Greene County Democrat

Tag: USDA

  • Newswire: Black Farmers Aren’t Waiting on Washington to Save Them

    Newswire: Black Farmers Aren’t Waiting on Washington to Save Them

    Above, Eloris Speight, former director of Alcorn’s National Policy Research Center, sits with young farmers-in-training at the conference. (Courtesy of the National Policy Research Center)

    by Aaliyah Wright, Capital B News

    SHANNON, Mississippi — What seemed like almost an empty building on a recent Saturday morning quickly filled with dozens of Black people — from retired federal employees to university officials and even education and land appraisal experts.

    They greeted one another while signing in at the Saving Rural America Small Farmers Conference. Some hugged before grabbing breakfast. Others stopped by Alcorn State University’s table, where a live broadcast took place.

    One thing all the participants and speakers had in common: They were farmers, ranchers, or worked directly with producers. Some were local to the area, located about 10 miles south of Tupelo and about 2 hours from the state capital of Jackson. Others said they drove at least three hours. Many attend the half-day conference every year, hosted by the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance and Coalition of Farmers.

    By 8:30 a.m., they’d all taken their seats.

    In a hyper-political climate where resources and support to help farmers have dwindled, this group didn’t focus on the challenges brought on by the Trump administration’s policies and changes to federal programs. Instead, they gathered to talk about how this moment is an opportunity to inspire the youth and build partnerships together. And they aren’t the only ones. 

    Across rural America, Black producers in agriculture shared concerns about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s continuing efforts to eliminate grants, but they’re not exhausting their energy on navigating such challenges. From Georgia to New York and even in Kentucky, farmers are inviting their own to lead conversations, workshops, and spend time in their communities. In June, the Texas International Ranchers and Farmers will host a three-day convening for farmers and students in rural Nacogdoches.

    When Tiffany Bellfield El-Amin started planning for her organization’s conference, the news hit that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits would be delayed. Some funders could no longer support the Kentucky Black Farmers Association, the organization she founded. They realized they couldn’t really rely on the government as they once did. After conversations with farmers, they exclaimed, “We got us,” which birthed the theme for this year’s conference focusing on culture, connection, and collective power. 

    “The funding that we usually received was in partnership with Kentucky State University, and we realized that because of their federal funding, they wouldn’t be able to fund it, either. So ‘We got us’ got even deeper,” Bellfield El-Amin said. “[We said], ‘We’ll figure it out.’ Everybody can bring a dish. We can do this family reunion style.”

    The importance of cultivating a space of collective care, addressing farmer’s needs, and knowing where the resources are is critical, she added. Some participants refused stipends. Others showed up, even though their employers couldn’t pay for them to come. Students attended, too, and got to experience the farms.

    “Food was sourced locally from our Black farmer members. We had Black bourbon, Black wine and spirits. We had steppers come in from Louisville, Kentucky. We had people camp out at the farm,” Bellfield El-Amin said. “It felt like the best family reunion, like I was with all my cousins, and we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to maintain and sustain ourselves and our communities.”

    Many panelists at the Shannon convening shared resources to help farmers and reemphasized their commitment to farming. As Carolyn Jones, director of the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance, put it, it’s time to cut the noise and “surround ourselves with positivity.”

    Experts like Eloris Speight, former director of the National Policy Research Center at Alcorn State, shared information about farm business protection programs. Mississippi State University professor Kevin Kim provided an overview of projected market conditions, and Walter Jackson, an agronomy consultant and cattle rancher, told the audience about a regenerative agriculture initiative. There were also sessions led by local pastors on religion and the community and a panel on health and wellness, while other panelists brought awareness of potential business opportunities. 

    Take Malone Buchanan, for instance. He’s a retired forester who owns a pine timber company. He emphasized the importance of timber and how others can take advantage of foresting operations.

    “Whatever county you’re in, you need to know who the movers are, who the shakers are, and you need to know where the money comes from,” Buchanan said. “I would like to grow my business with some new younger people.

    The power of the next generation of farmers

    Kameka Cole-Gray emphasized the importance of youth in agriculture. Cole-Gray works as the 1890 National Scholars Program’s USDA program liaison for Alcorn State and Southern University. She celebrated the students who she works with, including Gary McGhee, an agriculture economics major at Alcorn State. 

    McGhee doesn’t come from a farming family, but he became interested in the agriculture industry when a mentor allowed him to tour farms and learn about the business side of farming — from selling crops and livestock to owning land, he said. It pushed him to secure an internship with the USDA.

    “Hearing different people’s different perspectives on agriculture means a lot to me, so I can learn more and gain as much knowledge as possible and hopefully be my own professional in the ag field,” he said. “Hopefully I get my own farm one day.”

    The current climate and the reality of a declining Black farmer population hasn’t deterred McGhee from entering the profession, he said. If anything, it’s encouraged him to get his friends involved.

    “It’s a lot of older Black farmers and not enough young farmers, and I think that comes from not enough exposure,” he added. “I got a lot of friends that don’t know about agriculture, but now they see me doing it and they want to know more about it.” 

    In the room, on this day, everyone had everything they needed to be successful, John Jones, a retired conservationist and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service employee, told the group.

    “I just want you all to keep the faith, keep hope alive, because they can’t take it away from us,” he said. “We have nothing to fear.” 

  • Federation holds Heirs Property Bootcamp

    Federation’s Land Retention Director, Attorney Dania Davy with Federation Executive Director Cornelius Blanding at Bootcamp

    The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund held its fourth annual Heirs Property Bootcamp in Atlanta from December 1-3, 2022.
    The program was open to Black farmers and landowners who have land in heirs property status and need assistance in clearing titles and making productive use of their land.

    Heirs property is land that was passed down in families where the owner did not leave a will and the families own the land in common, based on their generational status in the family. State laws determine who is an heir to an undivided interest in the property.

    In some cases, there are a few heirs but in other cases there could be as many as several hundred, scattered around the nation and the world. The ownership of land in this status makes it vulnerable to loss for non-payment of taxes, or sale by a partitioner from outside the family, or laying idle because none of the tenants can raise or invest money to make it productive.

    Research suggests that 40% or more of the three million acres of farmland still owned by African American people in the South is held as heirs property, which means over one million of the three million acres remaining is held under these unclear joint titles. These one million acres of generational wealth, conservatively valued in the billions of dollars, is in danger of being lost, unless families come together to protect it.

    The Federation’s Bootcamp brings 100 families with heir property problems together to learn about heir property and how to clear titles. Each participant is given a workbook and a schedule of activities like doing a family tree, contacting the heirs, bring heirs together to decide on a common strategy to retain and utilize the land.

    Attorney Dania Davy, who heads the Federation’s Land Retention Department led the bootcamp. “We had 70 families represented this year; we were not able to have a virtual component which reduced attendance. We also had land practioners and attorneys from several states in the Southeast to participate. We are hoping to get families into the process to clear the titles and free the land for a productive use, including establishing family trusts and LLC’s to hold the land into the future for accumulating generational wealth,” said Davy.

    Davy explained that the Federation has been funded by USDA for a multiyear, $5 million national cooperative agreement to provide technical assistance to heirs property owners. This agreement is liked to a USDA investment of $100 million in Heirs Property Relending Funds, which is available through intermediary lenders, most of them Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI’s). Shared Capital, a cooperative lender and CDFI out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the heirs property relending agent that is working with the Federation.

    There were workshops at the Bootcamp on mediation available for families to work out disputes related to the land, clearing title on heirs property; estate planning for heirs property; how to get a UDA farm number for heirs property; ways the Federation assists heirs property owners to manage and get the most income from their land, including how to use USDA programs; and the heirs property relending programs.

    There was also time on the program for families to meet with attorneys on their specific problems and also to get advice on wills and estate planning.

    At the conclusion of the program, Cornelius Blanding thanked the program sponsors including USDA, John Deere, Nationwide Insurance, American Farmland Trust, CoBank, Farm Credit Council, the Farm Policy Center at Alcorn University. Crew, USDA Forest Service, National Cooperative Bank, Vermont Law School-Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and others for their support.

    If you own heir property and need help and technical assistance, contact the Federation’s Land Retention Department at 404-765-0991 or through the website at: http://www.federation.coop.

  • USDA issues closing instructions on $3.1 million loan and grant package for Eutaw water system

    Hattie Edwards

    Mayor Hattie Edwards

     

    At Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting, Mayor Hattie Edwards distributed copies of letters from USDA Rural Development transmitting closing instructions for the $2,219,000 loan and $788,000 grant package for improvement of the City of Eutaw water system.
    “We have been working on this $3 million package for more than three years. We have met all of the conditions and the project which will replace the old water tower in Eutaw, replace and extend water mains, install electronic water meters, repair 52 non-working fire hydrants and other improvements, is now ready to be bid,” said Mayor Edwards.
    The letters which came from Ronald Davis, State Director of USDA Rural Development and Theresa Long, Area Director in Tuscaloosa set August 18, 2016 as the date to open bids.
    City Attorney Ken Aycock indicated he has been taking with the various parties including a bank that will provide interim construction financing for the project while under construction to make sure all requirements are in place. The engineer for the project is Burns Whittaker of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, who designed the project.
    City Engineer, Torris Babbs commented that the work would begin with replacement of the water tower as phase 1. The City of Eutaw has an existing grant from the State of Alabama – ADECA-CDBG funds to repair the water tower. A portion of this grant remains, after it was determined that the old water tank, built in 1921 was un-repairable, which will be used toward this total project.
    Babbs also reported that work on the resurfacing of Prairie Avenue, between the Courthouse Square and Highway 43, is proceeding on schedule and that bids for this project will be opened on July 25 at City Hall. “There will be several projects going on in Eutaw starting in August and going through the fall of the year and longer,” said Babbs.
    Babbs also pointed out that he had observed several building projects, like roof replacements, room additions and others, that persons had not secured building permits from the City, before doing the construction work. All construction work in the city, residential as well as commercial, requires a building permit according to Babbs, the Mayor and City Council. Councilwoman Shelia Smith suggested that the City put out more notification, in the newspapers and other places, of these requirements.
    In the absence of the City Clerk, Deadre Thomas, who is out on medical leave, the City Council approved employment of Ms. Johnnie Knott, retired Circuit Clerk of Greene County, to be interim city clerk and absentee election manager for the upcoming city elections on August 23. The council also approved a list of city election officials to serve for the municipal elections.
    The qualifying period for the city elections closes next week on July 19 and absentee ballots will be available soon thereafter.
    In other business, the City Council:
    • approved travel for Derick Coleman, Police Chief to a training meeting on August 1-5, 2016;
    • paid bills and claims for the period May and June 2016;
    • reviewed a request from Hodges Smith, to rearrange some property boundaries on four acres of land purchased for construction of the Greene County Fire Fighters Association offices and training facility on Prairie Avenue at J Street;
    • approved providing security and assistance in collaboration with the Greene County Commission for the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival;
    • heard from a number of citizens in the audience praising the work of city employees, especially police and first responders, for their dedicated work and service.