Beefing Up the Southwest: Increasing Meat Access in New Mexican Native Communities

Agriculture & Protein Supply Chain

https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/6808287471457615628

Strengthening Zuni food sovereignty from the ground up—produce, livestock, processing, and community access.

Hawikku’s approach to clean energy and community resilience is inseparable from food sovereignty. In Zuni, families have long faced the “last mile” challenge: fresh produce and high-quality protein often require expensive travel off-reservation, while processed foods are readily available closer to home. Major Market’s founding vision—started by Darrell Tsabetsaye & Roscelia Him in 1988—was to reverse that dynamic by creating a self-sustaining local food resource that supports health, economic circulation, and cultural continuity .

Why Protein and Agriculture Matter in Zuni

Zuni families deserve consistent access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and culturally important meats—not only for nutrition and chronic disease prevention, but also for ceremonies, family gatherings, and community events where traditional foods matter. When local food systems are weak, households pay more, health outcomes worsen, and community dollars leak out of the Pueblo.

Major Market as a Community Food Anchor

Major Market is a Zuni family-owned community anchor that has persisted through setbacks—including major operational changes in 2005 and the COVID-era reopening—while keeping its purpose clear: strengthen local food security through fresh produce, staple goods, and healthy prepared foods

Building a “Last-Mile” Protein Supply Chain

A core focus now is high-quality, locally processed protein. During COVID-19, supply-chain disruptions exposed how fragile meat access can be in rural communities—especially in Indian Country. In response, Major Market and its partners have been advancing the next phase of local food sovereignty:

• Butchering & processing capacity to expand availability of fresh, cut-to-order meats
• Training and certification pathways to grow a local workforce in meat processing and retail butchery
• Cold-chain and storage readiness to keep protein reliable, safe, and available year-round

This work aligns with First Nations Development Institute’s initiative, Forging Last-Mile Protein Supply Chains in Indian Country, which supports tribal and Native-led models that reduce the distance—logistically and economically—between Native producers and Native families. First Nations’ webinar series also highlights how protein supply chains require more than processing alone—transport, staging, cold storage, workforce training, and retail partnerships all matter.

Workforce Development: Skilled Trades + Food Systems

Local meat processing is also a career pathway. By training certified butchers and building community-level processing capability, Zuni can create durable jobs, strengthen local enterprise, and build the systems needed for long-term food sovereignty—not just short-term supply.

Partnerships

Hawikku and Major Market pursue food-system work through aligned partners across Indian Country and the Southwest, including:

• First Nations Development Institute (protein supply chain initiative, technical assistance, peer learning)
• Regional producers and Native-led food partners who share a mission of locally controlled, high-quality protein access (including models featured alongside Major Market in the First Nations webinar series)

Agriculture & Protein Supply Chain

Building local food sovereignty through community-controlled production, processing, and workforce development

Need & Context

Zuni Pueblo faces persistent food system challenges common across Indian Country: limited access to fresh produce and high-quality protein, long travel distances to off-reservation grocery stores, and disproportionate reliance on processed foods. These conditions contribute to high rates of diet-related illness, economic leakage, and vulnerability to supply-chain disruptions.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed these vulnerabilities acutely. Temporary closures of regional meat processing facilities led to shortages, rising prices, and reduced availability of protein at the retail level—while local ranchers lacked nearby processing options to bring market-ready livestock to consumers. These disruptions reinforced the urgent need for community-based agricultural and protein supply chain infrastructure that can reliably serve Zuni families while keeping food dollars circulating locally.

Organizational Foundation & Track Record

This initiative builds on more than three decades of community-rooted leadership through Major Market, Inc., a Zuni family-owned business founded in 1988 to improve access to healthy food on the Zuni Reservation. After overcoming significant structural and economic barriers—including lease termination, capital constraints, and COVID-era reopening challenges—Major Market has re-established itself as a community food anchor providing fresh produce, staple goods, healthy prepared foods, and nutrition education.

Major Market’s experience demonstrates both the demand for locally available healthy food and the feasibility of operating community-centered food enterprises in Zuni when capital, infrastructure, and partnerships are aligned. Hawikku extends this proven foundation by addressing the next critical gap in the local food system: protein and agricultural supply chains.

Program Description

Hawikku’s Agriculture & Protein Supply Chain initiative focuses on strengthening last-mile food infrastructure—the link between Native producers and Native households—by investing in local capacity rather than distant, centralized systems.

Grant funding will support three integrated strategies:

1. Local Protein Processing Capacity
   Hawikku will advance the development of community-based butchering and meat processing capabilities that enable Zuni families to access fresh, cut-to-order protein locally. This includes planning and implementation support for certified retail butchery operations that expand availability of beef, pork, and other culturally important meats while meeting food safety and regulatory requirements.
   
2. Workforce Development & Certification
   The initiative will establish pathways for training and certifying local butchers and meat processors—creating skilled, living-wage employment in a high-demand field. Workforce development will be paired with hands-on retail experience and mentorship, ensuring that skills remain rooted in the community and transferable across food system roles.
   
3. Producer-to-Community Market Access
   By strengthening processing and retail infrastructure, the project creates reliable routes to market for Native and regional ranchers. This reduces transportation costs, shortens supply chains, and increases community control over food quality, pricing, and availability.
   

This approach aligns with national best practices identified by First Nations Development Institute through its Forging Last-Mile Protein Supply Chains in Indian Country initiative, which emphasizes localized processing, workforce investment, and tribally aligned regulatory pathways as key levers for food sovereignty.

Expected Outcomes & Impact

Grant support will enable Hawikku to deliver both immediate and long-term benefits, including:

• Increased access to affordable, high-quality protein for Zuni households
  
• New revenue streams for Native and regional producers
  
• Creation of skilled local jobs in food processing and retail butchery
  
• Reduced dependence on distant, fragile supply chains
  
• Improved household nutrition and food security
  
• Greater retention of food dollars within the Zuni economy
  

Beyond physical infrastructure, this initiative builds institutional and human capacity—ensuring that food systems are not only available, but owned, understood, and sustained by the community itself.

Long-Term Vision

Hawikku envisions a Zuni food system where agriculture, protein processing, retail access, and education function as a connected ecosystem. By pairing food sovereignty with workforce development and community ownership, this initiative lays the groundwork for a resilient, scalable model that can be replicated across rural Tribal communities.

Investment in Zuni’s agriculture and protein supply chain is not simply an investment in food—it is an investment in health, culture, economic self-determination, and long-term resilience.