The 2018 Farm Bill is expected to expire on September 30, 2022. The Farm Bill is an omnibus, multiyear law and is the single largest financial commitment that the U.S. government makes to U.S. food and agriculture producers, providing nutrition assistance, crop subsidies, crop insurance, rural broadband internet deployment and a range of other programs and initiatives. To learn more about the Farm Bill, click here.

 

For Indian Country, the Farm Bill is an important mechanism to advance tribal self-determination, combat chronic health disparities, and develop regional food economies. Of note, funding allocated to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support these priorities outweighs funding appropriated to all other agencies serving Tribal governments, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service. 

 

To prepare for upcoming Farm Bill negotiations, the Native Farm Bill Coalition (NFBC) has partnered with the JTBA to urge the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to include a provision in the 2023 Farm Bill to consider traditional foods such as fish, meat, wild rice, grains, and other produce procured from traditional homelands in Canada "domestic" for the purpose of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).  Currently, Tribal governments are unable to use these healthy food options in their feeding programs because USDA requires food to be domestically-source. However, in enacting this provision, Congress will increase access to traditional, nutritionally-valuable foods and promote enhanced Tribe-to-Tribe trade.