USDA announces firstever grants for Indigeous meat processing

Grant program will now include bison, reindeer, moose, elk and salmon

By Stewart Huntington, Indian Country Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday it would – for the first time – offer grants for harvesting, processing and storing Indigenous meats such as bison, reindeer, moose, elk and salmon, offering a boost to tribes working to improve food sovereignty.

The change will expand USDA funding, which had been available only for meats the department regulates, such as beef, pork or chicken.

“We are thrilled that we’re going to invest in Indigenous animal processing,” said Heather Dawn Thompson, the USDA’s director of the Office of Tribal Relations. “We have heard loud and clear in our consultations with tribal governments that they want to make sure that they have proteins that are based on Indigenous animals for their communities. This is the first time that our funds are going to be available for those animals. We’re changing the course of history together.”

The department’s Indigenous Animals Harvesting and Meat Processing Grant Program will provide up to $50 million to improve tribal nations’ food and agricultural supply chain resiliency by developing and expanding infrastructure related to meat from Indigenous animals. The program will fund projects that focus on expanding local capacity for the harvesting, processing, manufacturing, storing, transporting, wholesaling, or distribution of indige-

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