Building Resiliency with the Intertribal Agriculture Council
January 5, 2023

I recently attended the annual conference held by the Intertribal Agriculture Council, or IAC, in Las Vegas. It’s a festive city and the event was a wonderful experience. Members of Tribal Nations from across America were in attendance, along with USDA agencies and many others.

The IAC is a prominent leader among Tribal Nations and government circles on agricultural policies and programs. They have a dedicated presence in Washington, D.C. with the Native Farm Bill Coalition.

RMA Administrator, Marcia Bunger, presents RMA information to the General Session
at the annual IAC Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 6, 2022

We have been working with the IAC since 2013, when we partnered with them to deliver training to Native American producers. RMA has funded several more IAC education projects over the last 10 years.

The conference theme this year was We Belong Here.  Inside the conference agenda, organizers stated their goal was to “highlight decades of resilience exhibited by the IAC in challenging systemic barriers.”

Fittingly, one of the main topics I wanted to discuss at the conference was our new program called Building Resiliency. This new pilot aims to train and prepare Tribal members to become licensed and employed crop insurance agents and adjusters.

Our team gave a presentation on this pilot to a near packed room at 8:30 in the morning on the last day of the event! The audience was incredibly engaged and asked many great questions. There was clearly great interest in the program among attendees and our partners in industry.

Jeremy Not Afraid from RMA’s Billings Regional Office enjoys a laugh with
FSA colleague, Richard Lopez, at the IAC Conference, December 7, 2022

“It was good to see crop insurance agents and others from industry were in attendance,” said Jeremy Not Afraid from RMA’s Billings Regional Office and an enrolled member of the Crow (Apsaalooke) Nation. “They were able to provide insight into what being an agent entails, which helped inform those interested in this new program.”

I also had other chances to spread the word about the work we are doing to aid tribal nations. It was an honor and a fantastic platform that I was able to address the General Session.

Along with our partner agencies, RMA shared a fantastic exhibit position inside the main conference room. Debbie Bouziden from the Risk Management Education Division, and Ruben Saavedra from our Davis Regional Office, tended the booth to field questions from producers.

“There was quite a bit of interest in our Micro Farm policies,” Debbie told me. “We made sure we had plenty of brochures and information, so hopefully more members from this community will enroll in this or other policies that are available.”

RMA’s Debbie Bouziden and Ruben Saavedra man the agency’s
booth at the 2022 IAC Conference, December 7, 2022

I want to thank the entire team for their efforts in making RMA’s presence at this year’s IAC Conference a big success. As you know, outreach to underserved communities is a top priority of this Administration and our agency.  I’m looking forward to more opportunities to connect with our customers and partners as we start a new and promising year.

– Marcia

Marcia Bunger is the Administrator of USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA). Prior to her appointment, she served as a County Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency. A native South Dakotan, Bunger is also the owner and operator of a 2000-acre farm, a cum laude graduate of Augustana College, and the first member of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and first woman to serve as RMA Administrator.