Learn about 70-year-old Navajo Farmgirl Mae Denet Claw and the health of farming in Shiprock, N.M., in this piece in the Farmington Daily Times. The story talks about how in the Shiprock area the older farmers rely on farming for their livelihood, but younger farmers have jobs elsewhere…mines or power plant.
There are some insights into the difficulties in farming on reservation land, which because of divisions in the ’50s have left many ranchers with too little land to expand. Another huge hurdle is the lack of water. According to the Daily Times, farmers have switched to raising Beefmaster cattle and piping water to specific portions of the crops to adapt to the arid conditions.
Check out more about water management and ranching in Shiprock in this piece in Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education.
Virtual Farmgirl 