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Watch the first 2023 RFA webinar. All webinar recordings will be posted and archived on the NAAF website. The dates for each webinar are found below and registration is required to participate. The webinars will offer technical assistance to applicants and provide clarification concerning applicant eligibility or focus areas for applications during this grant cycle.
The first hour will provide an overview of the RFA, and the second hour is a live RFA question and answer period.
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Register Below
Youth Webinar
- Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 2 pm - 4 pm Central
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General Webinars
- Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 2 pm - 4 pm Central
- Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 2 pm - 4 pm Central
- Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 2 pm - 4 pm Central
| All the details about the RFA and webinar registration can be found on the NAAF website. Contact grants@NativeAmericanAgricultureFund with questions. | |
Cultural Foodways Fund RFA Webinar Today | |
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The Native American Agriculture Fund and the Mellon Foundation announced collaborative investments in the Cultural Foodways Fund, a grant opportunity that centers Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) as hubs for stewarding research and education in Indigenous agriculture, preservation, foraging, and other food knowledge.
The Cultural Foodways Fund opened requests for proposals on April 3, 2023, through June 1, 2023, and seeks to fund TCUs to conduct projects that focus on learning about, sharing, and safeguarding the cultural and humanities aspects of work that addresses the traditions, ceremonies, language, art, storytelling, cosmologies, belief systems, customs, and ways of being intertwined with Indigenous foodways.
| Register for their first RFA webinar Tuesday April 18, 2 pm - 3 pm Central. | |
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This spring, the Native Farm Bill Coalition is organizing a series of “fly-ins” for Tribal leaders and Native producers across the country to talk directly with members of Congress, their staff, and the Biden Administration.
Upcoming Regional Fly-Ins
May 9-10 – Indian Country in conjunction with the Native American Food Fair (confirmed)
- Registration deadline: April 25
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Native American Food Fair information here
May 16-18 – Southwest Tribes and Navajo Region (tentative)
Registration deadline: May 2
By participating in these fly-ins, Coalition members will have the opportunity to advocate for policy changes that would positively impact Indian Country, such as strengthening tribal self-governance, allowing Tribes to manage nutrition programs, investing in economic development opportunities in rural communities, and much more.
To learn more about the tentative schedule and fly-in details visit the NFBC website.
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USDA Consultations
2023 Equity and Barriers Tribal Consultation
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USDA will be holding a third consecutive consultation on equity and barriers.This will build on the discussions had during the previous consultations and go through the progress on these barriers and the work that needs to be done. Like the consultation last year, this will be broken up over five days by topic area. Each day the time will be 2:00 - 5:30 p.m. ET.
The topics and dates are as follows:
- Monday, April 24: Economic Development
- Tuesday, April 25: Food, Safety, and Trade
- Thursday, April 27: Farming, Ranching, and Conservation
- Friday, April 28: Forests and Public Lands Management
- Monday, May 1: Education and Research
Framing papers, a detailed agenda, and list of USDA consulting officials will be posted on the OTR consultation website soon.
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Census of Agriculture Deadline Extended | |
The Census of Agriculture helps inform programming and support, such as increasing access to capital and investments in infrastructure at all levels of national, state, and tribal policies. The data gathered from the census is used by many entities, including NAAF, to help conduct outreach efforts to areas with high populations of Native producers to help support them through grantmaking opportunities. Native producers have been underrepresented in agricultural policies due to a lack of accurate data representation.
Filling out the Agriculture Census will provide the foundation for future advocacy initiatives and will be a step towards providing equitable policies which uplift Native agriculture. Learn more about how the Ag Census helps show the impact of diversity of agriculture in Indian Country.
Join us as we show the diversity and strength within Indian Country.
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Deadline: April 28, 2023 at 5 pm MST
Award Amount: $1,000
Akiptan's Okhíĉhaƞye Scholarship's deadline has been extended. This scholarship will award 20 Native American High School seniors currently looking for funding for College, Tech School, or Vet School.
Must be pursuing a degree that will be utilized within the agriculture industry. This can include but is not limited to animal science, agriculture business, agriculture economics, horticulture, etc. Visit the website linked below for more information.
For more information, email dawn@akiptan.org.
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Do you want to be featured like the grantee's below? |
Tag us, @nativeagfund, in your social media posts and we'll reach out to you to highlight in our next newsletter!
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Comments from NAAF Grantees in the Roundtable Discussion of Native Priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill Reauthorization | |
In March the Senate hosted an agriculture committee roundtable based on addressing Native agriculture priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill. Three NAAF grantees attended this roundtable and represented the diversity of Native agriculture throughout this discussion. Read more about their project and their statements at the roundtable below. | |
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Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Juneau, AK
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“The promise of co-management and co-stewardship has been very meaningful to the tribe and while the promise is a step in the right direction, there is still some challenges. And it is, that the existing authority is limited in scope. The requirement to be adjacent to tribal trust lands is really prohibited in Alaska...There is a story to be told, and more importantly, there is active management to be done based on the traditional knowledge that our communities have and are ready to be utilizing, but the barriers need to be addressed." - Madeline Soboleff Levy, Tlingit & Haida General Counsel.
In 2020, Tlingit and Haida built a greenhouse to expand additional agricultural resources and partnerships within their community. This food sovereignty project was started at the height of COVID-19 and stands as a resource for locally grown produce in the Juneau area and serves all tribal members throughout Southeast Alaska. Today, local organizations and community members have donated produce for the greenhouse to grow and serve local produce to Council Tlingit and Haida members.
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Intertribal Agriculture Council
Billings, MT
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“One of the best ways for tribes to ensure not only access to programs but service to their community members is for them to be able to be afforded flexibility around the terms in which they can present these [638] programs to their community members. And it really is a key effort that USDA can consider in how we explore the ways that 638 and the expansion of 638 can allow for us to better serve our community members...When programs are utilizing 638 authority for the tribes to determine what flexibilities need to be extended, that’s when we can really address a meaningful variety and array of community-specific issues that may be faced. Whether that is the need for Indigenous food to be represented in the FDIPR program or whether that is timeliness in which food access needs to be addressed and beyond." - Kelsey Scott, IAC Director of Programs.
The Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) promotes conservation and the development of agricultural resources on Indian lands. With NAAF funding as a 2021 grantee, IAC focused on addressing access to credit for American Indian producers and enabling collaborative systems to create opportunities, as well as enhancing the participation of native land stewards in the regenerative agriculture movement.
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Navajo Agricultural Products Industry
Farmington, NM
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"For the past 6 years, we didn’t have a USDA inspector for New Mexico for us to inspect our products to be exported even domestically...and we keep hearing about this farm-to-fork programs across the nation. Where farm food banks, and also food hubs, and also the farmer's market are really pushing toward that freshness of food and health. But, we still have roadblocks even in our own backyard. There are some schools and some home care that can’t even get our products even though they’re less than a mile away from us. They had to be shipped out of here going to a distribution center and returning so that freshness is not there anymore. So that’s one thing that is hurting us. If we can get that inspector and we have that inspected here on the farm with the Nation, we can work directly with our customers and working with the education system and then also our healthcare and just going directly to them." - Vincent Cowboy, NAPI Sales and Marketing Manager
The Navajo Agriculture Products Industry (NAPI) is an instrumentality of the Navajo Nation Tribal government and their primary focus is agricultural related issues. With NAAF funding in 2020 NAPI initiated its Soil Health Improvement project and NAPI Region 1 Grain Bin Installation for food storage.
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