Jasmine Locklear

Agriculture Education Specialist & Special Projects Coordinator

Jasmine Locklear, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, serves as the Tribal Agriculture Fellowship’s Agriculture Education Specialist and Special Projects Coordinator. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Horticulture Production from BYU–Idaho.

Before completing her education, Jasmine was an intern at the USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations in Washington, DC, where she worked with the first members of the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching.

She later interned with the Washington Internship for Native Students (WINS) program, working with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) in the Office of Native American Affairs. She helped protect sacred sites, developed Section 106 training, and conducted research to support the ACHP’s development of guidance and policies related to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Early in her career, Jasmine taught Agriculture Education to young people in Robeson and Scotland County, NC, after finishing college. As an Ag teacher, she helped students in agriculture fields, wrote and received grants, revived student-led FFA Chapters, and managed campus greenhouses, orchards, and small animals. She believes that investing in the future of Native Youth by providing them access to agriculture education is a way to preserve Indigenous agricultural practices and principles.

She later worked with the Native American Agriculture Fund (NAAF) as an Associate Program Officer to provide outreach to Native American youth and teachers, nonprofits, and CDFI’s. NAAF’s mission was to provide grants for business assistance, agricultural education, technical support, and advocacy services to support Native farmers and ranchers.