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As he promoted the Trump administration’s “to make America healthy again” agenda, US Health and Benefits Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lamented the sacrifice that processed foods had on the health of Americans, especially Native Americans.
The packaged food has a “hugely poisoned” tribal community when he met with tribal leaders last month and visited a Native American clinic in Arizona.
A few weeks later, in testimony before the House Approval Committee, he said that processed foods had led to “genocide” among Native Americans who live disproportionately in places with little or no grocery stores.
“One of my top priorities is to reserve delicious foods – high quality foods, traditional foods – because processed American Indian foods are poisonous,” Kennedy told the committee. Healthy foods are key to combating high rates of chronic illness in tribal communities, he said.
But despite the president’s demands that Kennedy’s agency and the USDA improve healthy eating programs, the USDA has ended the very program that many tribal food banks have helped provide fresh, locally produced foods that are important to tradition and culture.
That program – the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Support Cooperative Agreement Program – began under President Joe Biden in late 2021 in response to the challenges of food access that have been expanded by the pandemic. Its goal was to encourage purchases from local farmers and ranchers, and funds went to hundreds of food banks across the country, including 90, focusing on services to tribes.
In March, the Trump administration determined that the program did not match its priorities. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins defended the $5 billion cut by calling the program a remnant of the Covid era.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, in a statement, a USDA spokesman said the department continues to distribute hundreds of millions of dollars through more than 12 other nutrition programs that help families meet their nutritional needs. Regarding tribal communities, a spokesman, including a food distribution programme for Indian reservations for low-income households, said.
When the program began in the 1970s, it provided processed foods known as “products.” Over the years, the government has added more nutritious options for tribes to include salmon, frozen chicken, produce and other nutritious options for tribes to include in recipients’ monthly food packages. However, few tribes participating in the food distribution program can purchase food directly from farmers and ranchers. Instead, most choose from the USDA approved list of available foods.
Kelly, an attorney for the University of Arkansas’ Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, said the program cut by the Trump administration is widely considered an overwhelming success because it chose food based on nutritional needs and “what people actually want to eat.”
“Having the opportunity to coordinate a program makes a huge difference,” she said.
Regarding reservations, the issues addressed in the currently cancelled program were issues for a generation perpetuated by a series of federal policies, the incident added. The pandemic simply “emphasized and exacerbated these issues,” she said.
For example, in the 1800s, western tribes began to lose access to traditional food sources such as berries, salmon, and bison. Some were taken from their hometowns.
Instead, the federal government provided tribal members with food items such as flour, lard, sugar, coffee and other staple foods. At the same time, forced removal of native children at accommodation disrupt the family’s ability to convey knowledge about the food they hunted and harvested.
The now-cancelled grant helped fill the gap, the tribe said.
First image: Jason Bellcourt, the sustainability coordinator of the Chippewa tribe. Second image: Two tribe Bison Bulls at Buffalo Child Ranch. Credit: Aaron Agost from Propublica
On Rocky Boy’s Indian reservation, Jason Bellcourt, particularly far away in Montana, said he believes the Chippewacree tribe is approaching ultimately offering nutritious local food to members of all tribes in need. He expects the tribe’s USDA funding for local food purchases will run out within weeks.
Over the past few years, $400,000 in funding has helped tribes buy beef from local ranchers and farmers and lay produce. This money provided about 250 households on reserves about 20 miles away by the nearest supermarket.
“We wanted no one to turn away,” Belcourt said. “I have families going without food. I have kids going without food.”
The tribes also used this money to help harvest bison from the tribe’s herds. The harvest became a community event, and members of the young tribe learned how their ancestors slaughtered and used buffaloes. He said the tribe’s sense of identity had been restored.
“There’s a lot of cultural sharing. I have a lot of memories from what my grandparents said to them and the old timers of how to use Buffalo,” Belcourt said. “And believe it or not, there’s the healing that’s happening.”
The harvest continues, Belcourt said. However, it is unclear how the USDA will make up for the $150,000 loss of funds that it previously awarded tribes for local food purchases.
Other tribes are equally concerned about the future.
Walker River Pite in Nevada was the first to receive one of the grants in 2022 to source local food, including $249,091. The community 115 miles southeast of Reno spent most of its money on local produce and eggs, according to the USDA. According to the tribe, of the 830 residents on the reservation, 40%, not Native Americans, received food purchased using the grant.
“I really believe that no one knows the needs of our tribal citizens better than the tribe,” Amber Torres, the then tribe chairperson, said in a news release.
In late March, 12 nonprofits defending Native Americans sent a letter to USDA secretary Rollins, urging them to revive “critical” programs as a step towards respecting tribal sovereign status. In a recent meeting with USDA officials, tribal leaders once again emphasized that they wanted a say in the food distributed in their reservations.
First Image: A community garden run by Hellplogge fosters food sovereignty and sustainability with Rocky Boy’s reservation. Second image: Empty planter shelf in an unused greenhouse in Hellplogge. Fundraising cuts have made it difficult to maintain full staff. Credit: Aaron Agost from Propublica
Tribal communities still have access to a small number of federal food programs. But last year, the Government’s Accountability Office, the Congress’s watchdog division, discovered that some people have pose a barrier to their ability to get the food they want or need.
For example, individuals who accept the provision of a product program will not be able to receive assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as Food Stamps. As a result, household needs may be met. Research shows that SNAP may provide important cooking ingredients (oils, seasonings, yeasts) such as oils, seasonings, and yeasts.
(Local food programs are not included in the GAO report.)
On the reservation at Fort Bernapp in Montana, USDA’s local food program has become a reliable fixture, particularly since the federal commodity program was suspended, said Teshah Holy, Gross Bentre, or aaniiih, a reservation social worker. Structural issues have closed buildings where food from the Product Program was put into warehouses.
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Founded by the nonprofit Holy, the Day Eagle Hope project helped her tribe secure $2 million from the USDA, buy fresh local food and process bison meat from the herd. Members of the Asiniboine and Gross-Bentle tribe, who can collect wild, nutritious berries, will exchange payments through grants. She first distributed food from the shipping containers of her property and later distributed community centers.
Over the past few years, the tribe and her nonprofit have distributed thousands of pounds of food. She expects the remaining money from past grant funding cycles to begin this winter. For those who can go to grocery stores up to 45 miles from part of the booking community, many need to extend their SNAP perks at a time when food prices are rising.
“That means there’s even less food this month,” Holy said. “People will go without.”
Bellcourt says he has begun seeking other grants, and tribal staff will run to donate food in Hubble, more than 20 miles away, and gather waterfalls about 90 miles away.
“There is no Plan B,” Belcourt said of the grant that was suddenly cancelled. “Given the short notice, it’s difficult to find a funder in that time frame.”
