Agriculture in Indian Country was a nearly $6.5 billion industry in 2022, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture, up from $3.5 billion just five years earlier. Cattle ranching was the most common form of agriculture production, occurring on 39 percent of farms operated by Native Americans, said Erin Parker, executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law, speaking during the second-annual State of Native Agriculture address. Poultry production and fruit and nut farming also continued to grow in popularity among Indigenous producers, she said.
But in tribal nations, as across the rest of the country, farms are getting bigger while the number of farmers declines, noted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, speaking at the event. “There are limits to how long this approach can last,” he said.
The amount of acres farmed by Native Americans grew by around 3.2 million acres between 2017 and 2022. But at the same time, the number of Native farmers and ranchers fell by about 2,000, Vilsack said.
Noting that just 7 percent of U.S. farms take in 85 percent of farm income overall, Vilsack said the USDA is working to create more opportunities for farmers and ranchers in rural communities, noting that “you don’t get much more rural than in Indian Country.”
He also underlined the administration’s close collaboration and consultation with tribes, saying it was committed to furthering self-determination policies that give tribes more say over how federal programs operate in their communities and respecting the unique nation-to-nation relationship between tribal nations, which are sovereign entities, and the federal government.
The USDA has put nearly $4 million toward a meat processing program for tribal nations that raise animals, Vilsack said, and is providing up to $112 million to help tribal nations buy food from underserved and Native producers. It has also proposed a rule that would allow certain schools to use traditional foods to meet the grain requirements for the National School Lunch Program. The Forest Service in 2023 also signed 120 co-stewardship agreements with tribal communities, at a cost of $68 million. Through these agreements, tribes can define their land management priorities and incorporate Indigenous knowledge in their management plans, Vilsack said.
Sen. Jon Tester, Montana Democrat, stressed the need for a new farm bill. The 2018 bill included an unprecedented number of provisions directly addressing Native American producers, but he said new legislation is long overdue: “We’ve got to have a farm bill that works for doing business in 2024.”
Such a bill would include higher reference prices and disaster relief for farmers, Tester said, as well as support for nutrition programs like SNAP and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, CEO of the Native American Agriculture Foundation, which organized the event, underscored the need to nurture a new generation of Native farmers, expand access to capital for Indigenous farmers, and ensure they have a seat at the table when decisions affecting their foodways and food systems are made.
“We are in a significant moment for Native agriculture,” she said.