Tribal Local Foods FRTEP Project, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Reservation

The intent and mission of the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program (FRTEP) is to establish an Extension presence to promote equity in access to Extension outreach and to provide resources to address long-standing needs among Federally Recognized Tribes. We're proposing to expand our Extension presence and outreach on the Pine Ridge Reservation to address the needs of its marginalized communities and help provide increased access to badly needed and hard-to-find resources of the reservation. This will be accomplished through six types of activities.1) Our Beginning Regenerative Farmer Training and Education Program will assist tribal members who are new to farming, as well as existing producers who need to adjust their operation due to a disabling condition. This will include hands-on production training and education (either in-person or remotely) for up to 40 new tribal farmers. In addition, we will utilize an updated edition of "The 2020 Tribal Small Farmers Resource Guide for Pine Ridge (TSFRG)," developed via our current USDA-NIFA AgrAbility grant, as one of our main resources to train these new farmers on how to pursue resources to start, develop, and expand their operations. Working with Dr. Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots Environmental Youth program and Rebel Earth Farm's Incubator, our team has also developed a Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Regenerative Windbreak Guide. Regenerative windbreak orchards are a culturally appropriate form of rain-garden/wind-break that produce food for people and animals, create wildlife habitat, and establish wildlife corridors on the borders of farms, schools, and/or communities for wildlife to pass through. They also reduce crop loss due to wildlife damage, by providing habitat and food on the outskirts of the property.2) Farm to School (F2S) development efforts have involved hiring a dedicated, part-time F2S program assistant and creating several F2S champions to work in their own local communities, schools, and local farmers/gardeners to develop a vibrant F2S program. Our goal in this project is to add the F2S program to four tribal schools, starting with the Little Wound School (LWS) in Kyle, SD. The Extension School at LWS works with a total of approximately 120 students, including 20 in-person students.3) Expanding Youth Outreach beyond just schools is a partnership with the National Indian Youth Leadership Project's (NIYLP) Project Venture program and with Jane Goodall's RS Environmental Youth program at the Rebel Earth Farm Incubator. These programs already work with tribal schools and existing tribal farmers to address environmental and wildlife conflict events. These programs will participate in our F2S efforts, but will also work with tribal communities and farmers to utilize more TLK and environmental approaches to agriculture and the natural environment. Currently the NIYLP and RS programs work with five tribal schools and care for four gardens that are restoring culturally significant plants to the Lakota people.4) Increased Access will occur through our partnerships with the Rebel Earth Farm Incubator (60 acres) and Re-Member Feather Two Farms Incubator (160 acres). These incubators provide free access to land and equipment to landless, enrolled tribal members. Both sites have high-tunnels, compost, use drip-irrigation, and have access to trained staff experienced in high-tunnel production in South Dakota. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these two incubators hosted over fifty tribal members who came to learn about high-tunnel production.5) Workforce Development Efforts will continue to expand with increasing tribal member access to technology and Wi-Fi through our partnership with Goodwill of the Great Plains' (GWGP) and their new Mobile Career Lab (MCL). GWGP is working to create digital upskilling, career enhancement services, and job seeker support that are accessible to rural and urban community members via the MCL.In addition, our team will work with local Lakota beginning farmers and laborers, training them on regenerative farming practices and principles.6) Economic Development Efforts will continue to increase market access through increased participation in area farmers markets, potential market access via partners such as Lakota Made, LLC, and through developing markets with schools via our F2S program.Central tenants of our approach are: 1) Tribal Local Foods and AgrAbility as a Beginning Regenerative Farmer Program for tribal members, Farm to School (F2S) students, and community members; 2) Land-access and capacity building to promote sustainability after the grant period ends; 3) Prevention of secondary injuries; and 4) Participant success in the program - starting to focusing to graduating. For programs to be successful, our experience has taught us that we need to first work with farmers in marginalized communities from a survival focus. Then we can assist them in transitioning to subsistence farming and self-sufficiency. The final stages are abundance of harvest, and eventually scaling up to small-scale commercial agriculture. Lakota people have long sought a culturally appropriate and acceptable form of agriculture. Within these broader goals we have the following four measureable objectives:Objective 1: To provide training and educational support to 40 tribal regenerative farmers on the Pine Ridge Reservation to help them adopt regenerative farming practices.Objective 2: To provide 4 tribal schools with Farm to School (F2S) community champions, and 40 tribal farmers with training and educational support to establish active F2S programming in both their schools and communities.Objective 3: To directly support non-governmental organizations, such as non-profits, in implementing Farm to School programming and support regenerative farming practices.Objective 4: To directly support workforce development efforts on the Pine Ridge Reservation that target a trained regenerative farm and ranch labor force.