Celebrating America’s First Farmers

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief Natural Resources Conservation Service at the NRCS 2004 National American Indian Heritage Month Opening Ceremony

Washington, DC
November 4, 2004

Thank you, Jerry (Gerald Rouse). Welcome to this year’s opening ceremony for National American Indian Heritage Month. The theme of our celebration at NRCS is “Celebrating America’s First Farmers.” That theme is appropriate for two reasons, which I will talk about briefly this afternoon.

The first reason “Celebrating America’s First Farmers” is an appropriate theme is because American Indians were, indeed, the first farmers in the Americas. There are quite a number of crops that originated in the Americas: corn, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, squash, pineapples, and avocados, for example. America’s first farmers were implementing such practices as fertilizing, terracing, and irrigating long before Europeans crossed the Atlantic. So, we can legitimately celebrate American Indians as “America’s First Farmers”

But much of the history of America’s First Farmers over the past 500 years has not been good news. As we all know, the arrival of the Europeans decimated American Indian populations and pushed many native peoples off of their traditional lands. The removal of tribes from their traditional lands caused a major disruption in how tribal peoples used the land. Governments and others often promoted European agricultural methods at the expense of traditional methods. These outsiders also tended to promote European concepts of land ownership at the expense of traditional concepts.

Over the years, we came pretty close to seeing the last of America’s First Farmers. By the early 1990s, there were only a bit more than 7,000 American Indian farmers in the United States – so few that USDA stopped counting them. But the situation has changed in recent years. America’s First Farmers are making a comeback, and USDA and NRCS are helping.

That brings me to the second reason why “Celebrating America’s First Farmers” is an appropriate theme for today’s ceremony. Our celebration is connected to the recent opening of the National Museum of the American Indian, just eight blocks down Independence Avenue from here. What a beautiful and informative facility it is!

The opening festivities for the museum were called the “First Americans Festival.” At USDA, we joined the celebration with our “Celebrating America’s First Farmers” event in the patio of the Whitten Building. NRCS is carrying that theme over into our observance of National American Indian Heritage Month.

Deputy Secretary Moseley spoke at the USDA event on behalf of Secretary Veneman, who was in Casa Grande, AZ, to announce a number of initiatives to strengthen agriculture within the American Indian community. These efforts add to a wide range of activities that USDA has undertaken in recent years to make sure American Indian farmers have full access to USDA programs and services.

In Casa Grande, Secretary Veneman announced that USDA is awarding 22 competitive grants totaling more than $5.9 million to strengthen efforts aimed at serving minority and disadvantaged farmers. These grants are part of the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program administered by USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.

Three of these grants went to efforts that affect American Indians:

• Developing Innovations in Navajo Education, Inc., of Flagstaff, Ariz., received nearly $300,000 for promoting the distribution and adoption of effective traditional Navajo agricultural practices throughout the southwest region of the Navajo Nation. This project will also increase Navajo farmer access to vital USDA support services.

• Si Tanka (Big Foot) College, of Eagle Butte, S.D., received nearly $300,000 for hands-on training to strengthen the skills of Native American farmers in value-added processing and marketing of cooperatives.

• The Inter-Tribal Agriculture Council of Billings, Mont., received $300,000, to develop an outreach educational program which will include establishing and maintaining an internet site which will serve American Indian tribes, Indian agricultural producers, Indian landowners, and Tribal Land Grant Institutions.

A couple of years ago, USDA established a couple of new offices at the Departmental level to bring UISDA programs and services to the American Indian Community. The first office is the Office of Native American Programs, headed by Annabelle Romero. Annabelle is here with us today. She is working to ensure that relevant programs and polices are efficient, easy to understand, and accessible to American Indian constituents.

Secretary Veneman also created an Office of Minority and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Assistance to work with minority and socially disadvantaged farmers who have concerns and questions about loan applications

Several USDA agencies are providing assistance to tribes and tribal peoples:
Rural Development
Secretary Veneman announced that 20 tribal colleges will receive $3.85 million through Rural Development’s Tribal College Initiative Grants. These grants will help tribal colleges make necessary renovations and construct new facilities to serve students' educational needs. For example, Chief Dull Knife College in Montana will receive nearly $200,000 in grant funds to construct two new teaching laboratories and an outdoor learning landscape for the early childhood development center.

Since the beginning of this Administration, USDA Rural Development has provided almost $100 million in loans and grants to support 190 local community facility projects. Rural Development also provides financial and technical assistance directly to tribal governments, organizations, non-profits, and individuals to help with tribal housing, infrastructure, community facilities, and economic development.

Cooperative State Research Education
and Extension Service

In addition, Secretary Veneman announced that CSREES has awarded a grant of three quarters of a million dollars to the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, to develop information to prevent obesity and promote a healthy lifestyle for American Indians. The grant was awarded as part of the $8 million dollar National Research Initiative for Human Nutrition and Obesity administered by CSREES.

Forest Service

During opening week for the National Museum of the American Indian, USDA's Forest Service unveiled a permanent Hall of Tribal Nations in the Yates Building with displays of tribal partnerships. The gallery recognizes the long history of partnerships with Indian Tribes in the management of our nation's forests and grasslands.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

And, of course, NRCS is doing many things to help America’s First Farmers reach their conservation goals. We are working with such organizations as the Intertribal Agriculture Council and the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance to identify and remove barriers to tribal farmers’ receiving USDA services. About 125 different Tribal Nations are now participating in NRCS programs.

We now have 26 tribal conservation districts. Last December, these districts got together for the First National Conference of Tribal Conservation Districts in Las Vegas, NV. They are planning on the second national meeting in December 2004

NRCS has close to 200 full or part-time NRCS Tribal Liaisons across the country. I want to mention our new National Tribal Liaison, Noller Herbert, who will be speaking in a few minutes.

Last year, we had many accomplishments in making our programs available to American Indians.

Larry Holmes, our Small Farms Coordinator, worked with the Intertribal Agricultural Council to conduct consultations in New Mexico and Montana.

Last year, NRCS Oklahoma set aside 10% of its EQIP allocation -- nearly a million dollars -- to target American Indian and other underserved populations.

NRCS Nevada formed an Advisory Group made up of members of various Tribes to advise the State Conservationist on how to make the best decisions in providing service to American Indians.

The NRCS Plant Materials Centers worked closely with Tribes in five States on the propagation and cultivation of sweet grass. The Georgia Golden Triangle RC&D Council is working with the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe on a value added agricultural produce project.

NRCS Montana is providing technical assistance to Tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to complete range inventories on 1.5 million acres of grasslands on three reservations.

And these are just a few of the things NRCS is doing to assist American Indians across the Nation. For example, last fiscal year, we approved 47 percent of the applications for NRCS programs by American Indian and Alaska Native farmers and ranchers. That contrasts with the 23 percent of applications we approved overall. American Indian and Alaska Native producers received more than $14 million in cost share payments. That is 1.8 percent of the total. That percentage is pretty good, because American Indian and Alaska Native producers make up only a little more than half a percent of the producer population.

In terms of overall service to producers, we provided service to 24 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native farmers and ranchers last year, which is 50 percent higher than our service level for White male producers.

We also will be starting a program of scholarships for students in natural resources disciplines at the Tribal Colleges and Universities. This scholarship program is similar to the program for Asian American and Pacific Islander students that took effect this fall. There will be five scholarships awarded soon.

These are just a few of the ways in which NRCS is working with the American Indian Community.


Conclusion

I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks that there were only about 7,000 American Indian Farmers in the early 1990s. The good news is that the 2002 Agricultural Census shows there are now more than 24,000 American Indian and Alaska Native farm operators. What an improvement! And USDA intends to do more.

As Secretary Veneman has said, "USDA is working with tribal leaders across America to support their efforts to bring economic opportunity and an enhanced quality of life to tribal members," This effort is working well, and we here at NRCS are doing our part to ensure that America’s First Farmers continue to make a comeback.

Thank you.