Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: corn
Practices
- Education and Training: extension, farmer to farmer
- Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, feasibility study, market study, value added
- Pest Management: integrated pest management
- Production Systems: agroecosystems, holistic management
- Soil Management: soil analysis
- Sustainable Communities: new business opportunities, public participation
Proposal summary:
This project will build on results from an earlier grant in which Teresa Showa of the Ganado Farm Board outlined how Navajo farmers could grow, process and market traditional Navajo corn products, including neeshjizhi and kneel down bread. Long-term drought and faulty irrigation water delivery systems have hindered adoption, but improved moisture and repaired systems have prompted Showa and her project team to gauge demand for these traditional products on and off the reservation and among tourists. Studies will evaluate potential income from the products, based on farmer production costs, and how costs might change if producers had access to a community kitchen for processing. Success not only would improve income and provide employment, it would help bring nutritionally and culturally appropriate food to the Navajo people and reinforce the wisdom of traditional values and culture.