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Darnella Burkett
Mississippi
Darnella Burkett is 26 years old and a Mississippi farmer.
She farms 255 acres on the family farm with her father Ben Burkett. Her
independent ventures include growing basil, arugula, bayleafs, salad
leafs, spring mix. With her father she grows okra, peas, watermelon,
squash, cucumbers, corn, and eggplant. Her favorite crops are eggplant and
corn because “they’re easy to grow and I can make a profit with them,
because they are popular vegetables with my customers,” she says.
With her farming income Darnella is able to pay for her tuition at Alcorn
State University for degrees in family consumer science and general
agriculture. She is a member of the Indian Spring Farmers Association in
Mississippi. She markets most of her produce at the Crescent City Market
in New Orleans.
Burkett says she started farming in 1990. That
was when “one of my uncles was sick and my Daddy needed more help and I
didn’t have any choice but to help - I didn’t have any sisters and
brothers. At first, I didn’t want to do it, but after I got into
it I started enjoying it. By helping my Dad I was also helping myself. It
was teaching me how to make money on my own, how to grow my own food, and
it was also teaching me how to pay bills... because with my Dad if I went
somewhere he would say ‘if you make money you have to put gas back in
your truck with your own money.’”
“At first I started plowing the fields and
turning the ground over for the new crops while my Daddy was going to the
store to get the seeds. I was doing that on a tractor. I had some
cousins - girl cousins - who would tell me that I would be a boy when I
grew older and the more I did this they said the more I looked like a boy.
So, I had to put my friends and cousins on hold for a while and I still do
now. This makes me feel both good and bad. It feels good, because I’m
following the family tradition and I’m helping my father a lot and we
are helping society by producing food for people to eat. With my friends,
though, I miss a lot - like going out to events - but every now and then I
have some spare time to shake a leg or two.”
“One of my friends changed her attitude about
farming totally and now she’s into farming and she’s helping me farm
and is now wanting to buy 2 or 3 acres herself.”
“Not many young people are going into farming.
I think they don’t understand the concept of farming and what it can
bring you. They’re not thinking about how you can grow your own
food and how you can sell it to the stores. They’re probably thinking it’s
expensive and you can’t get much profit from it. But I learned
something new this summer myself. I learned you can actually take your own
product with you to the store and by telling and showing them what you
have they are more likely to take it right then. So instead of just
calling it’s best to take your product with you and sell it right there.”
“It makes me feel good to know that I can grow
corn. In fact, I grow so much of it I don’t have to sell it all - I make
enough that I can give to seniors citizens in the community. I can glow
about that all the year round. There was a newborn baby that came into the
community in the winter and her mother told me that she loved corn and I
pulled a couple of baby ears - I shucked it and cooked it -
and the baby loved it. I received a thank you note for that.”
“African American people need to save land - so
much is disappearing. We’re losing so much and we need to hold on to it.
It is traditional to hold on the land. Even though I didn’t meet my
great-great grandfather he planted on our land and now I’m planting on
it. My ancestors were here, and now I’m on it and I want to hold on to
it. It’s dear to my heart.”
“You hear all the men say that women can’t
farm but, I’m a living testimony to say that it can be done.” |