Creating Access to Capital for Native Farmers and Ranchers

The Four Bands Community Fund’s NAAF project, “Creating Access to Capital for Native Farmers and Ranchers,” aims to address the longstanding economic challenges faced by Native Americans on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Established in 2000, Four Bands initially focused on the Cheyenne River Reservation, a remote area characterized by widespread poverty and limited economic opportunities. Over time, the organization expanded to serve all Native Americans in South Dakota, but its primary focus remains the Cheyenne River Reservation, a 2.8 million-acre area with significant socio-economic disparities. Four Bands Community Fund, a certified Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), aims to reshape the financial systems that impact Native American agricultural producers by offering patient capital and flexible financing solutions. Since its inception, Four Bands has provided capital, training, and support to Native entrepreneurs, including farmers and ranchers, to help them build assets and achieve financial goals. In 2018, the organization significantly increased its deployment of agricultural loans and, in 2021, became an approved lender in the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) Guaranteed Farm Loan Program—one of the few Native CDFIs in the country to receive this certification. Today, agricultural loans make up 25% of Four Bands’ lending portfolio, with the fund providing $5,503,362 in ag lending and over 1,500 hours of technical assistance to 135 Native farmers and ranchers. The NAAF project focuses on increasing access to capital for Native farmers and ranchers through several strategies. These include educational activities that improve financial literacy and the ability to secure funding, offering loans or equity grants to Native agricultural producers, providing technical assistance to producers seeking capital, and training lending institutions to work more effectively with Native agricultural producers. By facilitating greater access to affordable capital and supporting economic revitalization, Four Bands aims to create new opportunities for Native American individuals, families, businesses, and communities to overcome systemic economic inequalities and achieve financial independence.