21 January 2026 · 00:42:28
Indigenous Agriculture: Lessons From The Hopi Tradition with Michael Kotutwa Johnson
Guest: Michael Kotutwa Johnson
Episode 42 · 00:42:28
Indigenous Agriculture: Lessons From The Hopi Tradition with Michael Kotutwa Johnson
Show notes
In this episode of We Need to Act, host Sara Rego sits down with Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a 250th-generation Hopi farmer and Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, to explore how Indigenous knowledge can help address today’s climate and food crises.
Michael explains why industrial agriculture—not climate change alone—is driving soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity worldwide. Drawing from thousands of years of Hopi farming traditions, he shares how ancestral seeds, place-based agriculture, and reciprocal relationships with the land create resilience in even the harshest environments.
The conversation also explores food sovereignty, the health impacts of losing traditional diets, the role of women in matrilineal food systems, and the Hopi Prophecy Rock—offering a powerful reflection on the choice humanity still has between excess and balance.
This episode is a call to rethink how we grow food, care for the land, and shape our collective future.
Episode Highlights
• Indigenous agricultural knowledge offers real solutions to today’s climate and food crises
• Why industrial agriculture — not climate change alone — is accelerating soil and ecosystem collapse
• How Hopi ancestral seeds have adapted over generations to thrive in arid environments
• The role of small, place-based farms in feeding the majority of the world’s population
• The connection between the loss of traditional diets and rising health crises in Indigenous communities
• What food sovereignty really means — and why it matters now
• How matrilineal systems create balance in agriculture and community life
• The Hopi Prophecy Rock and the choice humanity still has between excess and sustainability
• Why faith, hope, and planting anyway are acts of resistance and resilience
Please show us your support by...
- Tune in and subscribe to the We Need to Act podcast via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
- Support our show by buying us a coffee.
- Join our page on Instagram and LinkedIn
- Subscribe to our newsletter on our website
More episodes
Ep. 67
The True Cost of Fashion and Why We Need to Buy Less with Claudia Pievani
Fashion is broken. Can beauty fix it? In this episode of We Need to Act, Sara Rego speaks with Claudia Pievani, founder of Miomojo — an upper premium, cruelty-free Italian accessories brand and certified B Corp. Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on the planet. It exploits animals, unde
Ep. 66
The Ocean Won't Die But We Might: Indigenous Knowledge, Ocean Health & Youth Leadership with Bodhi Patil
The ocean is dying. Do we have the answers? In this episode of We Need to Act, Sara Rego speaks with Bodhi Patil, ocean guardian, founder of Inner Light and co-founder of Ocean Uprise. The ocean produces roughly half the oxygen we breathe and absorbs nearly a third of the CO2 we emit. And yet it rem
Ep. 65
Tuvalu Is Fighting to Survive: Climate Change, Rising Seas & Climate Justice | Dr. Tapugao Falefou
Tuvalu is living the climate crisis now. In this episode of We Need to Act, Sara Rego speaks with Dr. Tapugao Falefou, Tuvalu’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States and the Republic of Cuba. For Tuvalu, climate change is not a distant threat. Rising sea