Expanding the Marketing Opportunities and Sustainable Production Potential for Minority and Limited-Resource Agricultural Producers in Louisiana and Mississippi (2008)

The expansion of sustainable agriculture requires the development of alternative production techniques and marketing strategies. Unfortunately, just as with the dominant agrifood system, minority and limited resource producers are often not incorporated into planning processes. As an attempt to forge an alternative framework, this paper provides findings and recommendations from an exploratory planning project funded by the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture and Education (SARE) program designed to bring together traditionally-underserved producers, their membership organizations, regional nonprofit organizations and universities, and a variety of customer interests. Participants worked collaboratively to identify opportunities and challenges associated with expanding access to diverse agricultural markets and creating incentives for sustainable production. Findings show a continuing need to access financial capital, land, equipment, education and technical support, and to develop innovative cooperative arrangements and expand opportunities for youth involvement in agriculture. The rural development policy implications of these findings are analyzed. Introduction Historically, underdevelopment, poverty, and political exclusion have plagued people in the southern United States. The political, economic and racial inequalities that underlie the barriers to livelihood security and quality of life continue to pose hardships for small-scale, limited resource, and minority agricultural producers. Agricultural restructuring has negatively affected the South, having particularly 150 SOUTHERN RURAL SOCIOLOGY troubling consequences for these agricultural producers (CRAT 1997; Wood and Gilbert 1998). Conventional agricultural market access points are increasingly being cut off by the growing concentration of control over the agrifood system by large agribusiness firms (see, for example Heffernan 2000). Concentration is also occurring in the organic food market (Howard 2003). Marketing problems encountered consist of the prevailing systems privileging large-scale producers, insufficient information on market outlets and prices, and the cycle of market price disasters (Green 2001; Green and Picciano 2002). Exploring the viability of sustainable production and markets, including organics, could result in development of worthwhile alternatives for minority and limited resource producers. Still, the potential for them to enter and succeed in such venues faces challenges, despite the inevitable domestic growth of large supermarkets and nationwide producers in these arenas (Walz 2004). In this article, we analyze the results of a project designed to facilitate collaboration between minority and limited resource producers, regional nonprofit organizations and universities, and to strengthen existing networks and expertise of producers and their communities and customers. Information gathered through joint meetings and focus groups identified niche markets, value-added production opportunities, and direct marketing techniques targeting customers. We also discuss the structural and technical challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable production, as they relate to the experiences described by the participants, and how rural development policy may facilitate alternative production methods. Minority and Limited Resource Farmers There is increasing recognition of the diversity of producers and types of operations. Given this realization, many labels have been created concerning those producers and their farms viewed as somehow different from both the traditional white/Euro-American family farmers and the corporate agriculture base. In advocacy and policy circles, frequently used labels include small-scale, limited resource, minority and socially disadvantaged. These terms have a variety of sources, including social movements and government responses. The labels are important in framing policy debates, and they are used in actual programs, structuring who qualifies for what kinds of assistance. In other words, these social constructs have real-world implications. Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have attempted to formalize these terms, and the Economic Research Service (ERS) has created a “farm typology” (ERS 2000). EXPANDING MARKETING AND SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION 151 The limited resource farm category is unique in that it is the only farm category identifying 1 parameters for measuring gross sales, total farm assets, and total operator household income, which is to be less than the poverty level for a family of four or less than the county median to be considered a limited resource operation (see also: Hoppe et al. 2007). There is also flexibility in how a limited resource producer’s major occupation may be defined. Focusing on the intersection between the farm operation and the farm operator, it consists of three primary farm types combining the dimensions of scale and structure: non-family, other family (large and very large) and small family farms. Small family farms are those characterized as having sales less than $250,000 annually. Within this broad category, there are five subtypes (adapted from ERS 2000) : 1 Limited-resource: Any small farm with gross sales less than $100,000, total farm assets less than $150,000, and total operator household income less than $20,000. Limited-resource farmers may report farming, a non-farm occupation, or retirement as their major occupation. Retirement: Small farms whose operators report being retired. Residential/lifestyle: Small farms with operators who report a major occupation