Recently, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan visited Alcorn State University and Mississippi State University as a part of the College Tour, a series of presentations at schools around the country that highlights the relevance of agriculture to our nation’s most pressing issues, including healthy eating, economic development, environmental protection and resource management. For each College Tour stop there is a heavy emphasis on encouraging students to enter the agricultural sector and recruiting talented professionals to come to USDA. While in Mississipi, Deputy Secretary Merrigan worked with her USDA team to host a career fair on each campus after her presentations. Farmweek reports…
Posts Tagged ‘Mississippi’
Saving Rural America, Starting in Winston County
November 5th, 2010 at 10:24 AM by Nina
By Cheryl Cook, Deputy Undersecretary, Rural Development
The people of Winston County, Mississippi faced many of the same problems as other rural communities across the nation: declining population, rising prices, and family farmers in need of capital, business tools, and new markets for their products. But they were determined to overcome these challenges.
When native son Frank Taylor returned to his hometown after college he established the Winston County Self-Help Cooperative, a consortium of local farmers that pool their resources to receive training in business development, conservation, health, and other topics of concern. The Cooperative also has a youth program, which teaches vital skills to the next generation of Winston County farmers.
Meet youth program leader and “mommy, auntie, granny” Jean Harper as she shows off the youth farm run by the Cooperative, which will grow collards, cabbage, string beans, and more. Winston County Self-Help Cooperative, whose motto is “Saving Rural America,” received a Small and Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant to expand their operations into the surrounding counties of central Mississippi. They were assisted by Kenneth Randle of the Mississippi Rural Development office.
This is just one great example of how USDA is making a difference every day, every way. For more great stories check out our other videos here and here, and follow our channel on youTube.
USDA Plants the Seeds to Help Mississippi Grow
October 20th, 2010 at 5:29 PM by Luke
by Hakim Fobia, Public Affairs Specialist, AMS
This September we announced the 2010 awards for our Specialty Crop Block Grants (SCBG), a program geared toward increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables by offering grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which administers the program, funds projects across a broad spectrum of activity, such as research related to increasing crop yields, state marketing campaigns like “Minnesota Grown,” and improving supply chain management for emerging local and regional food systems. These grants can propel burgeoning projects to the next level and help drive local economies and assist farmers. In many cases producers have benefited by diversifying their farms to include specialty crops, such as blueberries and pistachios, to meet consumer demand.
The SCBG program is administered to assist the specialty crop industry in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and three US territories, a practice that has yielded great results in areas not traditionally identified with growing fruits and vegetables. For example, Mississippi, a state traditionally known for its tobacco and cotton row crops, saw its number of farmers markets balloon from 18 in 2004 to 47 in 2010, according to our Farmers Market Directory.
In response to this consumer demand for fresh and local foods, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce applied for a series of specialty crop block grants. Grant funds helped the state hold educational workshops from 2007-2009 that highlighted the benefits of selling specialty crops in farmers’ markets. As a result, farmers market managers attending these workshops reported a nearly 50% increase in the availability of specialty crops at their markets.
Funds also helped coordinate a marketing campaign to promote selling specialty crops in the state’s farmers markets. Effective radio, print, and television ads educated consumers about specialty crops and drew more customers to a downtown market.
“We are proud to help states develop their specialty crop industries and increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Trista Etzig, AMS Specialty Crop Block Grant Project Manager. “We have a great working relationship with these states and territories and look forward to continued success with this program.”
Specific grant awards made to Mississippi and other states and territories can be viewed here.
