Last updated on August 5th, 2024 at 11:28 am
November is Native American Heritage Month. AgriSafe is proud to celebrate the ongoing contributions Native Americans and indigenous cultures have made to the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries. AgriSafe would also like to recognize that our office in Covington, Louisiana is on the indigenous lands of the Chahta Yakni (Choctaw) and Acolapissa (source).
According to the 2017 Census on Agriculture, the United States had 79,198 producers who identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native, either alone or in combination with another race. This population accounted for 2.3 percent of the country’s 3.4 million producers, with the majority in the Western and Plains states. Their farms accounted for less than 1 percent of US agriculture sales and more than 6 percent of US farmland.
According to the 2020 US Census, 87% of individuals who identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native do not live on reservations or tribal lands. This means it is very likely you may have patients who identify as Native American. Do stay up to date on their healthcare needs: join one of the Indian Health Service’s (IHS) listservs or check out the IHS’s other resources for healthcare providers; familiarize yourself with the Office of Minority Health’s Native American pages; or take this free online course, Essential Understandings, offered by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Find more on Native American Heritage Month.
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