Building a Thriving Native Agriculture Economy in Wind River

The Wind River Development Fund (WRDF), based on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, primarily serves the Northern Arapaho and Shoshone Tribes, focusing heavily on advancing the Native agriculture industry through lending. WRDF takes a relationship-based approach to lending, supporting regional farmers and ranchers through loans for cattle operations, hay farming, and a new community demonstration farm. Their grant project, “Building a Thriving Native Agriculture Economy in Wind River,” is designed to expand access to capital for Native agricultural producers by offering direct loans and grants to Native producers, providing technical assistance to help strengthen and grow operations. Additionally, they will offer scholarships for Native high school seniors pursuing agricultural studies. To expand on their impact in helping producers access capital and grow their operation, they will work in collaboration with the Wind River Food Sovereignty Project, on the “Growing Resilient Food Systems” initiative to provide grants to support small-scale and direct-to-consumer Native agricultural ventures. This includes grants for farmers’ market vendors, community producers, and livestock producers to aid in processing and labeling beef for local sale.