Ranches & Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI)

The ranches — the Nation owns working ranches (including off-reservation ones, like the Flagstaff and Espil ranches) meant to raise livestock and generate income. NAPI — the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, the Nation’s large farming operation near Farmington (the Navajo Pride brand). It’s one of the biggest Native-owned farms in the country. Grazing — on the reservation, families hold grazing permits and leases for their livestock — a system many say is tangled and outdated. Go deeper: Economic Development 101  ·  the law & oversight behind Nation assets

Here’s the test Cal puts to candidates — treat each ranch and NAPI like what it is: a business. Is it running a surplus (making money) or a deficit (losing it)? And if it’s losing money year after year, why does that continue?

It’s the same pattern as the other enterprises: assets the Nation owns that are supposed to pay their own way, but too often run on an allowance instead. See the same pattern across the enterprises →

NAPI — the Nation’s big farming enterprise (Navajo Pride products). Surplus / deficit — whether a business makes money (surplus) or loses it (deficit). Grazing permit — the right to graze livestock on a piece of Navajo land; tied up in old rules and records. Operational costs — what it actually costs to run a ranch or farm; you can’t judge it without knowing these.

Before asking what’s broken, it helps to know who’s even supposed to be in charge. Here’s the map for the ranches and NAPI — the law, the referee, and the watchers. Why this matters →

What’s the law?The statutes that established NAPI (Navajo Agricultural Products Industry) and the Nation’s land and grazing law govern the ranches and the farm.

Economic Development 101 → — Who regulates it? (the outside referee)As commercial operations, they answer to the market and to applicable federal agricultural standards. The honest referee here is performance — surplus or deficit, year over year.

Audit 101 → — Who oversees it? (the inside watchers)The NAPI board, the Division of Natural Resources, and the Council’s Resources & Development Committee.

How boards work → — What’s broken — and what candidates would fixOn this page: assets that should pay for themselves but don’t, with no real performance review — plus how candidates answered, summarized from their interviews.

A starting map — confirm current laws and body names against the Nation’s official resources. General civic information, not legal advice.

• Money in, not much back. Candidates point to ranches where money was put in unwisely and the return never came.
• No clear numbers. It’s hard to even say whether a ranch runs a surplus or deficit without an honest assessment of the costs.
• A tangled grazing system. Permits and leases are bound up in old records and disputes, making the land hard to use well.
• Run like a job, not a business. The same leadership pattern as the other enterprises — managed to get by, not to grow.

What this costs: land and livestock that could feed people and make money instead drain it — while families with grazing permits get tangled in red tape. The cost of failure here is an asset the Nation owns, working against it instead of for it.

Read down the list and see for yourself. Where a candidate didn’t speak to this, we say so plainly — a blank is just a blank, not a mark against anyone.

Eugene Badonie Mismanaged ranches · Cal asked: How have the Nation's ranches been managed?Criticized the management of the Flagstaff and Espil ranches — saying money was put in unwisely and the Nation did a poor job.

J. Kaibah Begay — Lived experience · Cal asked: What is your opinion on the Navajo Nation’s ranches and enterprises, and what would you do if they run a deficit?Speaks from direct experience — her late father’s lease of a Navajo Nation ranch — to describe how the lease system really works.

Melinda Arviso-Ciocco — Assess the numbers · Cal asked: Who are you and what's your platform?From years in Natural Resources: would run a full assessment of how the ranches are performing — operational costs, metrics — before deciding anything.

Jamie Henio — Surplus or deficit · Cal asked: Are the Nation's enterprises and ranches a surplus or a deficit? Why do we have ranches? Why are outside companies like Speedway allowed to sell fuel when the Nation owns Navajo Oil & Gas? Why aren't local Navajo owners given that opportunity, and where would their capital come from?Judged each as a business — surplus or deficit — using a SWOT lens (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

(Each name jumps to that candidate’s answer. Other candidates’ views are on their own pages; where someone didn’t speak to ranches, their page notes “did not provide an answer” on this.)

Donovan Begay · Cal asked: Why does the Navajo Nation own ranches, and how would you make them accessible?Described ranch purchases as investments that must benefit the people, recalling the Durango buffalo ranch bought under Russell Begaye. Proposed listing the ranches and opening them for educational use, and reviewing money-losers with financial advisors — possibly selling them.

Ranches and NAPI stuck in place, with no real performance review — that’s one face of a pattern that runs under every topic: leadership there to hold a seat, not to grow what they were trusted with.

In the ranches & NAPI: stuck in place, no real performance review. In the enterprises: the same root → a yearly allowance instead of growth. See it → In 638 health care: weak boards → mismanagement.

It’s often one problem in seven places. See the root — Accountability & Justice →

Where the community stands: collecting — tallies and best ideas publish with the weekly findings.

A plan only matters if you can tell whether it’s working. Here are specific things to watch on this topic — so “we fixed it” means the numbers moved, not just that a law passed.

What to measure

• Surplus or deficit for each ranch and NAPI (real operational costs)
• Revenue trend year over year
• Grazing permits resolved vs. stuck in dispute
• Local food produced and sold

How to gather the data
Require an honest annual assessment — operational costs and metrics — reported publicly, the way any business reports to its owners (the people). What success looks like
Assets moving toward surplus, revenue growing, permits untangled, more Navajo-grown food on Navajo tables.

Ask any candidate: how would you measure whether this is working? A real leader can name the number.

• Is each ranch — and NAPI — running a surplus or a deficit? Do you know?
• If one loses money every year, why does that continue?
• How would you fix the grazing-permit system?
• Who is accountable for how these assets perform?

• The Enterprises — the same surplus/deficit question, across all the Nation’s businesses.
• Economic Development 101.
• Glossary.
• Watch the interviews.

• Candidate profiles
• Full interview write-ups
• Watch the interviews

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The Enterprises

Reading is step one. Here’s a concrete move on this topic: Ask the plain question — surplus or deficit? — and whether each operation is judged like a real business.

See your full part — the To-Do List for the Nation →

You help decide what gets explored next — who Cal interviews, what questions get asked, what topics we dig into.

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