Storylines we’ll be tracking in 2025

As we head into 2025 and a new administration, Tribal Business News will be paying special attention to these storylines as they unfold in the coming weeks and months. 

What’s next for artificial intelligence in Indian Country? 

Artificial intelligence has already taken up everything from customer analytics to grant writing to bookkeeping for Native America, per prior Tribal Business News reporting. Those uses could expand as technology advances, creating ever-more intelligent chatbots, databases, and language learning models. 

We’ll be tracking AI use in the gaming industry and across tribal enterprises, as well as the technology’s potential uses in language preservation, agriculture, and tribal governance. That’s in addition to the wider stories, such as the impact of AI on tribal data sovereignty. As companies like OpenAI run data scrapers across the internet, questions have been raised about protecting tribal data from unauthorized use in learning models. Misuse could lead to everything from exposing proprietary information to losing critical context, or distributing outright misinformation by way of hallucinating chatbot. 

There is also the question of energy use. AI technology consumes gargantuan amounts of energy relative to its output. We’ll be tracking the intersection between AI use and environmentalism in Indian Country, where so many communities grapple with climate change impacts. 

What’s going on with the Farm Bill?

The 2018 Farm Bill included a massive array of successes for Native producers, establishing debt relief, grant opportunities, and support for self-governance demonstration projects in food programs. The Native Farm Bill Coalition, a policy advocacy group, sought even more advances in 2023 to expand self-governance and widen market opportunities. 

Now we’re headed into 2025 with no new Farm Bill — a situation that looms large over Indian Country. While Congress passed an eleventh-hour extension to the 2018 Farm Bill as part of its fire drill to avoid a government shutdown, the stopgap measure merely preserves existing programs at a time when Native producers face mounting challenges and their numbers continue to decline. 

In the coming year, we’ll examine how the legislative stagnation affects Native producers and self-governance projects. We’ll also analyze the potential shapes of the next Farm Bill, consult with experts on the future of Native American agriculture under a new administration and a unified Congress, and dive into new funding models and programs to support food sovereignty. 

What happens to the clean energy transition under a Trump administration?

The Biden administration’s renewable energy push created unprecedented opportunities in Indian Country with billions of dollars in grants, debt, and tax credits for tribal clean energy projects. That surge in funding has created a rush of research and development across Native communities turning to clean energy sources, including solar, wind, and biofuels.

The transition faces uncertainty under the incoming Trump administration, which has signaled plans to resume oil drilling and shift focus back to fossil fuels. While some industry experts remain optimistic, noting that renewable projects have found bipartisan support due to the strong presence in Republican states, others worry about potential funding reductions or that federal funding money might be clawed back. 

There may be some areas of common ground, particularly around streamlining permitting processes and eliminating bureaucratic red tape. Congressional Republicans like Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who chairs the House Appropriations committee, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who serves on the Indian Affairs Committee, have strongly supported bipartisan legislation advancing tribal issues, while Secretary of Interior nominee Doug Burgum could prove an ally, according to tribal leaders in his home state of North Dakota.  

In 2025, we'll track which Biden energy initiatives survive, monitor ongoing projects, track policy impacts on tribal energy sovereignty, and keep an eye on public and private investment flows to Native communities.

How are tribes using a historic $530M small business program?

The Treasury Department's $530 million State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) investment in Indian Country represents the largest federal investment in Native small businesses in history. Over the past two years, the program has approved funding for more than 235 tribal nations, with initiatives ranging from loan participation programs and collateral support to venture capital investments. The program's structure allows tribes to customize their approach, supporting everything from small retail establishments and agriculture ventures to clean energy projects and technology startups.

The program aims to catalyze up to $5 billion in total economic activity across Indian Country through private sector matches and partnerships with local financial institutions. Tribes are putting the funds to use in a variety of ways — the Cherokee Nation's $86.9 million allocation supports rural healthcare innovation while the Lummi Tribe's will focus on climate-friendly fishing industry projects, showing how tribes can adapt the program to their specific needs. 

Tribal Business News will track the program’s successes and setbacks throughout 2025. We’ll report on how tribes use this funding and build financial systems to support Native-owned businesses. We’ll also focus on their progress in attracting private investment, especially in remote areas, compare different tribal strategies, and monitor how these investments impact tribal economies and jobs. 

What other stories should we be tracking in 2025?  Send us a note at [email protected].