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).
![](https://nativeland.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Harvested-Cropland.png)
This disparity in access to croplands is most likely the reason why, according to the same data, non-natives capture 87.11% of the market value of agricultural products sold on Native American Reservations (below). Since the last time this data was collected in 2012, market value captured by non-natives has increased 21% where the during the same period it only increase .8% for Natives.
![](https://nativeland.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Market-Value-National.png)
This disparity is the product of over a century of US Government policies that placed greater emphasis on liquidating and/or leasing lands within Native American Reservations to non-natives while making it harder and harder for Native Americans to utilize their own lands. It also demonstrates the Government has a long way to go to live up to its moral and fiduciary responsibility as trustee of native lands to manage those lands for the benefit of native peoples.