Cherokee Nation, USDA Partnering To Help Farmers

The United States Department of Agriculture is partnering with the Cherokee Nation to help farmers during this drought.

The USDA talked to Cherokee farmers about options like home loans, business programs, and drought relief. Farmers like Deloris Trapp say this drought season, combined with skyrocketing prices, has caused lots of problems.

"I had to buy hay and it was hard to come by,” said Trapp. “Well now, we don't have any hay, because the fields are dried up."

To help, the USDA introduced programs for farmers and small business owners ranging from ways to improve water infrastructure to loans.

The USDA says it is trying to update parts of rural Oklahoma that haven’t seen improvements in decades.

"Well the President has felt like for some time that rural America has been left behind, and if you looked over the last 20 or 30 years, that has in fact been the case,” said Kenneth Corn, the State Director of USDA Rural Development. “There has not been a real focus on putting money in rural communities."

Cherokee leaders say they hope these programs will help let farmers know all the resources available to them.

"They would like to have an advocate working with them, alongside them,” said Chuck Hoskin Jr., the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “The USDA is a powerful agency, they can bring a great deal of resources to help farmers in this region, Cherokee and non-Cherokee."

Many Cherokee members are excited to keep working with the USDA about additional projects they would like to see in the future. Trapp has thought about buying an old school and turning it into a community center for years and hopes this money could help.

"At my age, I don't want to go in debt trying to buy like the old school, but it would definitely be something to talk to the tribe about," said Trapp.

In addition to the help from the USDA, Chief Hoskin announced a grant to give each farmer about $500.