In the latest episode of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative (IFAI) podcast Rooted Wisdom: Exploring Tribal AgricultureHost Tish Mindemann explores resources developed by the U of A Law School and IFAI to help Native producers and tax professionals navigate the intricacies of tax and asset management in Indian Country through the Agricultural Financial, Tax and Asset Protection (AgFTAP) program.

Guests Kristiana Coutu, IFAI Director of Policy, Research and Tribal Administration, and Kelly Nuckolls, Associate Director and Visiting Lecturer in Law in the LL.M. in Agricultural and Food Law program at the U of A, provide insight into the program and discuss the challenges tribal producers face in accessing knowledgeable tax professionals.

“One of the reasons why taxing agricultural income can be so difficult and complicated is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” Coutu said. “Every situation is different, depending on the producer and the type of income they receive.”

Coutu is an integral part of developing materials on income tax and asset protection issues for small farms. IFAI and others use these materials to train agricultural educators, tax professionals and farmers, equipping them with the knowledge they need to meet the challenges of agricultural income tax.

According to Nuckolls, tax and asset management is “an area where farmers continue to make costly mistakes, either because they do not have access to trained professionals for a variety of reasons or because the trained professionals they turn to are not well versed in the intricacies of farm income tax.”

Producers can avoid costly asset management mistakes by participating in upcoming AgFTAP program training opportunities, including webinars and seminars on the impact of agricultural taxation on Indian Country. Use the link bit.ly/AgFTAPUARK to access these resources.