The Oklahoma Bar Journal April 2024

authorizing the secretary of Agriculture to enter into self-de termination contracts with tribes and tribal organizations to carry out the Food Distribution Program on Indian reservations and to pro vide related technical assistance. Includes tribes in parity with states, allowing tribes to deter mine priority resource concerns on tribal lands. Creates an oppor tunity for more direct funding support for tribally determined natural resource priorities and related practices. S. 1998/H.R. 5503, Tribal Conservation Priorities Inclusion Act awarding grants under certain USDA programs to high-density public land counties (populations under 100,000 and over 50% of land owned/managed by the federal government) and to tribal governments in those counties; reduces matching grant fund requirements by 50%. S. 2340/H.R. 3955, Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act Expands upon the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program created by the 2018 Farm Bill to support underserved producers. Authorizes grants and cooperative agreements with tribal governments, among others, to strengthen land, capital and market access for historically underserved farmers, ranchers and forest own ers and producers operating in high-poverty areas. S. 1580/H.R. 3595, MORE USDA Grants Act Improves the process for

Law, OU-Tulsa and OSU and resides in Tvlse on the Muscogee Reservation.

S. 3270/H.R. 5113, REACH Our Tribes Act

Requires the USDA to consult with tribal governments on the annual budget, farm bill and other priorities, streamline applica tions for economic development programs and publish a compre hensive repository of economic development programs available to tribes and tribal entities. CONCLUSION The funding implications and opportunities for tribal rural eco nomic development, conservation, food and nutrition programming and self-determination are critical components of farm bill legislation. Congressional farm bill efforts may be unpredictable over the current session and into the 2024 election cycle. Advocacy groups, like the Native Farm Bill Coalition, will continue to monitor develop ments and share action alerts with stakeholders in Indian Country for engagement opportunities. Tribal participation is the key to ensuring access and inclusion for tribal gov ernments, tribal farmers and ranch ers and tribal citizens in the next iteration of the farm bill, whether that be a farm bill passed in 2024, 2025 or beyond.

Kelli Case (Chickasaw) serves as a senior staff attorney for the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. She advises

tribes and tribal producers across Indian Country in support of tribal agriculture and nutrition programs and policies. Ms. Case is a graduate of OSU and the TU College of Law.

Mallory Moore serves as a staff attorney for the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. Her work focuses on legal

and policy research and products in support of tribal agriculture and food sovereignty. She is a graduate of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 1. Renée Johnson and Jim Monke, “Farm Bill Primer: What is the Farm Bill?” Version 7. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. (2023). 2. Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, Pub. L. No. 73-10, 48 Stat. L. 31 (Originally cited as ch. 25, 48 Stat. 31); Sidonie Devarenne and Bailey DeSimone, “History of the United States Farm Bill,” Library of Congress, Accessed Jan. 14, 2024, https://bit.ly/4a8hQs9. 3. The best example of production practices conflicting with the natural ecosystem is row crop production in western Oklahoma in the early 1900s. Farmers plowed the grassland prairie to turn up nutrients in support of wheat, corn and other grain crop production, disrupting the root systems of native plants – like bluestem, switchgrass, buffalograss and blue grama – that held moisture and retained nutrients in the soil. Loss of anchor root systems resulted in topsoil erosion and blowing sand, culminating in the Dust Bowl. Instead of discontinuing ecologically unsound production practices, farmers tilled deeper to turn up more nutrient-rich soil, only exacerbating the effects. These practices, in conjunction with westward settler movements, solidified the eradication of bison by eliminating habitat and food sources and disrupting the symbiotic cycle of bison and prairie grasslands. “The Dust Bowl ,” National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska, accessed ENDNOTES

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Carly Griffith Hotvedt (Cherokee Nation) is the associate executive director of the Indigenous Food

and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Her work focuses on the intersection of tribal governance, agriculture, food systems, public policy and law. She is a graduate of the OU College of

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