Quantifying Disparities in Agricultural Revenue on Native Lands

According to our Lost Agriculture Revenue Database, non-Native farmers have made $749,517,889,778 in agricultural revenue (85.7% of total revenue) on Native reservations since 1840, while Native farmers have made $125,018,539,082 (14.3% of total revenue). What factors contribute to this shocking disparity in agricultural revenue? And what do these numbers really represent for Native communities?

How Much Discriminatory Lending Practices Impact Agricultural Revenue on US Native Land

By Aude K. Chesnais Introduction: Lending and Debt on US Native Land In 2018, the Keepseagle settlement shed light on widespread lending discrimination across the native agricultural landscape. Native Americans sued the US Department of Agriculture in an attempt to settle historical lending discrimination, which resulted in a 720 million dollar settlement, split between individual […]

Sustainable Food Systems for US Native Lands: A Story Untold

The myth of an “empty land” where Natives lived idly without making good use of their natural resources is persistent and served as the primary base to justify taking lands away from tribes. Contrary to stereotypes, Native Agriculture was diverse and flourishing prior to settler colonialism.

The General Allotment Act of 1887 Crippled Native Agriculture for Generations

Today, the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) holds 66 million acres of lands in trust for various Indian tribes and individuals. Approximately 46 million acres (69%) of this land is used for farming and grazing by livestock and game animals. However, Native Americans are not the primary beneficiaries of agriculture on their lands. According to the […]

Agriculture Revenue from Contemporary US Native Lands

About this Dashboard This data dashboard, developed by the Native Lands Advocacy Project, estimates the agriculture revenue, adjusted for inflation, for all contemporary Native lands within the coterminous United States. Total agricultural revenue can be shown in aggregate for all native lands or filtered for one or more reservation lands. This dashboard also extrapolates the […]

Lost Agriculture Revenue from Ceded Native Lands

About this Dashboard This data dashboard, developed by the Native Lands Advocacy Project, estimates 177 years of lost agriculture revenue from lands ceded from Native Americans from 1840 to 1897. The dashboard makes it possible to view the total lost agriculture revenue from one or more cessions (by clicking on cession polygon in map or […]

Lost Agriculture Revenue from Contemporary United States Native Lands

About this Dashboard This data dashboard, developed by the Native Lands Advocacy Project, summarizes the lost agriculture revenue for all contemporary Native lands within the coterminous United States. The dashboard was generated from the Lost Agriculture Revenue Database built upon 178 years of Agriculture Census Data. Dollars values are adjusted to account for inflation.  Million Acres […]

Lost Agriculture Revenue Database

Lost Agriculture Revenue Database (L.A.R.D) The L.A.R.D. database was developed by the Native Lands Advocacy Project to help quantify the impacts of land cessions and discriminatory agriculture policies of the United States government. The name of the database is a double-entendre of the Lakota word Wasi’chu which translates as “takes the fat” and was used […]

JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF OUR CLIMATE DATA PORTAL!

The Climate Data Portal for US Native Lands is a living resource designed to support sovereign tribal decision-making & climate planning. Join us for a 30 minute webinar that introduces the portal and hosts an open space for Q&As.

December 16, 1-1:30pm EST