Success Story: Pit River Greenhouse Project

The Pit River Greenhouse Project: Cultivating a Path to Food Sovereignty

Location: Northern California | Siskiyou County | Modoc

Business Type: Agriculture

Small Business Center: ChicoSTART

Assistance Received: Technical assistance

Visit Pit River Tribe online

The Pit River Tribal Council has embarked on a transformative journey toward food sovereignty. In the heart of Modoc County, California, where vast landscapes stretch between small communities and access to fresh produce remains a persistent challenge, The Pit River Greenhouse Project represents more than agricultural innovation—it embodies the tribe’s commitment to nourishing their 3,700 members while revitalizing their connection to traditional foods and medicinal plants. Located in a region classified as a food desert, this initiative addresses critical nutritional needs while honoring ancestral knowledge and practices that have sustained Indigenous communities for generations.

The project is being supported through ChicoSTART’s dedicated and comprehensive support program to their “Accelerated By” partner, Advancing Modoc Campus Center. ChicoSTART Director, Eva Shepherd-Nicoll, has made multiple trips to remote Alturas, California, to provide hands-on assistance. Beginning with intensive workshops where Eva provided Entrepreneurship 101 training, Business in a Box creativity exercises, SBA program overviews, and practical AI applications. ChicoSTART is also helping by offering critical training on nonprofit formation, board responsibilities, and grant opportunities, opening doors to iHub Innovation Grants and NSF funding prospects that would have been difficult for the tribal council to access independently.

The greenhouse operation is underway with plans to leverage existing infrastructure while incorporating cutting-edge sustainable technologies, including onsite geothermal energy and forward-planning for agrovoltaics systems. They are also leveraging this site for an experimental compost study focused on converting juniper biomass into soil amendments with high humus content. The goal there is to demonstrate the effectiveness of using organic biological approaches to convert organic waste streams, including woody biomass from juniper, into a valuable soil amendment. This dual approach of honoring traditional knowledge while embracing modern innovations will allow the project to grow basic vegetables, fruits, native plants, and medicinal herbs year-round.

The facility will serve multiple critical functions: providing fresh produce for tribal members, cultivating traditional medicinal plants for tribal health practitioners, and producing native species for post-fire landscape restoration and dam removal recovery efforts. Through partnerships with Modoc Harvest and their farmers markets in both Cedarville and Alturas, the project intends to extend its impact beyond tribal boundaries to serve the broader regional community.

The project is currently supporting 25 jobs with plans to expand to at least 35 positions. The tribal council is also developing educational programming, including workshops with UCANR and others, on whole food nutrition and meal preparation, that will create lasting health improvements throughout the community.

The Pit River Greenhouse Project serves as a great example of what’s possible when dedicated technical assistance organizations like ChicoSTART invest deeply in rural, underserved communities and honor both traditional knowledge and contemporary business innovation.

Follow the Pit River Tribe’s journey on this and other projects at: pitrivertribe.gov

And if you are an entrepreneur or business owner in Northern California looking to accelerate your business, connect with ChicoSTART at: chicostart.com. ChicoSTART fosters a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem and provides the resources, training, and shared workspace to help you succeed.

8/4/2025