Latest news with #Oraibi
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Hopi farmers' harvests shrunk by long drought. Planting crops is ‘necessary'
Michael Kotutwa spent the summers of his boyhood planting corn alongside his grandfather. In the sandy soils of the Colorado Plateau, they buried seeds deep into the soil, awaiting rain. Planting 'felt necessary,' said Kotutwa. Every summer after his 20s, throughout two decades of university education and another six years after earning his Ph.D., he has returned to the Second Mesa to dryland farm on 9 acres of land. His grandfather planted every year until he died at 88, just as their Hopi ancestors had for over 2,000 crop seasons. Now, a 30-year megadrought in the Southwest and declining numbers of farmers on the reservation have brought challenges to that way of life. Even when planting hardy seeds that communities have selected for hundreds of generations to fit the arid environment, dryland farmers rely on winter moisture and timely summer rains to have a crop. There have been several rain busts in recent years, less snowfall, and summer heat has risen dramatically in the last century, stunting crops. At the Winslow National Weather Service station, the closest to Hopi lands, temperatures historically climbed over 100 degrees just a few days a year. In 2024, there were 31 days with three-digit temperatures in Winslow, and in 2020, there were 43. Some Hopi families' seed supplies dwindled in 2020, after Arizona was hit by one of the hottest and driest seasons on record. 'We're not building it back up to where it used to be,' Beatrice Norton, a Hopi tribal member and chairperson of Oraibi, told The Republic then. That year, only 4.3 inches of rain fell in Winslow, the nearest weather station to her town. Hopi corn requires between 6 and 10 inches of rain. The sustained drought also means there is less forage for sheep and livestock, and that the spring used to feed a few Hopi irrigated gardens, already diminished by mining operations' groundwater pumping, is under higher stress. 'This is more than an environmental crisis; it is a disruption of how our communities live, learn, and thrive together," said Trena Bizardi, senior program officer for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance and a member of the Navajo Nation. At the same time, the profound transformation of the land and the seasons doesn't change the work of many to carry traditions forward, she added. 'We have this persistent spirit which is rooted in our identity.' Kotutwa, now an assistant professor of Indigenous Resilience at the University of Arizona, has experienced many years of crop loss. Yet more than worrying about the clouds that don't come, he is concerned about his community preserving its health and knowledge, and about not neglecting his cornfield to crows and squirrels. Given seeds, a gourd full of water and a planting stick from the very beginning, according to Hopi creation stories, men and women are meant to care for the crops, he said. 'The most important thing,' adds Kotutwa to the creation story, 'was that we're supposed to put faith in everything that we do.' Throughout the ups and downs of the northeastern Arizona climate and the droughts of the last century, Hopi families have continued to plant. In the 1930s, when the dust and drought hit the high plains of the midwest, Hopi families still grew nearly 4 million pounds of corn, on top of beans, melons, squashes, pumpkins, peaches, apricots, pears, apples, grapes and other garden vegetables, wrote ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan in his book 'Where our food comes from.' Some even sold the surplus. In the 1940s, when U.S. wars took the men to war, Nabhan wrote, farms around Tuba City 'produced more corn than they could consume.' Since then, coal mining operations expanded on Hopi and Navajo land, extracting increasing amounts of water and drying up natural springs. On top of that, Hopi farms have seen less rain and higher temperatures in this millennium than during the Dust Bowl — conditions that scientists project will exacerbate under climate change. A scientific study suggests that several states in neighboring Mexico, where the government has banned planting GMO corn to protect native varieties, could see a 40% decrease in yields for rain-fed cornfields under current climate conditions. 'Living out here for all my life, there's a tremendous change,' Ronald Humeyestewa, a farmer and member of the Mishongnovi tribal council, told The Republic in the dry summer of 2020. 'But I don't think Hopis will ever, ever let go of planting.' Through youth projects, seed-keeping initiatives and microgrants programs, organizations strive to build up Native food systems. Only about 15% of the people in the Hopi reservation are still farming, Kotutwa estimates. It's a big drop from the 1930s when nearly the whole community was planting and kept 63 varieties and species of fruits, vegetables and grains. 'It may not be visible to people on the outside, but everyone is still continuing in adapting and carrying all these traditions forward,' said Bizardi, with the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. Dryland farming: 'Everything depends on the corn': As crops wither, the Hopi fear for their way of life Projects like the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network are working toward seed 'rematriation,' which involves taking heirloom varieties back to their original Native lands and sharing knowledge among Indigenous communities. The Natwani Coalition, a nonprofit and affiliation of Hopi organizations dedicated to preserving farming traditions and restoring food systems, performed a comprehensive food assessment years ago and sustains youth and seed programs, micro-grants opportunities and a "farm talk" podcast. New surveys are underway in Hopi, said Kotutwa, who is leading a half-million-dollar project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to catalogue native seed biodiversity, expand cultivation, propose a model for data sovereignty, and grow a 'regional intertribal food and agricultural network' to revitalize native foodways. Under his grandfather's name, Kotutwa also opened a foundation and plans to establish a seed house and youth agricultural program that integrates the Hopi language. He has taught young people the technique: how far to space, how deep to plant, when to harvest, he said, 'but it's not about the process; It's about the why.' Farming is deeply connected to the Hopi's cultural and religious life. Communities that thrived in the desert long before Arizona was called a territory still practice dryland farming because farming is their lifeway. 'This is what you're supposed to be doing,' Kotutwa added. 'This is what you were told to do from the very beginning.' Clara Migoya covers agriculture and water issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Hopi dryland farmers face reduced corn harvests due to long drought
Campaign ME
13-03-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
Deliveroo and Humantra make billboards ‘drinkable'
To launch its Ramadan limited-edition Apricot-flavour electrolyte, Humantra collaborated with Deliveroo to bring to life a 'drinkable' billboard at City Walk Dubai. Seemingly ordinary at first glance, the activation displayed the message 'just another billboard'. At sunset on the activation's launch day, Deliveroo had a graffiti artist walk up to the installment and spray a bold yellow question mark at the end of the phrase. The billboard then had a small door slide open to reveal a dispenser tap, offering passersby to break their fast with Humantra's new electrolyte drink. 'Humantra's Apricot/Qamaruddin electrolyte drink draws inspiration from a popular beverage in the Middle east consumed to break the fast during Ramadan,' said Taghrid Oraibi, Head of Communications at Deliveroo Middle East . 'Inspired by this tradition, we wanted to be present at Iftar time up until Suhour for people to sample Humantra's electrolytes. This activation allowed us to directly engage consumers in a memorable way and address the needs of those looking to replenish and rehydrate after sunset,' she explained. The concept was designed in-house by Deliveroo and Humantra's creative teams and was executed by experiential agency Aces of Space. The activation was conceptualised to interact with audiences differently, in a memorable way. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Humantra (@humantra) 'At Deliveroo, we're all about breaking new ground with unique stunts and activations. From Abu Dhabi's first edible billboard to turning delivery bikes into roaming digital billboards and now rolling out the region's first drinkable billboard. We're always on the hunt for bold, creative ideas to connect with our audience and find fresh, engaging ways to advertise and create unforgettable experiences,' Oraibi said. From Humantra's perspective, the activation was strategically designed to strengthen its brand value amongst consumers in Dubai. 'The hydration category is traditionally associated with workouts and recovery,' said Charlie Wright, Founder & CEO, Humantra. 'At Humantra, we're flipping that narrative. Hydration isn't just for athletes; it's for everyone, every day. That's why we're showing up in unexpected places—like a high-visibility billboard in the heart of City Walk. You don't expect to see electrolytes there, and that's exactly the point. It cuts through the noise, sparks curiosity, and reinforces our message: Humantra is redefining hydration for the modern consumer, making it an everyday essential, not just a workout necessity,' he said. The brands claim that the response has been overwhelmingly positive, both to the activation itself and the flavour. 'We always knew this would be a bold and disruptive moment, but seeing people engage with it so positively has been incredible,' said Wright. The activation was live over the weekend of 8-9 March, at City Walk in Dubai.
Zawya
10-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Deliveroo enables allows users to donate to the Fathers' Endowment campaign through its smart app
UAE, Dubai: Deliveroo announced its support to the Fathers' Endowment campaign, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Coinciding with Ramadan, the campaign honours fathers in the UAE by establishing a sustainable endowment fund to provide treatment and healthcare to those in need. Through a dedicated page on the Deliveroo app, customers are invited to donate an amount of their choice to the campaignThe Deliveroo app, available on Google Play, Apple's App Store and Huawei's AppGallery, allows users to donate an amount of their choice starting from AED 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and up to AED 500. The Fathers' Endowment campaign aims to reinforce the values of generosity, solidarity, and humanitarian connection with people worldwide. It also promotes the concept of charitable endowments while fostering a community-wide movement. Ultimately, the initiative supports the campaign goal of providing sustainable healthcare for those in a contribution to the campaign, which aims to reinforce the noble values of generosity, solidarity, and deep humanitarian connection with people around the globe, while promoting the concept of charitable endowments, and creating a community-wide movement that supports its objective of providing sustainable healthcare for those in need. Supporting humanitarian initiatives Taghrid Oraibi, Head of Communications at Deliveroo Middle East, emphasized that the Fathers' Endowment campaign, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, beautifully embodies the UAE's deep respect for fathers. The campaign enablesallows individuals to contribute to an endowment fund as a lasting act of charity in their fathers' names, supporting those in needthe poor and needy in underserved communities globally. These contributions will help provide sustainable healthcare, improve lives, and empower individuals to achieve a dignified existence. Oraibi said: 'Deliveroo's support for the Fathers' Endowment campaign reflects our commitment to UAE's humanitarian initiatives and our desire to contribute to the success of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives' Ramadan campaigns. We encourage our community to join us in supporting this initiativewidespread community involvement to help the campaign achievequickly reach its objectives.' Oraibi further noted that Deliveroo's participation underscores the company's belief in the importance of uniting efforts to spread the UAE's message of generosity and giving throughout the world. Sustainable endowment The Fathers' Endowment campaign aims to honour fathers by allowing individuals to donate in their name. The campaign seeks to reinforce values of honouring parents, compassion, and solidarity, while strengthening the UAE's position as a leader in charitable and humanitarian work by establishing a sustainable endowment that ensures healthcare and empowerment for the less fortunate and underserved around the world, in an effort to improve their lives. Donation channels The Fathers' Endowment campaign continues to welcome donations and contributions to the endowment fund from institutions and individuals across six main channels including the campaign's website ( as well as a dedicated call center via the toll-free number (800 4999). Donations are also possible via bank transfers in the UAE dirham to the campaign bank account number with Emirates Islamic Bank (IBAN: AE020340003518492868201). Donations via SMS are possible by sending the word 'Father' to the following numbers (1034 to donate AED 10, 1035 to donate AED 50, 1036 to donate AED 100 and 1038 to donate AED 500) for Etisalat by e& and du users. Other possible platforms for donating to the campaign are the DubaiNow app by clicking the 'Donations' tab, and Dubai's community contributions platform Jood (
