner with others to catalyze systems change?
Because DRA is a state based member organization, in terms of major systems change- we have to work in partnership/collaboration/coalition- to that end DRA proudly counts itself a member and leader of many food and ag networks. Via these connections we’re able to move Farm to School initiatives while curating holistic land management training (Farm Beginnings) and influencing federal farm bill policy.
In the local arena (county & state), DRA has found most alignment with the Oceti Sakowin tribes in developing training for beginning growers and food entrepreneurs and local and regional food systems development. We recognize that we are in community with many different organizations and groups working to create lasting, equitable change in South Dakota- the campaigns DRA is a part of are that of the people. DRA’s food and agriculture systems work engages communities across the Dakota landscape, and we approach our partners with mutual respect and trust. We recognize there are times when DRA works in the background and takes on support roles and other times we’re called to lead organizing or facilitation. We cannot, and have never achieved our goals in a vacuum.
How has COVID-19 impacted your community and how have you all responded?
SD has seen disproportionate deaths and hospitalizations based on our population/density due to negligence, incompetence and willful ignorance of scientific data by South Dakota’s elected officials, and at the same time we have seen the impacts of decades long destructive ag and food policy at the state and national level. As an easy example- in partnership with Dakota Resource Council and Farm Aid, we were able to distribute emergency grant funds to small producers around the state at a time when livestock prices were low. These funds went to small independent producers who did not qualify for federal relief.
In general terms of how Dakota Rural Action (DRA) organizes; both our goals and programs have been impacted by social distancing measures to keep communities safe. What hasn’t changed but rather has become more clear and further confirmed is DRA’s theory of change and how we organize community members to create, participate in, and demand more resilient public spaces–our communities.
We saw ongoing protests addressing systemic anti-Black racism in 2020, and a violent fascist coup attempt at the start of 2021. Systemic racism is not new, but it feels like more people, especially white people, are starting to understand it. How does DRA address racism in the food system?
DRA is working to dismantle and disentangle our communities and our organization from years of passive and overt racist policies in our food system at the grassroots level, as with all of our work. DRA Chapters are holding monthly book clubs to discuss racism and inequity in our state, including our food system. DRA staff helped produce a 34 page equity assessment of our work within the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and board and staff take part in regular racial and affinity caucusing to propose policy/institutional changes and guidelines to repair and address harm within our own work and work environment. During an outbreak at a Smithfield meat packing plant in SD, DRA was able to offer support via local connections and resources from our own work to the organizations and people fighting for safe working conditions for workers. As we look ahead we are starting conversations with members, board and staff around the very meaning of land in SD and the idea of land justice and land equity, to acknowledge that the land white farmers work and claim is actually stolen land and what shared land stewardship (potential opportunity for federal/tribal land management policy(ies)) might look like in the future for agricultural and public lands.
Dakota Rural Action Learnings
Given what you know now, what is one thing you wish you’d done differently as the organization developed?
I’ve (Eowyn) been with the organization for the last 11 years, the origins of DRA go back to the late 70s (when U was born) and was founded by farmers, ranchers, and environmentalists- mostly, if not all, white. Knowing the history of the Dakotas is key to understanding this very unique rural, mostly forgotten land. Folks who call these expansive and majestic plains home have an amazing opportunity to bridge communities and we hope to be at the center of that community organizing. We also wish that it didn’t take so long for mostly white rural communities to understand their importance to dismantling institutional racism throughout our systems and specifically the food and agricultural systems where we work.
Have you created any useful processes/resources that you’re particularly excited about? If so, please share!
Dakota Rural Action (DRA) and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA) have developed the peer to peer training workshop, Language Matters: Tools for eliminating xenophobic language in grassroots organizing. This workshop is intended for organizers, advocates, and community leaders working in rural spaces running agricultural campaigns. The project uses a popular education model to explore how xenophobic language shows up in rural grassroots campaigns and workshops alternative language and narrative strategies focusing in on campaign merits eliminating the need for faulty language.
Both DRA and RAFI-USA are historically white-led and founded sustainable agriculture organizations. We initially developed this workshop as a response to the messaging and language use our groups were seeing in the larger sustainable agricultural space, specifically at network and coalition spaces where our peers were using problematic language. We see this workshop (and subsequent versions of the workshop to audit specific campaigns in national and regional spaces) as a much needed first step in eliminating xenophobic messaging in our community campaigns.
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