Thank you for the question. I think that's something worth highlighting.
This course has lots of non-indigenous participants from lots of farm families with a long history. Again, with what Jared was identifying, I create that little bit of indigenous cultural competency. However, beyond that, I enhance their ability and empower them to actually start to develop, utilizing their own expertise, their own knowledge of their own family farm systems, of being a resident of Manitoba.... I get them to really start to think about how incorporating something like indigenous values—the way we look at ecological relationships among certain plants, animals, or our water systems with our farm systems—actually translates into something like best management practices that all farmers are already incorporating. It's not only about the fuel or the agricultural productivity of a farm system, but also, how can we have additional benefits, whether that's through riparian habitat management, more efficient nutrient management, or even creating farm systems that actually serve as habitant for endangered species or at-risk species?
It's really about driving that unique perspective that lots of these students have from their own experience to actually be able to craft novel and unique perspectives that can potentially fuel indigenous development in agriculture.