By Ellie Stuckrath, NACD Communications Coordinator, and Allie Hostler, KTRCD District Coordinator

When the Klamath Trinity Resource Conservation District (KTRCD) formed in 2007, economic development, food security, and tribal sovereignty were just as integral to their mission as natural resources conservation.   

Food Hub  

For KTRCD, fostering tribal food sovereignty meant creating and maintaining sustainable markets for farmers. Thus, the KTRCD Food Hub was born, allowing the district to purchase produce and meat directly from producers and redistribute it to the Hoopa Valley Tribal Community in northwest California.   

“The Food Hub creates a stabilized, reliable market. We can grab hold of our farmers to keep them farming, especially during these challenging times,” said KTRCD District Coordinator Allie Hostler. “They know what we’ll buy and when we’ll buy it instead of struggling to compete with large-scale farms to access customers.”   

In 2025, KTRCD purchased over $260,000 in products–mostly fresh produce and locally raised beef–ensuring producers in their community have a reliable and regular income.   

Youth Livestock Project 

While building and maintaining reliable markets, such as the Food Hub and a weekly farmers market, the KTRCD also invested in the education and training of current and upcoming local producers. They procured grants from the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF)—a charitable trust that invests in Native agriculture to empower Native and rural communities with knowledge, resources, and support to foster agricultural resilience and economic self-sufficiency—to create the Youth Livestock Project.   

The Youth Livestock Project mentored ten individuals who were interested in raising livestock, such as cattle, hogs, and chickens. The youth in this group were mentored by local producers who taught them how to plan, care for, and feed their livestock of choice, all while keeping financial records to show their project’s success. The project helped implement a program similar to FFA models, which are less available to tribal families and rural areas. 

“The Youth Livestock Project gave kids access to a similar program that was in their backyard,” said Hostler. “KTRCD staff made visits to check their fencing, supported their feed purchases, supported the development of record-keeping models, and more.”   

At the end of the project, the youth entered the market by selling their eggs and beef to the community, kickstarting their own business. The project increased local tribal youth’s interest and understanding of local agriculture and empowered them to join the legacy of food producers in the community. This year, the district’s Food Hub even purchased beef from one of the participants.   

“The Klamath Trinity Resource Conservation District continues to show what community-driven innovation looks like. Their Hoopa Youth Livestock Project is an investment in Tribal youth leadership, economic opportunity, and food sovereignty,” said NAAF CEO Toni Stanger-McLaughlin. “By helping young people build year-round livestock businesses and market their animals within the Hoopa Valley and surrounding communities, they are creating pathways for the next generation to thrive. NAAF is proud to support this work and the powerful future these youth are building with the resources provided to them by KTRCD.” 

Accessing New Markets 

Alongside building youth participation in local agriculture, the district furthered economic opportunities for producers in the area. With NAAF funding, the district worked with 28 producers to improve their access to new markets and scale up their businesses by offering food safety training, business planning workshops, and small stipends for marketing. The program was a success, as the district now purchases from 21 of the producers who participated in the program through the Food Hub. The producers went from predominantly relying on weekly farmers’ markets or small consignment sales to creating economic security and predictability through the dependability of the district’s Food Hub.   

Opportunities for More Conservation 

With a more sustainable market came more interest in conservation practices.  

“After building and sustaining market opportunities, producers are more interested and serious in accessing USDA programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP),” said Hostler. “There are now more opportunities to work with producers who face irrigation and water conservation issues or work on soil health projects or brush removal.”  

The KTRCD is currently working with a small farm to repair a 100-year-old irrigation system that no longer meets the needs of the farm. Although the planning process is long, once implemented, the benefits to the producer will be long-lasting. Another beef producer is working with the KTRCD and NRCS through EQIP to implement a conservation plan on one of their pastures to support brush removal, fence installation, a solar-powered pumping plant for irrigation purposes, and a prescribed grazing plan. 

Closing Food Security Gaps 

The KTRCD Food Hub also helps close food security gaps. Fresh produce, eggs, and meats are distributed to 180 seniors each week in their community. During the month of November, they completed three expanded community distribution days to help individuals and families who lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits or faced increased food scarcity because of the government shutdown.   

Farm to School Program 

Riding on the success of the Food Hub and educational programs, the KTRCD continues to look for new opportunities to further market sustainability. This year, the district started their Farm to School program—connecting producers directly to schools through the Food Hub, giving producers another avenue of revenue and bringing fresh produce and locally raised livestock to schools. Additionally, Farm to School programming will consist of classroom workshops that expose children to conservation goals such as oak woodlands restoration, prescribed fire, and agroforestry techniques that integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge to ensure tribal traditional foods are cared for into the future.  

From the Food Hub to the Youth Livestock Program to their new Farm to School Program, the KTRCD is creating solutions that combine natural resource conservation, tribal sovereignty, and economic and food security to care for everyone in their community, whether that be producers, seniors, or school children.