Recipient Organization
Federation of Southern Cooperatives
2769 Church Street
East Point,GA 30344
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is proposing to work in seven (7) southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas) to provide regional and coordinated outreach, education and direct technical assistance to African American farmers and landowners around financial planning, farm and forest management/business planning, tax planning, market planning, cooperative development and support, and land tenure/heirs property issues.Our objectives are to (1) increase equitable access to all of USDA agencies, programs and services, specifically FSA, NRCS, Rural Development, US Forest Service, APHIS, AMS, NASS and NIFA; (2) increase income and wealth of individual farmers and landowners via financial planning, farm and forest management planning, tax planning, market planning and related efforts of direct technical support; (3) aggregate farmers and landowners into cooperatives and provide follow-up support and technical assistance in order to provide scale to small scale farmers and landowners in order to build collective knowledge, infrastructure and wealth; and (4) eliminate barriers to accessing USDA and other resources as well as to preserve and maintain the land base in African American communities via education, outreach and direct technical assistance around land tenure/heirs property issues.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Our objectives are to (1) increase equitable access to all of USDA agencies, programs and services, specifically FSA, NRCS, Rural Development, US Forest Service, APHIS, AMS, NASS and NIFA; (2) increase income and wealth of individual farmers and landowners via financial planning, farm and forest management planning, tax planning, market planning and related efforts of direct technical support; (3) aggregate farmers and landowners into cooperatives and provide follow-up support and technical assistance in order to provide scale to small scale farmers and landowners in order to build collective knowledge, infrastructure and wealth; and (4) eliminate barriers to accessing USDA and other resources as well as to preserve and maintain the land base in African American communities via education, outreach and direct technical assistance around land tenure/heirs property issues.
Project Methods
Our approach/methodinvolves working in the different states in the Deep South to provide outreach, education and direct technical support to limited resource farmers and landowners in order to assist them in accessing and utilizing USDA programs and resources, while eliminating barriers to participation and continuing to build awareness of the cooperative model in low income communities, developing cooperatively owned businesses as well as working with other partners and stakeholders locally, regionally and nationally to develop a regional marketing system.In short, our work is about building democratically owned businesses, locally owned and controlled regional food & marketing systems and a sustainable environment while fostering sustainable rural communities through cooperative economic development, land retention and education.Our work is based on the cooperative model, values and principles and inherently promotes diversity and democracy as well as address inequality, oppression and discrimination.Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. The seven cooperative principles are: (1) voluntary and open membership; (2) democratic member control; (3) member economic participation; (4) autonomy and independence; (5) education, training and information; (6) cooperation among cooperatives; and (7) concern for community.Furthermore, our organization is owned and controlled by the members and communities it is designed to serve and benefit.