‘Be that changemaker’: USDA consultation with tribal leaders follows congressional testimony

Long-term solutions will incorporate ‘tribal self-determination wherever possible’

Tribal leaders expressed cautious optimism following Thursday’s consultation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The meeting addressed the persistent food shortages faced by tribal food assistance programs following a congressional hearing last week. Participants identified critical changes necessary to prevent another shortage, including the availability of real-time data, improved communication channels and increased funding.

At the Sept. 11 hearings, tribal leaders testified on the months-long persistent food shortages due to the USDA’s consolidation to a single distribution contractor. Delayed, missing and incomplete deliveries depleted inventories, leaving many participants without staple foods like meat, cheese and juice.

Testimonies centered on institutional barriers that perpetuated this crisis. Notably, funding for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations has not significantly increased since the program’s inception in the 1970s, testified Mary Greene Trottier, president of the National Association of FDPIRs.The average monthly food package is about $70 per household.

Their testimony was followed by remarks from USDA officials, including Secretary Tom Vilsack, who emphasized the department’s need to listen better to its tribal partners.

Greene Trottier, also the FDPIR director for Spirit Lake Nation in Fort Totten, North Dakota, said she was glad to hear Vilsack say, “We need to listen to tribes better.” She said. “It doesn’t do any good to sit and have a consultation. I know we can’t always agree on everything. But there is a reason we bring a situation to light.”

When pressed by lawmakers on Wednesday, Vilsack said necessary institutional changes would be determined during Thursday’s closed-door consultation between USDA officials and tribal leaders.

Vilsack told lawmakers he wanted future dialogue to establish a system “that is better aligned with the needs of FDPIR and [senior commodity foods program] customers than the current one, and incorporates tribal self-determination wherever possible.”

Discussion among tribal leaders and USDA officials from the Food and Nutrition Service identified a need for an improved tracking system to relay accurate inventory and expiration dates. They want both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and FDPIR to be open to participants; currently, utilizing one disqualifies you for the other.

During Thursday’s consultation and testimony, tribal leaders conveyed that they want more control over what goes into FDPIR food packages. The 2018 Farm Bill established an ongoing pilot program wherein FDPIRs receive USDA funding for up to three years to source culturally relevant foods from local producers.

The USDA has been making strides in providing traditional foods and locally sourced foods through its FDPIR program, but program directors want to see a union of the two. “Not just regional sourcing but regional foods,” Greene Trottier noted.

She previously told Buffalo’s Fire that USDA’s traditional foods program frequently operates as “one size fits all.” Wild rice doesn’t need to be supplied to all 276 tribal communities who participate in FDPIR, she explained, for the same reason Southwestern tribes would prefer to have blue cornmeal over bison meat.

Tribal communities “have different palettes and different traditional foods and different seasonal foods,” Greene Trottier explained.

“USDA looks forward to continuing the conversation as we envision the future of the FDPIR program together,” a USDA spokesperson wrote in a statement to Buffalo’s Fire.

Tribal leaders are still seeking assurances that FDPIR programs that used local procurement funds to restock inventory will be reimbursed. That permission rests with Congress.

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians Chairman Darrel G. Seki Sr. testified that they received an emergency food grant from Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC), a federally recognized tribe in Minnesota, which pledged $3 million in assistance to regional tribes.

“SMSC should not be put in a position where they felt obligated to step in,” Seki testified. “SMSC does not have a trust obligation to tribes; USDA does.”

Seki told Buffalo’s Fire he reiterated the short and long-term solutions identified in his testimony during Thursday’s consultation. “There’s always promises made and we will wait to end up with broken promises.”

As food shortages are addressed, Seki wants to ensure the federal government is held accountable to upholding their trust responsibility to not just the present day, but for the next seven generations.

“It comes back to congressional law,” Greene Trottier said. This includes permanent funding for the self-determination project and reimbursing tribal communities who used their funds to restock USDA food packages.

Lawmakers “are changemakers in this whole process,” she continued. “Despite the chaos that catapulted all this…it’s an opportune time for Congress to listen to the changes that need to be made and be that changemaker.”

Greene Trottier was optimistic after meeting with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, following the Sept. 11 hearing. Cramer, Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota and four other lawmakers called for Vilsack to address shortages on Aug. 23.
The hearings “also highlighted some of the things [FDPIRs] do really well,” Greene Trottier said, such as expanding commodity foods to include fresh produce and having a high healthy eating index. More needs to be done to communicate these positive changes, she added. “Unless we tell them, nobody knows about it.”

References:

Testimony of Darrel G. Seki Sr., Sept. 12, 2024, https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/

Testimony of Mary Greene Trottier, Sept. 12, 2024, https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/mary

Testimony of Marty Wafford, Sept. 12, 2024, https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ms._marty_w

Testimony of Tom Vilsack, Sept. 12, 2024, https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/usda_secretary_tom_vilsac

Self-Determination Demonstration Projects, USDA, https://www.fns.usda.gov/fdpir/self-determination
Healthy Eating Index Score of FDPIR, USDA, https://www.fns.usda.gov/fdpir/hei-food-package-infographic