The Oklahoma Bar Journal April 2024

T HE FARM BILL IS ONE OF THE LARGEST PIECES OF OMNIBUS LEGISLATION passed by Congress. Farm bills are generally authorized for five years and permit pro grammatic and funding support for food and agriculture systems in the United States. 1 The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 (AAA), now known as the first “farm bill,” passed in the wake of the Great Depression and was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to address volatility in American agriculture markets. 2 The price volatility of agri cultural commodities was predicated by an excess supply of some commodities and severe supply deficits of other crops and food products due in part to weather-related disasters and exacerbated due to poor production practices in conflict with good environmental and natural resources management. 3 However, this first farm bill did nothing to address agricultural cul tivation and production practices that disrupted critical natural resources. 4 It also contained no provisions considering tribal agriculture, tribal producers or tribal lands. 5

subjection to reservation and removal era policies had signifi cantly disrupted tribal food and agriculture systems, resulting in separation from traditional food sources, burdensome influence over tribal production agricul ture practices 8 and dependence on federal nutrition support. 9 Additionally, despite the congres sional assertion of the encourage ment of tribes to take up yeoman farming, 10 allotment policies in the early 1900s resulted in further divestment of tribal lands, creating a land ownership system not con ducive to common tribal produc tion agriculture practices. 11 Tribes

were severely underrepresented and under-considered in farm bill titles until more recently. While tribal nutrition programs – like the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (colloqui ally known as “commods”) 12 – have existed since the 1970s, 13 consideration of production agri culture through the lens of tribal farmers and ranchers on tribal lands wasn’t realized until the 1990 Farm Bill. 14 Efforts to advo cate for tribal farmers and ranch ers consolidated after the 1980s farm crisis when the Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC) was formed in 1987. 15 IAC recognized

DEVELOPMENT OF TRIBAL AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS Only in June 1924 were U.S.- born Native Americans uniformly granted American citizenship through the Indian Citizenship Act. 6 Nine years after the enact ment of the Indian Citizenship Act, many Native Americans were not fully enfranchised under state law and were unable to vote, secure congressional representation or consideration, or uniformly par ticipate in the American political process that would produce the AAA in 1933. 7 Further compound ing issues of political access, tribal

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL