Indigenous agriculture should be recognised not only as part of farming's past but through the Native students now training to shape its future, Bre Holbert, a past National FFA President who studied agricultural science and education at California State University, Chico, writes in a column for AGDAILY ahead of Indigenous Peoples' Day on 12 October. The views are the writer's own.
Her main example is the Tribal Agriculture Fellowship. The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) announced its investment in the programme in December 2021, and in 2022 NAAF and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) launched it with support from John Deere, Farmer Mac and Farm Credit. FFAR committed $2.5 million over five years, matched by its partners.
The first cohort had 10 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students in technical, undergraduate and graduate agricultural courses. Fellows receive help with fees along with enrichment programmes, professional development, networking workshops and peer mentoring. The programme, run by the Native Agriculture Education Fellowship Program, a nonprofit supported by NAAF, now spans several cohorts in agriculture, natural resources, veterinary medicine and agricultural education.
"In order for Native agriculture to thrive, we need to invest in our future through the next generation," said Toni Stranger-McLaughlin, chief executive of NAAF.
Holbert profiles two fellows. Sydnie Marquez, a Native Hawaiian student from Kohala High School on Hawaii Island, led chapter projects on native Hawaiian species, conservation and sustainable farming and plans to study environmental science and engineering so she can help restore traditional farming systems at home. Kameron Richardson, a member of the Lumbee Tribe who grew up on his family's row-crop, hay and cattle farm near Rowland, North Carolina, is working on a PhD at the University of Idaho on soil microbial ecology and how management affects soil health, and plans to take those practices back to his community.
The fellowship's 2026-27 application for students in certificate and two-year associate programmes in agricultural and technical fields is open on a rolling basis and closes on 31 December. Holbert also points to the New Beginning for Tribal Students programme, authorised in the 2018 farm bill, which gives competitive grants to land-grant institutions to support Tribal students; the US Department of Agriculture opened a new funding cycle for it in 2026.
Photo: USDA / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: AGDAILY
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