{"id":9235,"date":"2023-04-19T20:43:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T20:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9235"},"modified":"2023-06-19T20:10:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:10:58","slug":"ben-f-burkett-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/ben-f-burkett-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben F. Burkett Oral History"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

Ben F. Burkett Oral History<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1681936875078-8″ tab_id=”1681936875079-2″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681936875086-8″ tab_id=”1681936875087-6″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681936882662-10″ tab_id=”1681936882663-10″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681936883334-0″ tab_id=”1681936883335-3″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681936883919-4″ tab_id=”1681936883920-4″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681936884614-10″ tab_id=”1681936884615-6″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Oral History Interview with Ben F. Burkett<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delta Black Farmer Oral History Project<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Eleanor Green Jan. 23, 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by W. Ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 I am Eleanor Green and I am here with Ben Burkett and it is January 23, 2007 and the interview is for the Delta Black Farmer Project.\u00a0 I have questions that we formulated but feel free to add anything that is not on my questions.\u00a0 Alright.\u00a0 The first one is pretty easy.\u00a0 Can you tell me your full name?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ben F. Burkett.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the F?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frank.\u00a0\u00a0 F-R-A-N-K.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tell me when you were born?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 August 8, 1951 at Hattiesburg, MS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hattiesburg?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you tell me about your parents?\u00a0 Were they from Hattiesburg?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, they say Hattiesburg, but they actually lived about twenty miles out in the country from Hattiesburg.\u00a0 Both of my parents lived were from that vicinity of the rural area.\u00a0 On my mother\u2019s side I do know that they been in there since about 1866.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t did much research on my father\u2019s side, only my mother\u2019s side<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1866.\u00a0 Did your family \u2013 did you grow up with your family owning land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did ya\u2019ll have a farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We farmed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know how and when your family acquired the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My mother\u2019s grandfather \u2013 it would be my great-grandfather four generations ago acquired a homestead of the 164 acres through the Homestead Act in 1886.\u00a0 And that was basically Indian territory until a treaty was signed deeding the land to the federal government.\u00a0 The Homestead Certificate is filed at the Land Office in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 There was not a courthouse in the town at the time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was a courthouse you had to file in D.C.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Um hm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the land is still being farmed?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still being farmed and each generation\u00a0 added to it so it is now about 255 acres of farm land.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you farm all of the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just two heirs left.\u00a0 Myself and my niece, my sister\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you grow on the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I grow vegetable crops and cantelope and I am starting out a goat herd.\u00a0 In the past cotton was my main crop until the \u201880\u2019s and I grew soybeans, corn, wheat, all of the traditional row crops.\u00a0 But now I am in vegetable (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How did you come to leave cotton?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well what happened my area of cotton which is a good crop under the farm program in the late \u201860\u2019s and early \u201870\u2019s you could sell your acreage \u2013 your right to plant cotton.\u00a0 And most of the people in south Mississippi sold their rights to the farmers in the Delta.\u00a0 They cotton based.\u00a0 Cotton left that area.\u00a0 But in the last five years they made a return.\u00a0 I consider myself a hill farmer.\u00a0 You know Mississippi got a Delta farmer and a hill farmer.\u00a0 Cotton is being returned back to the (inaudible) hills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You didn\u2019t mention watermelons.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Watermelons is one of my mainline crops.\u00a0 Watermelon\u00a0 (Inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How has technology changed in what and how you\u2019ve produced things over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well it changed but at the same time it has remained the same.\u00a0 In order to have a good farm crop.\u00a0 You got to have good seed, good land and the weather is something you can\u2019t control so you got to have good seed to have a crop.\u00a0 I guess the biggest thing that technology\u00a0 – equipment technology.\u00a0 What would normally take ten people to do something, with modern equipment you can be doing it with two people.\u00a0 Same quality definite change.\u00a0 I am not a proponent of genetic engineering of seed but that technology is out there now.\u00a0 A lot of farmers use like cottons, row cropping just in the vegetable industry.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve got much better quality seed I would say and the technology of computers and better equipment have really changed the dynamics of farming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know if your family farmed elsewhere before they came to the Petal area?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That I haven\u2019t been able to see, I have only been able to go back to the 1870\u2019s and 1886.\u00a0 You are talking about just twenty years after the Civil War.\u00a0 So I am wondering how did my great-grandfather would know enough about (inaudible) to acquire a homestead?\u00a0 Or (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s a good question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It really is.\u00a0 That\u2019s another research case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the value of the land to you and your family \u2013 not the monetary value, but what does the land mean to you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is our livelihood.\u00a0 It is our life.\u00a0 I mean that land has been 120 years in our family. \u00a0Definitely I want to pass it on to the next generation and hope the next generation will pass it on although the area is being pressured by the Town of Hattiesburg to build subdivisions out that way.\u00a0 Definitely the land is more valuable than money to me and my family.\u00a0 We have done had several offers to buy it.\u00a0 That not even (inaudible) question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So you have it set up to keep it in the family for generations to come?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well yes and no.\u00a0 All we can do is try to train the next generation the value of holding on to it and passing it on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your daughter works on the farm with you.\u00a0 Is she learning the value?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I hope so.\u00a0 I believe she\u2019s caught on to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Have you used assistance such as FSA programs and USDA programs to keep the farm going?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I remember distinctly in 1968 my father went down to the, then it was the ASCS office.\u00a0 He took his name off and put my name on as the farm operator.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is ASCS?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before it was FSA it was the Agriculture and Stabilization Conservation Service Office.\u00a0 Then in the \u201880\u2019s it changed to FSA.\u00a0 It was ASCS Agriculture Stabilization Conservation Service Office.\u00a0 So I been involved in one way or another since 1968 in some type of program (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is your educational background?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I graduated from the (inaudible) which was the high school at the time of segregation.\u00a0 The only kind of school in Forrest County for black people.\u00a0 I went on to Alcorn State University where I studied agriculture.\u00a0 I graduated from there in 1973.\u00a0 I returned back to the farm after graduation and I basically have been farming ever since.\u00a0 Even now I work some for the Cooperation Association.\u00a0 Most of my income depends on farming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How did you become to be associated with the Association of Southern Cooperatives and the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well all of our local cooperatives (inaudible) association in the late \u201870\u2019s and early \u201880\u2019s and we didn\u2019t know anything about any of those organizations.\u00a0 We had been to a meeting in Jackson or somewhere and Mr. Melvin Smith was one of the speakers and he explained to us about the benefit of being in an association.\u00a0 And I think (inaudible) became a member of the Association there in \u201982 and have been a member there ever since.\u00a0 My involvement as a Staff Person (inaudible) first, but I came out of the Cooperative itself.\u00a0 (Inaudible) That is how you get to be an employee by being a member of the local cooperative.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now are you an employee of the federation or MAC?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your position \u2013 director \u2013 MAC?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 State Coordinator.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 State Coordinator?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Mississippi Association of (inaudible).\u00a0 That\u2019s an appointed position.\u00a0 Executive Director (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How long have ya\u2019ll been working with farmers in the Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mississippi Association (inaudible) and Southern Cooperative can go back to 1968, or maybe a little before.\u00a0 I know from 1968 on to the present the Federation of Southern Cooperative (inaudible) have been involved with farmers here in the Delta.\u00a0 That\u2019s almost forty years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of things have they done with farmers in the Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My earliest recollection is the North Bolivar Farmers Cooperative outside Mound Bayou. \u00a0The Federation has kept organized and sponsored that cooperative.\u00a0 At one time they had a full time staff person assigned just to that part of the Delta.\u00a0 Several of the founding members of the Federation signed a charter federation from the Delta (inaudible) Mound Bayou.\u00a0 L.C. Dorsey signed the charter for the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives as well as other farmers in Tallahatchie County, F. Bailey out of Holmes County, all of them people are incorporated in both organizations so the Association (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What can you tell me about the railroad and a lot of people in the Delta acquired their land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From my understanding, this has been told to me by several farmers.\u00a0 In order for Illinois Central Railroad to build a railroad here in the Delta they acquired large tracts of land to build it and they built the railroad and opened up the trade here in the Delta.\u00a0 They said the railroad was coming through in sections which is 640 acres.\u00a0 The railroad track only took up the right-of-way, but the government gave them the whole section.\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

And a lot of the individuals that was working for the railroad (inaudible) had an inside track on when some land was going to be sold\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I see.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2026 so that\u2019s the way some of them acquired some of their property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Which railroad was it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Illinois Central was one of the major ones out of Chicago, but they had several of them, they called spur lines they called GM&O, and I can\u2019t think of all the rest of them, but they was local, but the mail line was Illinois Central.\u00a0 But the Illinois Central went to Greenville and Columbus.\u00a0 Other railroads that went into the interior of the Mississippi Delta.\u00a0 And that was the way by working for the railroad and farming that they acquired the land.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How would you say that cotton has changed for black farmers in the Delta over the years and what role did subsidies play?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I said it to you a while ago. Cotton, for all of us my age and older through college meant a good living.\u00a0 Cotton was the backbone in Mississippi and even today I think cotton is like third money crop in the State of Mississippi.\u00a0 I stopped raising cotton for basically two reasons:\u00a0 The size of the thing.\u00a0 If you ain\u2019t got two or three hundred acres to plant cotton you can\u2019t produce cotton.\u00a0 And the subsidy part has always played a part ever since I have been involved I think since 1958.\u00a0 Because the price and supply.\u00a0 We had the ability to produce too much cotton some years.\u00a0 In order for them to keep the price stable that\u2019s how the subsidy came in.\u00a0 They parity it or subsidy it or (inaudible) is what they call it now but it all comes down to stabilize the price.\u00a0 And a lot of people say it should not happen or should, but I\u2019m basically in favor of it (inaudible).\u00a0 The way it\u2019s delivered to small farmers or big farmers that could be changed.\u00a0 They need to make it more equitable between small farmers, black farmers, white farmers, needs to be more sheltered.\u00a0 But without it you just couldn\u2019t hardly raise cotton.\u00a0 (Inaudible) make a fair profit out of it.\u00a0 Cotton is a very expensive crop to grow.\u00a0 Takes $300-$400 per acre before you ever harvest.\u00a0 If you plant 200 acres of cotton you\u2019ve got a hundred thousand dollars out there in the field.\u00a0 So as a farmer, I need some kind of assurance that I can get a return on my expenses.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way I look at the program.\u00a0 Definitely the place \u2013 not where cotton price is high enough $8 or $9 dollars a pound then you wouldn\u2019t need the support from the government.\u00a0 Basically people look at it as money coming out of the U.S. Treasury, but in reality it\u2019s not.\u00a0 Because the way it is set up now the cotton is at a certain price then the government will only pay out a certain amount.\u00a0 The (inaudible) the price stays fairly stable (inaudible) and that\u2019s the way farmers, and I\u2019m talking from experience, when we say we don\u2019t know how much cotton we are going to plant this time of the year.\u00a0 We know how much our subsidy payment is going to be then we can take that to the bank and get our operating money for our seed and supplies.\u00a0 It\u2019s complicated for people that don\u2019t understand it (inaudible) that\u2019s farming knows how necessary it is to have the insurance or that are assured that I\u2019m going to receive something.\u00a0 You know farming is a big gamble.\u00a0 I can plant seeds in the ground who knows there might be a hail storm coming.\u00a0 There might be a hurricane coming and destroy the crop.\u00a0 We need some type of insurance to assure that you are going to at least get your expenses back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How many African American cotton farmers would you say there are in the United States?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to the Census of 2002 there was a little less than five hundred in the whole United States.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How many in Mississippi?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A hundred and fifty-six I believe but I disputed those numbers.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to say \u2013 I\u2019m going to say it\u2019s, I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s closer (inaudible).\u00a0 Most of them are not counted in the Census.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How many do you think there are in the Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of them are in the Delta in Mississippi..\u00a0 Maybe one \u2013 maybe three outside this Delta area is growing cotton.\u00a0 And most of those are concentrated in Washington, Coahoma, Bolivar in the heart of the cotton growing area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How did race affect black farmers in Mississippi and the Mississippi Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now that\u2019s the question that has always been around.\u00a0 Race has always been a factor in this.\u00a0 A lot of people will deny it but it\u2019s there.\u00a0\u00a0 It has been, is today,\u00a0 and probably will for a lot of years to come.\u00a0 I had the opportunity to serve eight years on the State FSA board.\u00a0 If a farmer would come in with their appeal.\u00a0 I noticed that you could have two farmers side by side growing cotton.\u00a0 One got a base of 900 pounds to the acre, and the black farmer would have 485.\u00a0 I wondered why it would have such a disparity?\u00a0 Well when they was giving out these bases long years ago there wasn\u2019t any African Americans or black farmers in the room.\u00a0 The bases were given out.\u00a0 I can\u2019t understand how neighbors with the same land with the two variations in base.\u00a0 That would determine how much the federal payment would be.\u00a0 You can image the thousands of dollars that have been lost over the last forty or fifty years on just on that one factor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The base is not the same for every farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The base is not the same for every farm.\u00a0 I know of farmers in this Delta that were twelve hundred pound base.\u00a0 See I was serving on that committee.\u00a0 But most black farmers \u2013 I think the highest black farmer I\u2019ve seen was 650.\u00a0 Now they say those bases is, I can\u2019t hardly say that word, is quantified, cannot be changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can\u2019t be changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can\u2019t be changed.\u00a0 The only place it can be changed is for Congress to go back and change the law.\u00a0 Cause these base have been here now for \u00a0seventy-five, eighty-five\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is it based on?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On your farming history.\u00a0 How much cotton you produced on a five year average.\u00a0 You dropped the low, dropped the high, the three\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did yours change over time?\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It can\u2019t be changed.\u00a0 Really in these farm bills there needs to be some mechanism that would allow a farmer to go back in and re-establish their base.\u00a0 Definitely now you are getting more cotton per acre thirty years ago.\u00a0 That\u2019s just one of the factors of race, definitely the financials, getting loans, obtaining loans, terms of credit, over the years there has always been a struggle for black farmers.\u00a0 Even when you get a loan your interest rate will always be a little higher than (inaudible).\u00a0 And over the years it takes a toll.\u00a0 Because you are in a worse financial situation than the white.\u00a0 Also even in the market place when it comes time to sell your cotton.\u00a0 Cotton is graded on straight measure, fair measure.\u00a0 Over the years the black farmer\u2019s cotton is always a little less quality and that made you get a little less money.\u00a0 That\u2019s kind of changed now cause most of \u2013 well all of the cotton now is graded in one central place and nobody don\u2019t know whose cotton that is.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 Back when I was growing it was graded locally and that made a big difference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think that most of the people that have been interviewed here they all harvest it and put it in modules..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then the modules get picked up by somebody and taken somewhere\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To the gin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To the gin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) and samples now I think.\u00a0 I think at least 90% of all the cotton is cotton samples is stationed here in the whole country.\u00a0 Samples\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did the civil rights movement and the years which followed affect the atmosphere on your farm and the farms that ya\u2019ll have worked with?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, I was just a little bit too young to really be active.\u00a0 From my understanding farmers played a big part in civil rights.\u00a0 Because they was \u2013 some of the places that the Freedom Riders had to stay in, the farmers let them stay in.\u00a0 And they used their land to sign many people\u2019s bonds to get them out of jail.\u00a0 So land ownership paid a big part in civil rights.\u00a0 The land you know you could put up a property bond to get people out of jail.\u00a0 They\u2019d lose their \u2013 many places here in the Delta as well as the hills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You mean by losing their land doing that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m quite sure some probably did, but I don\u2019t know any.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019ve talked to several people who have said it was a place to stay, especially in the Mound Bayou area – that was a safe place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was a safe place when the first NAACP came in Mound Bayou.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What role would you say Farmers\u2019 Markets play in farming today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the small interests high value products, Farmers\u2019 Markets are the perfect place to participate.\u00a0 They are springing up all over the place.\u00a0 Every town in Mississippi want to have a Farmer Market there.\u00a0 Actually there are more Farmer Markets than there is farmers I believe.\u00a0 But (inaudible) and myself and south Mississippi and they participate in Farmers Markets in New Orleans, Bay St. Louis, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast.\u00a0 We have been active in Farmers Markets, selling in Farmers Markets now for fifteen years.\u00a0 It is a good source of income.\u00a0 Not all are small farmers.\u00a0 (inaudible) and want to be full time farmers and utilize two or three Farmers Markets and it\u2019s a living but it\u2019s hard \u2013 well, it\u2019s not so much hard but it\u2019s steady work.\u00a0 You have to constantly be planting, you got to constantly be harvesting.\u00a0 You got to have a variety of product and get it to the market.\u00a0 You dealing in a premium market place and you got to have a high quality fresh product and definitely the trend of organic production is increasing every year.<\/p>\n

You can have a certified organic farm and sell in the Farmers Market and a new market has just been opened up this year in Jackson which is a fabulous facility.\u00a0 It serves the entire state of Mississippi.\u00a0\u00a0 Products come into that market from all over the state of Mississippi.\u00a0 And here in the Delta I think Greenwood, Greenville, Memphis which is not too far away, Farmers\u2019 Markets that they can utilize even with your commercial farmers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What role did your cooperative play in Katrina?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah in the (inaudible) Association our facility was badly damaged by the hurricane itself.\u00a0 And we were able to put it back together fairly \u2013 like in two or three days after the storm we was \u2013 we used our facility as a warehouse facility for products that was moving on to Biloxi or Gulfport.\u00a0 Although we had severe damage \u2013 I think the storm was on a Monday, we had our first truckload came in on that Thursday.\u00a0 Eighteen wheelers was bringing in but we used smaller trucks do it to Gulfport and Biloxi.\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of things?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It started off with food and water and clothing and in the end it was food, water, clothing, furniture, everything people needed, medicine supplies.\u00a0 A little of everything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you take truckloads of fresh produce down?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cooperative took what we could salvage out of our fields.\u00a0 (inaudible) Farms America, we delivered shelled peas, butterbeans, greens, whatever we could salvage and process.\u00a0 Get it shelled and bagged cause they were \u2013 about two or three weeks after the storm they really wanted fresh produce down there.\u00a0 And we played a part in that.\u00a0 Catholic Churche in Biloxi and other churches in Gulfport and Crooked Creek delivered product.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Going back to growing up on the farm \u2013 what was the most memorable moment for you growing up on a farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember there was so many of them.\u00a0 Most memorable?\u00a0 It was so many of them.\u00a0 I can tell you the most memorable but it was shocking too at the same time.\u00a0 I was about eight or nine years old and we had this pig.\u00a0 My grandfather had.\u00a0 We had raised this pig (inaudible) some kind of hog.\u00a0 My grandfather said come go with me.\u00a0 He just called the pig up to him and then hit the pig in the head with a hammer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And it was dinner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t expecting that. I never forgot that and I couldn\u2019t have been over seven or eight years old.\u00a0 But one thing that it would teach you and you learned a lesson is that in this farming business you don\u2019t get attached to nothing.\u00a0 A chicken or hog or a cow, a duck.\u00a0 A cow might be supper tomorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did \u2013 I know that you have worked with the Association and stuff over the years but you said your main income is farming.\u00a0 Did your father just farm or did he have offsite\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather was all full time farmers.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been full time farmer since 1988.\u00a0 Probably end up back full time farming.\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t think they ought to let you leave.\u00a0 Those are my official questions.\u00a0 What else would you like to tell me?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I just have to say about here in the Delta is there has been a lot of progress made but we still have a long way to go for equitable between the races.\u00a0 And definitely that depending upon the economy without – you can have all these rights to vote and all these people to go to school together and everything else, but if you don\u2019t have no economic base you really hadn\u2019t achieved nothing.\u00a0 But at the Mississippi Association of Federation that has always been our prime objective in the cooperative movement was to create these types of opportunities for small, black people, other minorities, well white people have been part of it.\u00a0 I used to say (inaudible) to farm and make a living if you wanted to farm full time you should be able to do that and make a decent living.\u00a0 And if you wanted to work, or in a plant or at to school or whatever, you should be enough there to live comfortably.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we have made it quite there yet but there have been a lot of improvement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you think the stumbling blocks are?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a free enterprise capitalists that we have.\u00a0 It is capitalism.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 And that is what capitalism is all about.\u00a0 Just knowing the right people, knowing the place, what\u2019s going on, what\u2019s going to happen twenty years from now, what\u2019s going to be thirty years from now.\u00a0 Too many of us have not been able to be a part of that decision making.\u00a0 That\u2019s the reason why we are fighting so hard to see in the farm bill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of things would you like to see in the new farm bill?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019d like to see \u2013 definitely we would like to see funding for the 2501 Program which would provide technical assistance to small and disadvantaged farmer.\u00a0 We would like to see the cost share program increased for small farmers who utilize \u2013 we can have money to utilize for property, conservation efforts, for irrigation, for (inaudible) small equipment that farmers need.\u00a0 And on the subsidy payment we would like to readdress that issue of bases, crop bases on row crops.\u00a0\u00a0 Also money in there for the support of institutions, such as colleges, research for sustainable agriculture, and direct lending increases.\u00a0 You know most of the lending now is guaranteed.\u00a0 Government will guarantee to the local bank but that don\u2019t work too well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So the government guarantees it but you have got to go to the local bank to get it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To get it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So you still have got to deal with whether the local people want to give it to you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s right and the paper work that is involved.\u00a0 So that is some of the things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know anything about the Delta Cooperative Farm and Providence Cooperative Farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where is that located at?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One was in Rochdale, MS and one was in Providence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rosedale.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Well yeah.\u00a0 It was originally R-o-c-h-d-a-l-e originally I guess.\u00a0 We just found the document\u00a0 and we haven\u2019t found anyone who knows about them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was before my time I think.\u00a0 What is the date on some of that documents?\u00a0 I probably know somebody that knows something about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was written by Sam Cranklin, Jr. Professor of Meritus of (inaudible) Seminary.\u00a0 And it looks like it was in \u201979 and somewhere around there.\u00a0 In the \u201870\u2019s as it doesn\u2019t actually have a date.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s not before my time. (inaudible)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you have anything else to say?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Would you like to tell me why you haven\u2019t cut your hair in six years?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BB:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is a one man protest against the War in Iraq. I\u2019m totally against that war.\u00a0 And when the troops first went to Iraq I said I was not going to cut my hair until the all the American fighting forces returned from Iraq.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EE:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alright.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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