Stephanie Sauceda, interim general manager for Gila River Farms, said the farm is the original test site funded by the federal government to grow and harvest extra-long staple pima cotton, which is considered a superior strain.<\/p>\n
Farming extends back centuries for indigenous people, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just something that Native American people do, not only in Gila River, but also in other tribes. That\u2019s how we survived,\u201d Sauceda said. \u201cWe did the hunting of the animals, we grew our corn and our wheat, and that\u2019s how we actually survived \u2013 how our ancestors survived.\u201d<\/p>\n The natural next step, she said, is to send crops to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n Gila River Farms primarily grows cotton and alfalfa, but in recent years has branched out to increase citrus production and experiment with olive crops, said Garcia, the farm\u2019s assistant general manager.<\/p>\n Sauceda said alfalfa and cotton, which are the farm\u2019s most profitable products, end up in such places as the Philippines, Vietnam and China.<\/p>\n \u201cWe represent the community with our products that go out the door,\u201d said Sauceda, who\u2019s only the second woman to be general manager. She and her employees take pride in being able to bring their product into the global market.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a really good name out there.\u201d<\/p>\n The farm is growing crops on 10,000 acres, rotating alfalfa and cotton on much of that land, Sauceda said. It generates about $10 million annually.<\/p>\n In northern Arizona, members of the Hopi Tribe maintain their cultural and traditional heritage through farming, said Michael Kotutwa Johnson, a Hopi doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona\u2019s School of Renewable Natural Resources and the Environment.<\/p>\n \u201cFor Hopi, farming is our way of life,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Hopi farmers own small plots of 1 to 9 acres and use the traditional technique of dryland farming, which means crops rely only on rainfall, Johnson said. Dryland farming requires seeds be planted deeper than crops for commercial use, he said.<\/p>\n One hundred miles south of where the four corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet, three members of the Navajo Nation lead a biweekly farm-board meeting.<\/p>\n The two women and one man conduct the meeting in both English and Din\u00e9 to be sure the older generation can understand policy changes and upcoming projects.<\/p>\n The farm board discusses a five-year project to update fencing, irrigation and farm equipment.<\/p>\n On the Navajo Reservation, farming and ranching work hand-in-hand, said Lorena Eldridge, farm board president of the tribe\u2019s Tsaile Wheatfields-Black Rock Chapter.<\/p>\n Navajo farmers differentiate themselves from most U.S. farms in a key way: Nearly half of all farms on the reservation are operated primarily by a woman, Eldridge said.<\/p>\n According to the 2012 agriculture census, women represent about 30 percent of the total number of American farmers, but only 14 percent of farms are operated by a woman.<\/p>\n Still, younger generations are moving away from farming on reservations.<\/p>\n One third of all Native American farmers are older than 65. Eldridge is working to secure investments from the Navajo Nation government to attract younger people to farming. The farm board secured $5 million for the five-year project, which will complete its first year in December.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the farm board connects me to my history and culture,\u201d Eldridge said.<\/p>\n Some Native American farmers carry on crop-based traditions, whether for commercial or community uses.<\/p>\n Blue corn, beans and traditional teas and berries, such as greenthread tea and sumac berries, are grown on Native American farms across Arizona.<\/p>\n Ramona and Terry Button pulled the native bavi bean, commonly referred to as the tepary bean, from the brink of obscurity in the late 1970s, said Velvet Button, their daughter.<\/p>\n Drought had put many other local farmers out of business, but Ramona Farms on the Gila River Reservation survived, in part based on reclaiming a bean that had been around for centuries.<\/p>\n Native American communities had \u201clost touch\u201d with the tepary bean and other traditional native foods, Velvet Button said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe lost our market when large grocery stores moved in closer to the reservations and took over the mom and pop shops that were servicing the rural communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The tepary bean comes in black, white, blue speckled and other colors, Button said, and is an important staple food for several tribes.<\/p>\n Ramona Farms, family owned and operated, generates 90 percent of its income from such commercial crops as cotton, wheat and alfalfa, but the Button family\u2019s passion is promoting and educating people about indigenous foods.<\/p>\n Water scarcity, the proliferation of grocery stores and a lack of agriculture education and policy have been hurdles to food sovereignty that organizations such as the Indigenous Food Systems Network and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance are working to overcome.<\/p>\n \u201cThe huge food sovereignty movement has helped connect us once again as indigenous communities and our traditional food sources,\u201d Button said. \u201cOur communities are so remote that we need to be able to sustain ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n According to 2016 data published by the Arizona Department of Health Services, Native Americans are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases, such as diabetes. They die of diabetes at three times the rate of the state\u2019s average, the report said.<\/p>\n Refocusing on traditional foods and incorporating them in new recipes has been a stepping stone to improving the community\u2019s health education, Button said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you see the community growing their own food, being involved in the process \u2013 it really makes a difference,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWhen you give people access to this, you see rates of diabetes going down and you see everyone\u2019s well-being going up.\u201d<\/p>\n