Navajo Pride products offered at Navajo Nation casinos

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise (NNGE) is partnering with the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI), which allows local Navajo farmers to provide key ingredients in many of the casino's popular restaurant dishes.

Derrick Watchman, CEO of NNGE, said the opportunity to use Navajo Pride products allows the casinos to provide world-class cuisine, generate revenue and jobs for the Navajo people and better showcase Navajo culture to its guests.

"Partnering with the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry and its Navajo Pride brand products is just one component of NNGE's larger commitment to buy Navajo and support hardworking Navajos across the reservation," Watchman said.

The NAPI encompasses 75,000 acres of environmentally sensitive farmland located near Farmington, N.M., and is one of the largest tracts of contiguous farmland in the nation. Its Navajo Pride brand agricultural products include high quality potatoes, corn, beans, barley, wheat, oats and more.

"We are proud that guests at NNGE's properties in Flagstaff, Gallup and Farmington will be enjoying our high quality Navajo Pride brand products," said Tsosie Lewis, CEO of NAPI. "We work very hard to provide superior products at competitive prices, while minimizing negative impacts on the land through our Conservation Stewardship Program. Most important however, is our ability to provide economically for future generations through thoughtful and strategic business partnerships with individuals like Mr. Watchman and his team at Navajo Gaming."

Navajo Gaming is currently including two types of flour, pinto beans and russet potatoes in its entrees - and will continue expanding as additional products are in season or needed at its properties.

• Pinto Beans: The pinto bean is a Native cultural food and grown by Navajo farmers in an ideal ecosystem and irrigated with pure Rocky Mountain snow. The pinto beans are light in color and graded U.S. No. 1.

• Russet Potatoes: Fresh Navajo Pride brand potatoes are Global Gap Certified in a variety of Russets, Golds and Reds. Available sizes include A's, B's, Bakers and Premiums.

• Tortilla Flour: NAPI grows premium varieties of wheat, which are milled at the Navajo Pride Flour Mill to produce a variety of flour mixes. NNGE currently purchases All Purpose Flour and Whole-Wheat Flour for use in cooking and baking. Both types of flour are made from a hard, red winter wheat.

The Navajo Pride brand is unique because it is entirely owned and operated by Navajo people. All products are competitively priced and the NAPI's location provides a freight advantage over other U.S. producers to the Southwestern markets of the U.S. and to Mexico.

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