Well, we did it again! As mentioned last year in this newsletter, the Choctaw Nation provided the protein at the national conference of the Intertribal Agriculture Council’s (IAC) annual luncheon. I am pleased and honored to announce that, this past year, we were asked to do so again. The meeting took place in mid-December at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas and featured Choctaw Beef Signature steaks (New York strip baseball cuts), along with other indigenously sourced ingredients prepared by Chef Nephi Craig, founder and Director of Culinary Development at the Native American Culinary Association, as well as Executive Chef at Café Gozhóó. The meeting was attended by approximately 800 participants and was a great opportunity for education, networking and strategic planning on behalf of agriculture in Indian Country.
Speaking of opportunities for education, the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), has a significant presence during the break-outs at the IAC annual event (mentioned above) to provide land-owners updates regarding services they provide. The Choctaw Nation’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Department works closely with the NRCS, especially through our Tribal Conservation District, to establish protocol for water/riparian development, fencing design/placement and brush/erosion control. Many producers only think of NRCS as a cost-share program, but they are a wealth of knowledge and can be a great “go-to” source for applied experiential support when it comes to resource management. If you are a landowner, I highly recommend you check out their suite of services.
It has always been our intent to seek out applicable, cost-conscious technology that can be deployed at the landscape level to assist with data-driven decision making. Natural resource management is a unique environment that oftentimes demands innovation be vetted prior to large-scale implementation. I think we might finally be there with virtual fencing! I have been watching this technology evolve since the early 2000s but never was comfortable that
1) It had value outside of a research environment due to inherent limitations (i.e. battery life, transmitter range, collar bulkiness, etc.) and,
2) It never got even close to a price point that would allow for industry adoption.
I have met with several providers (a few of them at IAC) and am gaining confidence that most of these challenges have been addressed. We have several scenarios where I think this tool could be very helpful as it relates to forage management, water quality improvement, securing existing perimeter fence boundaries and animal identification/movement.