Building Up Native Youth in Agriculture

Recently, the Native Lands Advocacy Project (NLAP) shared  a blog post  announcing the recent addition of two demographic features on our  USDA Census of Agriculture for American Indian Reservations Dashboard . This Dashboard presents data from the 2007, 2012, and 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture for American Indian Reservations (AIR) in an accessible and interactive format.

One of the new demographic features allows viewers to explore the Census data for the total number of Native and non-Native producers broken down by sex, which you can read about  here . The second feature allows viewers to explore the number of Native and non-Native producers on reservations broken down into seven age brackets. In our blog post, we began exploring these numbers and made a few preliminary observations. In this storymap, we will look much more closely at the data, then identify obstacles and opportunities facing Native youth in agriculture.

First, a few notes must be made about the Census itself. These limitations were noted in  our recent blog post  but are worth reiterating here.

The USDA Census of AIR does not present data from all 574 federally recognized American Indian tribes. The 2007 Census presents data from 73 reservations, the 2012 Census from 76, and the 2017 Census from 73. The reservations represented also changed slightly from year to year. This means that the data is incomplete, and many tribes cannot view data specific to their reservations. It also means that trends occurring on a federal level may not apply to individual Native lands.

This raises questions when we see population increases, such as the increase of Native producers on reservations between 2007 and 2017. According to the Census, there were 23,638 Native producers on reservations in 2007, which increased to 27,602 Native producers in 2012 and 30,716 Native producers in 2017.

This increase is often cited by the USDA as a positive trend in Indian agriculture—but is it really representative of a proportional increase in Native producers on reservations? Or are increases like this one due simply to the fact that a larger population was included in the Census? Or because different reservations were included and excluded? Or is it some combination of all of these possibilities? These questions are important to keep in mind as we examine the trends within the Census.

This issue—the limited number of reservations included in the Census—is compounded by a nonresponse bias for those reservations that are represented. Though the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS; the agency of the USDA that conducts the Census) adjusts the collected data for nonresponses using capture-recapture methodology, NLAP has heard from multiple contacts across different reservations that the Census numbers do not paint a complete picture of Native agriculture on their reservation. This is why NLAP will always emphasize the importance of tribal communities evaluating their own communities and identifying trends and needs that may not be represented by federal data.

Lastly, another limitation inherent to this data is the fact that the USDA Census reflects a commodified perspective of agriculture that is often incompatible with Native philosophies of food and land. Many traditional practices that are vital for increasing Native food security and sovereignty will therefore not be represented in these numbers. This is one of the reasons we're developing the  Food-System Transition Index , which seeks to represent the many complex and interlocking factors surrounding food sovereignty for Native communities.

Despite the limitations above, we still find the data of the USDA Census useful—not only for those tribes that are represented within it, but also for identifying overarching trends in Indian Country’s agriculture. The realities and challenges of commodified agriculture on reservations affect the economies, livelihoods, and futures of Native communities. And currently, the USDA Census is the only agriculture data source of its kind, collecting data from multiple reservations, allowing for national aggregation, and enabling comparisons between Census years.

In our recent blog post, we made a few cursory observations about the age trends of producers on reservations. Here, we will dive much deeper into the data, paying specific attention to young agriculture producers.

There are limitations to what we can learn from the Census totals. In most cases, it's much more useful for tribes to evaluate their individual community's data, which may diverge from overall Census trends.

On the map below, you can view the age demographic data for each reservation included in the USDA Census of AIR. We've chosen to include every reservation represented in the Census, whether or not there's data for all three years (2007, 2012, and 2017). We also acknowledge, as we did above, that this data does not represent a complete picture of agriculture on these reservations. In presenting this data in an accessible format, our aim is not to enforce any particular narrative of what's occurring in these communities, but instead we hope that tribes will be able to use this data in whatever ways are useful for advancing their own interests and sovereignty.

To sum up the observations made above, we can note a few crucial takeaways:

1. The population of agriculture producers in the United States is aging. This is true regardless of whether one is Native or non-Native, on- or off-reservation.
2. Young producers are underrepresented in the population of agriculture producers. This is also true across the entire United States.
3. That being said, Native producers on reservations have slightly better representation of younger people. Natives producers on reservations have a lower average age than the national average producer age, and have a higher representation of producers under the age of 25.

In general, youth today face many difficulties entering agriculture, but for Native youth, these challenges are often exacerbated by the unique circumstances surrounding capital, land, and education on reservations.

Access to capital is especially vital for beginning producers, as it enables producers to buy or lease land, purchase equipment, and cover other operating costs.

The 2018 Keepseagle Settlement publicized the US Department of Agriculture’s historical lending discrimination, and  our analysis  of lending and revenue on Native farms shows that higher lending predicts higher revenue. 

Natives on reservations are more likely to live in banking deserts (defined as having to travel more than 10 miles to the nearest financial institution) than other groups. According to  a 2017 report  by the Native Nations Institute, the average distance from the center of a tribal reservation to the nearest bank is 12.2 miles.  Research shows  that those who live in banking deserts are 20% more likely to be credit invisible (i.e. not to have a credit score).

Native youth face even more difficulties than these in accessing capital, due to a lack of credit history and lack of collateral assets.

In 2017, the National Young Farmers Coalition  conducted a survey  of 4,746 farmers under the age of 40. For respondents who were aspiring farmers or those who had left farming, a significant 30% identified land access as the largest barrier to their farming. These numbers are, of course, not necessarily representative of Native agriculture producers, but they do reveal that access to land is a major challenge faced by producers across the United States.

For Native producers on reservations, the challenge of land access is exacerbated by issues like  fractionated ownership  and, in the cases of reservations that were allotted under the Dawes Act of 1887,  prime farmland being taken out of Native stewardship . In the words of one of our partners, the Indian Land Tenure Foundation:

"As the General Allotment Act of 1887 [...] was implemented on Indian reservations across the U.S., land that was perceived to be the most valuable was generally declared “surplus” and was sold or transferred to non-Indian parties. And while much of the land that remained in Indian control is still productive, the fractionated ownership of trust lands and the excessive federal bureaucracy involved in managing these interests makes it nearly impossible for Indian people to use these lands themselves. Today, the vast majority of agricultural lands on reservations are leased to non-Indian ranchers, often at less than fair-market value."

Similar to the financial barriers Native youth face, the above challenges of land access are made more difficult by circumstance. If a young, aspiring Native producer doesn't come from an agricultural family or know of any community agriculture programs, accessing the land necessary to begin their operation will be incredibly difficult. 

While difficult to quantify, it is nonetheless worth noting the educational and social elements that may hinder or encourage Native youth to enter agriculture. Before any of the above financial and land barriers enter the picture, Native youth must first and foremost know that there are opportunities available to them in the field of agriculture. 

Being an agriculture producer can involve a vast array of technical skills. It’s not necessary for producers to have formal degrees, but beginning producers must have some avenue to learn the technical skills and knowledge needed to be successful in agriculture.

For Native youth on reservations, it’s especially important to have support from the tribal community and government. This support can be expressed in many ways—youth provisions being formalized in an ARMP, tribal-led agriculture initiatives, family or elder mentorship, the existence of a tribal Department of Agriculture, etc. Without this support, Native youth may feel like there are no opportunities for them in agriculture, or that they must leave their reservations in order to find such opportunities.

Native communities and allies are addressing the above barriers in countless creative ways. In the slideshow below, we’ve highlighted a number of these opportunities and programs that support Native youth seeking to enter agriculture. This isn’t a comprehensive survey of all the resources available. Rather, we’ve selected a broad range of initiatives, opportunities, and programs in order to highlight the many creative ways communities and organizations are supporting Native youth in agriculture.