Gabriel Pietrorazio/KJZZ

Ray Castillo sits as an at-large member on the Intertribal Agriculture Council's board, representing the Navajo region caucus.

Twelve geographic regional caucuses from all across Indian Country convened to talk about Native issues ranging from discrimination to the looming farm bill at the Intertribal Agriculture Council annual conference in Las Vegas. 

“All the other regions have maybe anywhere from 30 to 100 different tribes,” says Ray Castillo, who sits as an at-large member on IAC’s board. “Navajo is its own.”

Castillo represents the Navajo region. He’s in charge of their caucus for Diné producers who travel from all corners of Navajoland — 27,000 square miles between Utah, Arizona and New Mexico — a sprawling land mass larger than at least 10 states.

Depending on the year, Castillo says as many as 120 members show up: “But it’s just basically dependent on who is able to come and voice their concerns and issues.” It’s also been a venue where Navajo producers ‘breathe laundry,’ in the form of beef, as he puts it. “And part of the problem is a lot of people try to resolve it here, and that’s not what this is about. It’s about policy and everything else related to all Natives.”

Approximately one in every five farmers and ranchers are Navajo throughout Indian Country.