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.

Non-Natives Control Majority of Harvested Cropland on Native American Reservations

According to the most recent 2017 data from the USDA Census of Agriculture for American Indian Reservations 86.33% of harvested cropland on American Indian Reservations is operated by non-natives. In total, this amounts to 3.3 million acres of land operated by non-natives compared to only 532 thousand acres operated by Native Americans (see chart below). […]

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 […]

Women’s Representation in Agriculture Greater Among Native Americans

Increasing the proportion of women in agriculture has been a longstanding goal of agencies like USDA, FSA and programs like 4H but these programs may be able to learn a thing or two from Indian Country which has nearly equal participation among men and women. This is according to data collected in the 2017 USDA […]

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 […]

FSTI – Good Food Access Indicator for US Native Lands

Table of Contents   About this Indicator The Good Food Access Indicator is a composite score that provides an assessment of both access This indicator is one of 20 measures built for the Food-System Transition; a first of a kind tool that provides key insights on the social, ecological and cultural dimensions of US native […]