Tribes Lack Access To USDA Grants, Despite Running 72,000 Farms Across US

By Laurel Morales
June 23, 2016
Laurel Morales
Irving Shaggy runs a 10-acre farm in Shiprock, N.M. on the Navajo Nation.

Native Americans run more than 72,000 farms across the country, according to the USDA. Most of those farms are in the southwest.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing Wednesday to try to understand why tribes don’t have better access to federal rural development funds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture loaned out $29.5 billion last year, but only $500 million went to tribes. Meanwhile, about 30 percent of Native Americans live in rural communities.

USDA spokeswoman Lillian Salerno said the Obama Administration has doubled the amount invested in Indian Country compared to the previous administration. But many rural Native Americans still lack basic services.

“Tribal members use honey buckets which are 5 gallon buckets lined with trash bags to collect urine and feces, which are then disposed of in the most ideal circumstances in a sewage lagoon,” said Tim Scheurch, the president of the Maniilaq Association, a nonprofit that provides tribal services in Alaska. “Lack of adequate water and sewer service in our region causes severe skin infections and respiratory diseases.”

Tribal leaders said there’s little federal outreach and applying for USDA grants is often a “bureaucratic nightmare.”