昔日原住民各族群曾依據農耕、採集、狩獵及漁撈等需求，發展一套與自然互動的模式，以分享山林、河流以及海洋資源。透過文化生態學的詮釋而認為布農人傳統的農耕方法－輪作與混作，乃符合水土保持學原理並有助於維護生物多樣性。對於土地的利用方式，則契合當今永續利用的概念。布農人傳統的宇宙觀認為生活中所有的自然物，包括生物及無生物，均有精靈。而與自然互動頻繁所衍生出之禁忌，規範了布農人的社會秩序及環境資源運用的方式。各項禁忌在小米的農務操作中則涵藏人與小米共生的法則以及壓縮物質的生態農作技術。布農人的原生知識極藉著以小米為主軸的祭典儀式與耕作而得以傳承。

By fulfilling the demand of agriculture, gathering, hunting, and fishing, indigenous tribes in the past developed a set of means to interact with nature and shared the forests, rivers and ocean resources. Interpreting with cultural ecology, Bunon's traditional agriculture of shifting cultivation and intercropping would match with the principles of soil and water conservation and biodiversity maintenance. Land use was also match for the sustainability nowadays. All nature objects owned hatinu, the numinous, by the traditional cosmological view. The frequent interaction between the Bunon and the nature germinated tribal taboos, which regulated the social order of Bunon and the way to use ambient resources. Besides, taboos concealed rules of symbiosis between man and millet and of material compressing in the millet cultivation. The Bunon's indigenous knowledge was then ongoing by sacred ceremony pertaining to the millet and its agriculture.