Some 30 tribes are members of the newly formed Native Farm Bill Coalition, whose goal is influencing the 2018 farm bill, particularly on rural economic development issues, says Minnesota Public Radio. The coalition “represents the very first time such a concerted effort has been made on behalf of all of Indian country and only Indian country,” said Zach Ducheneaux, who works for the Intertribal Agriculture Council, one of the partners in the coalition.
“The most recent USDA census counted more than 56,000 American Indian-operated farms and ranches across the country,” said MPR. Ducheneaux told the public broadcaster that the farm bill covers so many topics, “there’s really no part of a reservation community that the farm bill will not impact. Everything from the electricity to the water that you use, the food on the grocery store shelves, the buildings that you’re going to house your community activities in.”
One of the challenges for rural development is that USDA programs frequently require local matching funds, which can be hard to accumulate in communities that often have high poverty rates. “The coalition will lobby for a farm bill provision allowing the USDA to waive the cash match for grants to impoverished areas,” said MPR.