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- By Chez Oxendine
- Food | Agriculture
A U.S. Department of Agriculture decision to terminate previously awarded land-access grants is disrupting plans by tribal and Native-serving organizations tied to land, capital and infrastructure.
The Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access Program, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, was designed to help beginning farmers secure land, build infrastructure and access capital. USDA awarded 50 grants totaling $300 million in 2023, including several directly to tribal governments as well as Native-led or -serving organizations.
The agency has since terminated 49 of those awards, citing concerns about spending and program structure, according to media reports. As of this week, USDA had removed the Increasing Land, Capital and Market Access program’s landing page and related materials from its government website.
For the Piikani Lodge Health Institute on the Blackfeet Reservation, the cancellation eliminates nearly $9 million intended to build a producer training hub and industrial community kitchen. Leaders told Montana Free Press the organization had already begun planning construction and staffing for a facility designed to support farmers and ranchers in Glacier and Pondera counties.
“We were blindsided,” Piikani Lodge CEO Desi Rodriguez‑Lonebear told Montana Free Press. “This wasn’t just a grant. This was a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunity to rebuild our food system.”
USDA questioned certain budget items, including a $20,000 smoker, but the organization disputed the characterization, saying the equipment was part of a broader food‑processing plan, according to the Montana Free Press. The group is preparing an appeal to USDA’s National Appeals Division.
Chippewa Cree Planning Director Neal Rosette said the tribe intended to use its award to acquire agricultural land on and around the Rocky Boy’s Reservation and train new farmers and ranchers to manage it. He told Civil Eats that high land prices remain a barrier for tribal citizens seeking to enter agriculture, despite suitable land for grazing and crop production.
Rosette said staff had been working for months to close on a 320‑acre parcel valued at about $400,000, but the tribe had received only a portion of its nearly $6 million award since 2023. He told Civil Eats the tribe repeatedly requested remaining funds but received limited communication from the agency.
“We were really excited about the opportunity to help our young people get into farming and ranching,” Rosette told Civil Eats. “When we got the termination letter, it was heartbreaking.”
Four Bands Community Fund, which serves tribal producers across Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, was awarded more than $6 million in lending capital and additional equity support, according to USDA data cited by Montana Free Press.
Tribal organizations outside Montana may also be affected. USDA’s grantee list shows awards to the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, American Indian Mothers Inc., the Indian Land Tenure Foundation and the Intertribal Agriculture Council.
Their projects ranged from land reacquisition and cooperative development to capital funds and national technical‑assistance programs. It was not clear at the time of publication how much funding had been distributed to these organizations.
Non-Native organizations partnering with tribes on land projects were also impacted. A $13 million grant to the Trust for Public Land was cancelled even as that organization works with the Penobscot Nation to complete a 30,000-acre land transfer in Maine, according to a partner speaking on background.
Montana Free Press reported that tribal officials dispute USDA’s framing of the awards as “DEI‑based,” pointing to federal law that treats tribal citizenship as a political classification rather than a racial one. Separately, Politico reported that USDA cancellation letters cited “discriminatory preferences” tied to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as “wasteful spending.”
A USDA spokesperson said tribes are not subject to the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives but did not clarify whether tribally focused grants were included in the cancellations.
“Where this program focused on underserved producers and foresters broadly, the Department finds that further race- and sex-based remedies are no longer necessary or legally justified,” the spokesperson said in an email to Tribal Business News.
Brian Edwards contributed reporting.
