Sunday, May 08, 2011

Navajo Nation: Just say no to more federal funds for NAPI

South of town at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry feedlot, 10,000 cattle owned by a Brazilian company roam in fenced pens, eating corn that is harvested nearby. The cattle are there as the result of a leasing agreement with JBS of Sao Paulo, Brazil, only one of several international business deals for NAPI, the Navajo Nation's for-profit agricultural enterprise. NAPI recently inked a contract with a Washington company to export 10,000 tons of hay to Japan. And, NAPI ships pinto beans to Mexico through third parties. "We're competing with our contracts internationally today," said Tsosie Lewis, CEO of NAPI. The feedlot serves as an example of an international deal at work in Farmington's backyard. NAPI leases the feedlot to JBS, a major international meat producer. "Our thought was, maybe let's go a little further beyond the borders of New Mexico," Lewis said. The end goal, he said, was the pursuit of "bigger numbers and larger players." JBS was attracted by the location, near the company's Phoenix-area packing plant and the Four Corners' ample supply of cattle, spokesman Chandler Keys said. "You've got a combination of cattle, corn and water," he said...more

The true nature of the enterprise is revealed in the article:
NAPI's feedlot deal with JBS came about through a mutual relationship with Key Bank. The project is in a trial stage, Lewis said. He would not disclose the value of the lease. "If it's successful for NAPI as well as JBS, the thinking was we'd talk about a bigger yard," he said. A larger feedlot would be contingent on receiving federal funding to expand corn growing into three undeveloped blocks of land totaling 30,000 acres. However, federal funding has been trending downward to $4 million this year, a significant drop from $24 million a few years ago. "This year, we got hit pretty hard," Lewis said. Expanding into all three blocks would cost about $500 million and take years, Lewis said. To back its bid for more federal funding, NAPI has gained support in official resolutions approved by the Farmington City Council, the San Juan County Commission and the San Juan Economic Development Service. "We want to take the opportunity since we do have agricultural water here to expand," Lewis said. NAPI is fed by water from Navajo Dam as part of federal agreements dating to the 1960s.
NAPI has been surviving on Obama-like stimulus and TARP funding for many years.  


In this instance the DC Deep Thinkers are providing federal dollars to NAPI, a government-run enterprise situated on government land, so they can turn around and subsidize a foreign owned company to compete against our domestic industry.  

Talk about scalping the taxpayer, this is it. 

For years, every member of the NM Congressional Delegation, of both political parties, has sought to increase funding for this operation.  It's time to bring an abrupt halt to this travesty, or to the politicos who continue to support it.

Since the Navajos say they are a sovereign nation, let's see them act like it.  Get off of the foreign aid and compete like a man. Once they see this government monstrosity can't compete in the private economy, they can move on to real economic development that benefits each member of the tribe. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's the deal . . . NAPI's board engineered a separation from any Navajo Council oversite several years ago . . . the board is now self appointed and unrestricted in actions. They don't even have to report annual performances. Next, they pay no water costs . . . American taxpayers have always paid fully for the water coming from Navajo Lake. Next, they pay no land taxes or land use payments to anybody. The Navajo Nation doesn't derive a single dollar a year from the enterprise. And, cost to date including loss carry forwards . . . just over $1 billion . . . courtesy the American taxpayers. Free enterprise New Mexican growers must compete with the markets subsidized by the federal government in crops grown by NAPI. It is a travesty that just goes on and on and on . . .