Growing up on the Navajo reservation, where access to water has been historically challenging, Chantel Harrison had a profound awareness of the obstacles associated with farming.
While attending the University of Arizona, Harrison dove deep into controlled environment agriculture, employing technologies such as greenhouses and hydroponics. This approach aims to establish controlled growing environments, mitigating the impact of unpredictable weather patterns and disasters induced by climate change.
Harrison’s inquisitiveness led to the establishment of Indigeponics, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting controlled environment agriculture and its transformative potential for individual growers, communities, and tribes. It’s an intersection that hasn’t otherwise been fully developed, Harrison said.
“Within institutions that have agriculture and controlled environment agriculture, it’s kind of just a focus on how to optimize growing specific crops that are mostly high producing: tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and lettuce,” Harrison said. “Those are all very nutritious veggies and fruit that we knew, but there was a lack of opportunities to explore other foods that could be as successful as these typical products grown in a greenhouse.”
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