For the past seven years, Christy Kinrichini has worked as a 4-H Extension Assistant at the University of Arizona. Apache cooperative extension in the city of St. John’s. It is about 160 miles south of Window Rock, where Kinrichenny grew up in the Navajo Nation.
County offices serving tribal communities are often located far from tribal lands, according to Kinrichini, creating challenges and inequities of “great disparities in service availability.”
These geographic barriers drawn by jurisdictional lines create confusion and obstacles for local counties, neighboring states, and federally recognized tribes. Those challenges are Federally sanctioned tribal expansion program (FRTEP) is a research-driven service that provides outreach and support to Indigenous farmers and ranchers on the reservation, bypassing long-standing county extension services.
Although Arizona is home to one-fifth of the nation’s FRTEP agents, less than one-third of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribal communities receive assistance from Tribal Extension Services.
This leaves the remaining two-thirds of Arizona’s tribes seeking dedicated FRTEP agents without any help, according to Trent Tigerström, deputy director of the Tribal Extension Program at the University of Arizona Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences. “If they want you to get it, they’ll have to take it from someone else.” [else]”
With decades of inequality, Native Firm Bill Coalition intends to amend FRTEP and its problematic subsidy-financing model in the upcoming Farm Bill. of the groupsolidify one’s footingThe report outlines key recommendations such as: raise annual fundsThis will allow the research program to reach over 100 bookings over the next four years.
Kinrichini, 32, specializes in 4-H youth programs through the county expansion of Apache County, Navajo 4-H ProgramHowever, she regularly works with seven FRTEP agents scattered across six Arizona tribal communities. Although she is not directly funded by the program, she has seen first-hand the challenges FRTEP agents face as they seek to serve tribal communities in the state.
Kinrichini spoke to Civil Eats about the cooperative extension system, hopes for the 2023 Farm Bill and the importance of funding FRTEP agents working in reservations across India.
Tribal youth win awards at the 2022 Arizona 4-H State Horse Show at the Navajo County Fairgrounds in Holbrook. (Courtesy of Christy Kinrichany)
How did you come to work at the Apache County Extension Authority?
My mother and father were ranchers. They instilled in me a love of horses and farm animals. I don’t know what it is, but I wanted to be a farmer when I got old. My first thought was that I wanted to be a horse and animal doctor.
Growing up, I volunteered at the Navajo Nation Veterinary Clinic in Window Rock. Because I built these relationships, they were able to place themselves in the Task Force when I graduated from Navajo Tech and Colorado State University. My summers were spent traveling and working with different doctors from all over the country spaying and neutering dogs and cats.
I did until I found a job at the University of Arizona. I didn’t have her 4-H or county expansion experience, but she loved teaching kids and sharing her knowledge. I am an educator at heart.
How have you dealt with the personal or cultural transition to county expansion?
I did an internship at the USDA National Diagnostic Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and it was the first time I left my community. I was born and raised a lesbian. I had a big culture shock. I learned that how we perceive our communities, homes, and even family relationships is quite different from the perception of the outside world.
