Did or do the Navajo tribes farm?

Answer 1

Yes, they did and do farm. In fact one of the main thing that historically distinguishes the Navajo from their Apache cousins is more emphasis on settled farming and permanent homes called hogans. The Navajo live at between 6000 and 8000 feet on a high desert and mountain area. They did and do dry land corn squash and bean farming. They probably picked up the techniques from the Ancestral Pueblo peoples ( anasazi or Hisatsinom). Sometime after 1540 when Coronado brought 5000 sheep to what is now New Mexico or after 1598 when Don Juan de Onate brought 2,900, the Navajo gained sheep and horses. After the Pueblo revolt of 1680 they gained more. Sheep and weaving became very important to Navajo culture. As well as permanent homes near corn fields most people had summer camps to herd sheep up to graze in the summer.

Today some people still raise corn especially for culturally important uses like pollen and making special large cakes for a Kinaalda ceremony (first menstruation). People keep sheep and raise them for wool and meat.

The tribe also has modern agricultural. They run the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) and Navajo Indian Irrigation Project,( NIIP) and produce Navajo Pride brand potatoes and other products. They have a system of 508,000 acre-feet of water annually to irrigate 110,630 acres of farm land. They produce pinto beans, potatoes, flour from their own mill, alfalfa, corn, barley, oats, hay, produce animal feed, and are studying the growing of traditional plants for cultural and medicinal purposes.

Answer 2

yes.