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Fort Belknap Reservation

Tribal Producer Outreach

Published: 2020
By Liz Werk
Fort Belknap Extension collaborated with MSU Extension specialists, Extension agricultural agents, and Tribal Colleges to extend outreach to local producers. Producers were offered workshops, Montana State Rural Assistant Loan and Junior Agriculture Loan preparation help, one-on-one agriculture consultations, and virtual webinars throughout 2020. Ranchers Roundup occurred during the Fort Belknap Mid-Winter Fair in early February. Eighteen local producers attended the two-day workshop. Extension agents, Tribal Youth Ag Leaders, Tribal Natural Resources, and local Ag Programs presented topics on hemp production, hemp processing, and hemp marketing along with agricultural financial management and local resources. Also, two local tribal high school students presented their Intertribal Agricultural Council local food development essays. The essays secured the students a trip to the IAC Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. The meeting inspired the high school students to optimize their own Tribal Natural Resources for local food sustainability. Fort Peck Community College (FPCC) USDA Producer Education (a two-year program) started in March then quickly stopped. FPCC and MSU Extension have adapted and are offering weekly agriculture webinars online to producers across the state. The current topics are the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), beef processing, small business assistance, cattle market, and stimulus package for individuals. In collaboration with Washington State University FRTEP Extension, educational noxious weed mailers, posters, and outdoor signs were posted, emailed and mailed to 146 landowners and producers on the Fort Belknap Reservation to educate about noxious weed identification and management.
Robbie Klingaman at the Rancher Roundup Hemp Workshop