Native American Agriculture Fund Issues 2025 Request for Applications

The Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) is a private charitable trust that envisions a future where Native farmers and ranchers thrive and play a crucial role in land stewardship and the nation’s economic viability. Created from the historic Keepseagle v. Vilsack litigation settlement, NAAF works to empower Native and rural communities with the knowledge, resources, and support to foster robust agricultural practices, resilience, and economic self-sufficiency. NAAF believes that by investing in Native agriculture, the country can strengthen rural America’s infrastructure development and job creation, benefiting everyone.

NAAF has issued its 2025 request for applications, which will offer targeted funding by entity type. A total of $10 million is being made available for 2025 funding, with nonprofit organizations able to request grants of up to $250,000, educational organizations able to request amounts of up to $150,000, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) able to request amounts up to the full available pool, and tribal governments and instrumentalities able to request amounts of up to $250,000. Applicants for targeted funding may apply for one or more areas listed below:

General Focus: business assistance, agricultural education, technical support and advocacy services

General Focus (CDFIs only): loan capital, re-granting capital and technical assistance/business assistance

Special Focus (all eligible entities): infrastructure and climate resilience

Applicants are encouraged to combine focus areas into one project, such as combining business assistance with technical support or agricultural education with business assistance. Projects that focus only on research or only on curriculum development are not as high of a priority for funding as those projects that use existing research or existing curriculum to assist Native producers unless the curriculum is based on new approaches or application of Tribal knowledge. NAAF seeks projects that deliver developed content with practical application to the success of Native farmers and ranchers or that take research and assist individuals in applying the results of that research to improve their operations.