Native American Agriculture Fund announces Native Agriculture Education Fellowship Program

The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) announces the development of the Tribal Agriculture Fellowship (TAF). TAF will award fellowships to Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students pursuing technical, undergraduate, and graduate degrees in agriculture with the goal of strengthening the flow of Indigenous professionals into tribal agriculture. The Fellowships include scholarship funding for the pursuit of career, technical and educational certificate and degree programs. TAF will be managed by the Native Agriculture Education Fellowship Program (NAEFP), a nonprofit organization supported by – but separate from – NAAF.

“In order for Native agriculture to thrive, we need to invest in our future through the next generation. We are thrilled to provide a space for Native students to engage in agriculture in both career and technical certificate and traditional academic certificate and degree seeking programs through this new fellowship,” says Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, CEO of NAAF. NAEFP Board President Karli Moore shares, “The Tribal Agriculture Fellowship is designed to foster leadership and cooperation among a cohort of Native students who will work in all facets of agriculture. We are looking to support fellows with a dedication to revitalizing food and agriculture systems in their tribal communities.”

The Tribal Agriculture Fellowship (TAF) is a collaboration with leading Native agriculture industry groups including Farmer Mac, John Deere, and Farm Credit. In addition, NAEFP’s proposal for matching funds to create TAF is in the final stages for approval from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR).

NAEFP seeks candidates for the inaugural Executive Director position with a start date in early 2022. Applications for the first cohort of fellows will open in early 2022. Rising and current technical, undergraduate, and graduate students are eligible to apply.