USDA seeks to expand world markets for Native produce

For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture led an international trade mission focused on Native agricultural and food products and businesses. The goal is to give those products a push into export markets.

Following the three-day mission to Canada, Alexis Taylor, the undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, met with a small group of stakeholders at the University of Arizona to discuss specialty products markets and international trade.

The group consisted of university leadership and staff, members of the San Xavier Cooperative Farm, Gila River Indian Community Irrigation and Drainage District, the San Carlos Apache Tribe, nonprofits working with Indigenous communities, specialty crop producers and Arizona Department of Agriculture Director Paul Brierley.

The historic trade mission from June 17 to 20 in Vancouver was organized in partnership with the Intertribal Agricultural Council. Fourteen tribal agribusinesses and 13 Native nations agricultural leaders joined the USDA to expand First Nations networks and bring more Indian Country products into foreign markets. Navajo Mike’s , a Diné business of sauces and fry bread mix based in Tempe, was one of the participants.

"We're fundamentally trying to change how we do business in Indian Country," Taylor told The Arizona Republic on Friday, after the UA roundtable.

'We've been listening differently'

The trade mission was part of new areas of focus in the agency, like building more partnerships with tribal nations on co-stewardship and co-management of Forest Service land. Bringing that knowledge back "is really important for the health of our national forests," she said.

Focusing on creating more marketing support for native producers and their products was also connected to this mission, as was getting more Native and Indigenous food into the nutrition assistance programs.

"And I think that's why now," Taylor said about the 2024 mission. "We've been listening differently."

USDA has programs that specifically support Indigenous farming and ranching, but international markets hadn't been an area of work until now. Steps following the Canada trade mission will depend on the conversation with tribal partners, Taylor said, "what they need and want to see happen next."

At the listening session on Friday, there was discussion on whether and how traditional foods such as mesquite and tepary beans could make a name in the national and foreign market and gain a premium price, just as other local foods have, said Brierley, the state agriculutre department director.

"Everyone's heard about Hatch chile," he said. "It didn't use to be that way. It was a very local thing. They figured out how to tell that story and why Hatch chile is special, and now everyone wants Hatch chilies. Think what that did for those producers."

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How grants could help Native producers

Brierley said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's lead in strengthening small farmers and local food systems has ripples in tribal communities, especially in Arizona, home of 22 federally recognized tribes and the two largest Indian reservations in the country.

Last year, the state was awarded $4.6 million in federal funding for the Resilient Food System Infrastructure Program. Over four years, the agency can use $3.2 million for competitive grants and equipment grants. Several have already gone to Native producers, Brierley said.

"One of the things that was most important to me was that be really nicely distributed around the state," he explained. "In Arizona, when you distribute around the state, you are in a lot of tribal country."

Other sources of funding that could help tribal businesses export are the Market Access Program and the Regional Agricultural Promotion Program, a $1.2 billion effort to "diversify and expand market opportunities" to new parts of the world, market more specialty crops and expand opportunities of who can export.

"Arizona speaks to all of those priorities," Taylor said.

Clara Migoya covers agriculture and water issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to clara.migoya@arizonarepublic.com .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: USDA seeks to expand world markets for Native produce