Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Hipp, J. S.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS 72703

GENERATION INDIGENOUS FOOD: PREPARING BEGINNING FARMERS AND RANCHERS FOR SUCCESS AND RESILENCY

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Our institution and our partners have significant experience in serving the needs of this audience. We are located and the Summit location is on the campus of an 1862 land grant institution. We are the home to the only law school-based initiative focusing on the unique intersection of Indian law and Agricultural law. We have partners who are intertribal organizations (Intertribal Agriculture Council) that specialize and have a long track record in serving the needs of American Indian farmers and ranchers. The FFA is an ongoing partner of our work and their knowledge and experience in providing outreach, successful training and educational opportunities that support success for the next generation of farmers and ranchers is well know. The Farm Credit Council, through their offices focused on minority, outreach, and beginning farmer services are ongoing partners of the Summit with demonstrated capacity to reach beginning farmer audiences. The faculty and presenters for the Summit will be drawn from additional partners and supporters such as the First Nations Development Institute, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the Center for Native American Youth (Washington DC), the National Congress of American Indians, and others. While conducted on a University campus that offers four-year and graduate and professional degree programs, we are not conducting the Summit to offer it as a four-year or less degree program. The intent of the Summit is to augment education and training provided at the local or regional level to Native youth and provide highly specialized training uniquely suited to building for their success.This proejct will achieve the following outcomes: development of a cohort of young Native leaders in food and agriculture that will ensure future success of Indian Country food sovereignty and diverse economic opportunities in rural and remote communities stabilized by strong business and legal skills; increasing the number of food sovereignty assessments being done in Indian Country that will improve the ability to plan for food and agriculture success at the local level and increasing the breadth of experiences offered and utilized by the youth participants to improve their understanding of the food sector and their important role in the food sector; and increasing the number of young people who have strong business, marketing, legal, land tenure, production, regulatory compliance and related skills that will support their success throughout their lives and thus the success of Indian Country's role in the US food sector.

OBJECTIVES: The primary goal of BFRDP is to enhance food security, community development and sustainability by providing beginning farmers and ranchers with knowledge, skills and tools to make informed decisions for their operations, and enhance their sustainability. This application goes to the heart of that goal by focusing on the most important tools Native beginning farmers and ranchers will need to succeed and thrive, build strong food sovereignty and sustainability within their communities, and achieve long-term economic development and food security on behalf of their communities. This application is led by the staff and leadership of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, an initiative led by Janie Simms Hipp, J.D., LL.M. who is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. The initiative is nestled within the School of Law on the University of Arkansas Fayetteville campus, a land grant institution known for its leadership in the area of food and agriculture law. The School of Law is among the very few law schools connected with and located on land grant campuses and is the home to the oldest accredited agricultural law specialization graduate program (LL.M.) in the United States. The School of Law is led by Dean Stacy Leeds, a member of the Cherokee Nation and is the only American Indian dean of a law school in the United States and the only and first American Indian female dean of a law school. Her specialization is tribal governance and property law while Ms. Hipp's specialization is the complex intersection of Indian law and Agricultural law.The Summit proposed by this application is already established and the initial curriculum has been tested in its inaugural year and the project team is made up of intertribal nongovernmental organizations (Intertribal Agriculture Council), non-native farming and ranching NGOs, credit institutions (Farm Credit Council), and school-based agricultural educational organizations with expertise in agricultural producer training and outreach (FFA).The Native Youth in Agriculture Summer Leadership Summit is a collaborative program developed by the Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) at the University of Arkansas School of Law and delivered by IFAI, Intertribal Agriculture Council, Farm Credit Council, the National FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) and numerous presenters during the Summit activity, including those from the First Nations Development Institute, Tribal government officials and representatives of successful Tribal-owned food and farming businesses. Through a comprehensive educational program focusing on farm financial management and the five areas of risk in farming operations as well as a sustained mentorship network, the Summit aims to meet the following long-term goals: to promote farming, ranching, and food businesses as productive and sustainable career choices for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian youth; to secure the future of Tribal food systems by promoting intertribal cooperation and an engraining of food sovereignty in the lives of beginning farmers and ranchers; and to ensure the success of future Native farmers and ranchers by giving them the specialized education they need to thrive and build resilience as the next generation of Indian Country food & agriculture leaders. This three-year project will build on the curriculum and specialized education and training needed by the beginning farmers and ranchers within the target audience and age group within Indian Country.The specific goals of this project are: to promote farming, ranching, and food business development as sustainable career choices for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian youth; assessing and reviewing as well as developing specificalized curricula to address the skills necessary to build sustainable career options for these youth; deliver a summit program in each funded year that builds a deeper understanding of the role of food systems development and the future of Indian Country; deliver a program that fully provides support for career development in the agriculture and food sciences for these youth; improve and increase the number of students attending the Summit each year who go on to careers in food and agriculture and the STEM sciences; promote intertribal cooperation and food sovereignty in the lives of beginning farmers and ranchers; build fundamental foundational success among Indian Country food and agriculture related businesses; develop leadership and mentorship opportunities for these youth; provide comprehensive education and training in all areas of agricultural risk, business management, business planning, market planning, legal and land tenure skills and continually assess the needs of all attendees of the Summit experience.