Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge: Barriers, Integration, Policy, and Outreach

Abstract

In Fiscal Year 2017, out of 49,140 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) cost-share contracts awarded nationally, only 1035 were awarded in Indian Country. This suggests that there are opportunities for NRCS to implement conservation practices on 99 million acres of American Indian lands. The goal of this dissertation is to call for the expansion of NRCS programs on American Indian lands by identifying barriers to American Indian participation in NRCS cost-share programs. The dissertation recommends policy changes to increase participation. This dissertation consists of three chapters and a museum exhibit. The first chapter identifies four barriers to American Indian participation in NRCS cost-share programs: land tenure insecurity, lack of capital, lack of communication, and institutional mismatches. The second chapter describes how management based on Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge (IAK) leads to the same conservation outcomes as NRCS standard practices, but getting IAK based conservation methods approved by NRCS is a complicated process that happens on a case-by-case basis. The third chapter outlines a proposal for Indigenous Field Office Technical Guides (IFOTG) that articulates well with existing instruments, such as Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFA) to increase American Indian participation in NRCS cost-share programs. The IFOTGs will help bridge the gap between Indigenous “Ways of Knowing” and Western science. The goal of the museum exhibit is to demonstrate the continuity and resiliency of IAK practices and provides an example for how Indigenous agriculture methods may be shared with the public by using the Hopi agriculture system as an example. This research employs key informant interviews, case studies, and literature reviews. Creating better access to USDA conservation programs for American Indian farmers, ranchers, and IAK holders will not only be beneficial for American Indians, but will also help NRCS meets its mission statement of Helping People Help The Land.