Meet Ed Harvey, The Man Helping Tribal Farmers Reclaim Their Land
It took him a year, but Ed Harvey of Plan Conservation LLC, surveyed 2,748 acres of land across the Navajo Nation. As he did, he was surrounded by overgrown fields that needed what could only be described as an overwhelming amount of attention.
These fields looked nothing like the ones described in the romantic memories offered by his grandparents, when the landscape was instead covered with a variety of healthy crops and mature orchards that flourished alongside livestock allowed to roam shared lands.
That disconnect, between what the lands look like now and how they thrived in the memories of Navajo elders, has prompted Harvey to leverage a personal intersection within himself to help others.
“I want to get people growing foods again,” Harvey said. “I always imagined what it looked like. You don’t see it anymore. It’s hard for people to get back to that point.”
It took some time for him to get there, too.
Understanding The Roadblocks
The fields across the Navajo Nation, Harvey said, have become overgrown — in part — because the process to legitimately utilize the land for agricultural purposes can seem burdensome. Land belonging to a family patriarch can’t simply be handed off to someone else in the family.
To obtain an ALUP, short for agricultural land use permit, individuals need to follow a process adopted by the Navajo Nation and enforced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA. An integral part of that process involves the development of a conservation plan, which can be challenging for some.
And, sometimes local politics can come into play during the permit review process, which can at the very least complicate things or at worst tip the scales against an application, Harvey said.
Because the process can take an extended period of time to complete, many applicants looking to obtain an agricultural land use permit adopt a philosophy that suggests they “let the land rest.” When they do, weeds can quickly cover the land. Once those roots take hold, it can be daunting to clear them without the use of heavy, expensive equipment.
The combination of those roadblocks, from permitting to planning to managing the state of the land, can be too much for some. And forward progress is stifled if not snuffed out altogether.
Weighing all factors together, Harvey thought he could find a way to blend his professional experience with the tribe, his experiences as an entrepreneur and his experience working in a scientific field to create a more efficient process for those looking to obtain an agricultural permit on the reservation.
“I wanted to help people bypass the bureaucracy to secure the permit so our generation can have a permit into the future saying this is ours,” he said. “We can do this.”
A Confluence of Experience
Harvey has a keen interest in satellite imagery. More than an interest, he has experience using it.
In college, he was part of a team that looked for water on Mars. The team would use satellite maps to search for evidence of water features, from large bodies of water to flow patterns, to determine if or where water may have existed.
“I did all this cool mapping,” he said. “So, I’m just bringing those tools here, looking for water on Earth, basically.”
While in college, he couldn’t really envision what kind of career he’d carve out for himself. But he tucked that satellite knowledge away for six years as he worked for the Navajo Nation’s Department of Agriculture. During that time, he gained an understanding of how the government’s systems worked, from the processes that were part of the reservation to those within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
And every experience he had during that time, from managing the Navajo Nation fair to designing an agriculture job insurance program, brought him back to the land, and back to helping people.
“I felt I could help people out more if I was doing things on my own,” he said. “The big problem still in my head was land. Agricultural land. The main thing is, people need help here and I want to be of service the best that I can.”
To that point, every step he had taken had led him back to the overgrown fields, the elders in his community, and the future that could be possible if only certain resources were made available. One of those resources, he realized, was him. He just needed to formalize it.
A New Path
Harvey’s satellite mapping experience allows him to create a conservation plan with a singular coordinate. His governmental experience means he knows who is who and who does what within the layers of bureaucracy. And his commitment to his culture means he’s passionate about clearing the way for prospective permit holders who have otherwise hit snags in the process.
This was the framework for Plan Conservation LLC, the business he started that clearly draws on his lived and professional experience.
“The work that needs to be done for the people in the middle of nowhere, those are the people who need the most help,” he said. “Some people have some of the coolest operations and live in the most beautiful areas, they just need the knowledge to get started to find success.”
Plan Conservation specializes in helping individuals obtain their agricultural land use permit, in part by developing that mandated conservation plan, be it for grazing or growing. He focuses on streamlining the process, even if individuals are navigating probate, while also acting as a personalized guide through the permitting process.
Harvey also contracts to provide government support related to conservation planning, from water resource and irrigation strategies to site surveys and soil analysis. To date, he’s helped nearly 140 farmers and ranchers obtain their permits.
“I’ve had so many people come into the office, grandmothers and grandpas trying to figure out how to keep a paper in their family. I didn’t realize how important that piece of paper was. It can really mean everything,” he said. “It’s beautiful being able to help someone. I really feel like I’m making a profound impact.”
Moving the Work Forward
As part of his mission to revitalize Navajo agriculture, Ed Harvey also worked as a contractor through the Southwest Regional Food Business Center. The Center had been designed to accelerate a resilient, diverse and competitive food system across Arizona and the greater Southwest, connecting farmers to technical support, markets and funding.
But in July, the USDA abruptly terminated the program, eliminating funding for the 12 Regional Food Business Centers across the country. Kimber Lanning, founder and CEO of Local First Arizona, called the decision devastating:
“This move systematically impedes local agriculture from growing, eliminating diversity in produce and eradicating hundreds of jobs in the Southwest. We have spent the last three years developing and activating the Southwest Regional Food Business Center to help deliver technical assistance, marketing and capital to strengthen small and mid-size farms and connect them to markets – now all that work is being stamped out.”
For Harvey, it meant the sudden loss of a critical resource to help farmers on Navajo lands. Yet, always eager to get things moving, he refused to let the setback stall his efforts. Today, he is working with Purchase Local AZ to buy food from Navajo farmers and ensure it reaches members of the community who need it most — continuing his mission to restore abundance to Navajo fields and tables, regardless of federal roadblocks.
