New technology aids traditional farming revival (fwd)

[Phil Cash Cash]

New technology aids traditional farming revival

By Levi J. Long
The Navajo Times
http://www.thenavajotimes.com/0731newtech.html

Imagine this: A satellite system, hundreds of miles from Earth, beaming
the Navajo language to rural corn farmers in the southwest quadrant of
the reservation.

Sound a little technical? Maybe. But through this state-of-the-art
system could be a native people's salvation for traditions that are
slowly eroding away.

Recently the nonprofit group Dine Inc. and Southwest Marketing Network
formed a partnership for an agricultural development  project that uses
traditional Navajo farming techniques with state-of-the-art technology.

The two groups have formed the Navajo Agricultural Technology
Empowerment Center. The Empowerment Center uses a Navajo Nation wide
satellite Internet system to communicate with corn farmers.

Using the community based Internet centers at each of the 110 chapters
on the reservation, the farmers have access to e-mail, streaming video
and updates on farming techniques and training using Navajo language
audio and video.

Currently the group works directly with five reservation communities in
Arizona including Teesto, Dilkon, Birdsprings, Leupp, and Tolani Lake.

The satellite system is operated by Starband and is administered by the
Navajo Nation Virtual Alliance network. Currently the alliance has five
pilot sites where touch-screen systems will soon allow monolingual
Navajo speakers to navigate the Internet, said Hank            Willie,
program manager for Diné Community Food Project.

When funding becomes available, the Empowerment Center would like to
expand the program to all 110 chapters. They'd also like to use
handheld computers so farmers can download video-training segments. The
computers could also provide support for the farm's financial
management system, all in the Navajo language.

Diné Inc. stands for Developing Innovations in Navajo Education and was
formed in 1997. The group develops community projects and educates
Navajo residents across the reservation using grant programs that range
from sustainable agricultural development            to traditional
Navajo teachings using the broadband technology.

According to Willie, the Navajo people have seen a drastic decline in
native corn cultivation. The number of Navajo corn farms is small and
dwindles away each year, he said. For the Navajo people, the Beauty Way
and Corn Pollen Path ceremonies are in danger of being lost because
Navajo farmers aren't cultivating corn like they used to, Willie said.

In 2002, Dine Inc. received two agricultural grants.  The awards were
administered under the Navajo Agricultural Technology Empowerment
Center. The first award is a one-year grant under the Native
Agriculture and Food Systems Initiative by the First Nations
Development Institute.

The other is a three-year Community Food Projects Competitive Grants
Program funded by The Cooperative State Research, Education, and
Extension Service. The Cooperative is a program administered by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.

These grants allow the Empowerment Center to develop family farms and
gardens based on traditional Navajo farming techniques.

The Empowerment Center also has a partnership with the University of
Arizona College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Northern Arizona
University Center for Sustainable Environments, Navajo Nation
agricultural programs and reservation schools.

The scope of the program is to create a clientele of families within the
five communities and provide direct assistance in preparing their
cornfields for planting. All the cornfields in the region rely on dry
land farming techniques that use moisture from rainfall,           
snow and water runoff from washes developed by Southwest tribes over
the centuries.

The Empowerment Center program will also provide marketing training and
sales strategies for their crops.

The Empowerment Center plans to create an advisory board comprised of
one member from each of the five core communities. The members will be
responsible for development of a sustainable food system for their
communities and overseeing project activities.

In the meantime farmers around the southwestern communities of the
reservation can begin to use their e-mail accounts to speak with other
consultants about their farms.