Southwest and Great Basin FAQs – Farm Bill Roundtables 2021-2022

This region largely encapsulates Tribes and intertribal organizations from the southwestern U.S., including the Tribes of the Great Basin. Some attendees were from urban Indian communities in search of information for increased traditional food access. Others included elected officials, Tribal and Pueblo government staff as well as individual producers and nutrition experts working in these communities.   

FAQs:  

Question:

How do we get more Tribal members to participate in county committee elections?

Answer to meeting attendees: 

• The NFBC has several recommendations on updates to the current County Committee system. Normal grazing period and drought monitor intensity determinations should be amended to set at different rates for Tribal lands established by the national FSA office. These should be established at reasonable rates to Tribal lands, not to the county. Changes to normal carrying capacity or grazing periods related to Tribal lands should be also established by the national FSA office. 
• Many counties with Native American majority populations do not have Native people elected to county committees because they are often not included in the balloting and nomination process. FSA should be required to conduct an assessment based on Census data and Census of Agriculture data to determine county FSA populations. Once done, in consultation with Tribal governments, FSA should ensure that Tribal members are notified of the opportunity for county committee membership. All county committees should be required, if located in predominately Tribal population areas and/or Tribal land base areas, to reflect those percentages in their membership. 
• All Tribal citizens residing in the Local Administrative Area (LAA) where a Tribe holds land through outright ownership, in trust status or allotted lands, are authorized to vote in the County Committee elections. They do not have to be a farmer, rancher or producer, just have citizenship in that Tribe. Tribal governments or affiliated organizations are encouraged to nominate candidates in the elections. The Indigenous Food and Agriculture has resources available on the Tribal aspects of this, but local FSA offices should have access to the Departmental regulations and rules on Tribal participation in these elections. 

Question:

Are there ways to expand Rural Development infrastructure programs to include Tribal set-asides?

Answer to meeting attendees: 

• The Native Farm Bill Coalition continues to advocate for Tribal set-asides in RD and many other programs funded through the Farm Bill. These set-asides are vital to injecting the capital resources necessary to carry out many USDA programs that cannot be funded otherwise in many Tribal communities.  
• With respect to RD specifically,  the NFBC has called for USDA to create Tribal Rural Development set-aside in all funding authorities to address the inadequacy and general lack of infrastructure in Indian Country.  
• Along with the Native American Agriculture Fund, the NFBC is calling on USDA to allot at least 20% of all rural broadband projects to directly support Native communities. 

Question:

Is there better guidance on waivers so other Tribes and communities can look at utilizing USDA programs? If programs are available but aren’t built to be used in a timely manner, they aren’t useful.

Answer to meeting attendees: 

• Because of the numerous challenges Tribes have in accessing USDA programs, the Native Farm Bill Coalition has requested for increased waiver authorities across many of the Department’s subagencies. The Farm Bill titles where these asks would impact are in the conservation programs, nutrition programs – specifically that of the Food Distribution on Indian Reservations Program on Indian Reservations – Rural Development and crop insurance.  

Question/Comment:

Where can Tribes and ITOs learn more about farmers’ market support programs and assistance in accessing those?

Answer to meeting attendees: 

• Improving Tribal producers’ access to these markets has the potential to increase Tribal economic development in a way that is both respectful to the environment and their culture. Implementing Tribal set-asides of at least 10% in programs like the Local Food Promotion Programs would ensure better Tribal access to programs that help build farmers’ markets. 
• USDA has recently launched a website Farmers.gov intended to make farm and conservation programs more accessible to Tribal nations and citizens. It focuses on the three USDA agencies that have farm programs: Farm Service Agency, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Risk Management Agency.  
• Members of the Native Farm Bill Coalition such as the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative and are also available as resources to Tribes and ITOs. 

Question/Comment:

There has been a decrease in younger agriculture producers due to cost-prohibitive barriers to entry, like affording equipment or the need for technical training and education for younger producers. What can be done to help ease these burdens on new Tribal producers?

Answer to meeting attendees: 

• The Native Farm Bill Coalition has called for priority for beginning farmers and ranchers seeking to establish or reestablish working land activities on Tribal lands. Due to the prolonged periods that Tribal government-held and individual Indian-owned lands have been under-enrolled in conservation programs, all Tribal lands falling under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribal governments, Tribal agricultural entities, and individual Tribal producers, landowners, or land operators should receive mandatory priority consideration for all conservation programs.  
• USDA is making inroads in this area through its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. The program provides grants to organizations for education, mentoring and technical assistance initiatives.  
• Organizations like the Intertribal Agriculture Council are at the forefront of helping Tribal citizens navigate these programs and have technical assistance specialists available across the country.  

Click the button below to see snapshots of issues raised and marker bills introduced in anticipation for the next Farm Bill.