ATLANTA ...(November 12, 2004) In survey completed by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund a few years ago (2001) and funded by the USDA's Risk Management Agency, we have realized that many of the findings would likely be helpful to other farm groups and we will begin reporting on them periodically. In the project we wanted to assess the progress of Risk Management education and implementation of some risk management tools such as crop insurance.

In this survey 338 black farmers throughout the south were interviewed. Here are  some of the basic demographics of these black farmer respondents: 90% of the respondents were male; 46% had purchased crop insurance in the past 5 years; there was a fairly even distribution of the length time the respondents had farmed with the largest group (24%) having farmed 41 years or more; most of the farmers in the sample (56%) farmed 100 acres or less; only 20% of the respondents reported receiving an FSA loan in the past 5 years; and 42% said that farming was their principle income.

We asked the question "What is your recommendation for improving information flow to you?" The farmers said that the best way to receive information is from mailings, community based organizations and from personal contact. We listed categories for responses and they were able to make multiple responses. The following is what the farmers said regarding where or how they would like to receive information about farming: 81% from mailings; 79% from CBO's (Community Based Organizations); 77% from personal contact; 63% from newspapers; 61% from television; 32% from churches. 

We asked farmers what information they would most like to receive. Not surprisingly,  more than any other issue, the farmers wanted information about "marketing". The categories for their consideration were financial, marketing, production and legal issues and again the farmers could make multiple responses. The responses were as follows: 76% said they wanted "marketing" information; 68% wanted "financial" information; 68% wanted "production" information; and 47% wanted "legal" information.

Go to the Federation's website at www.federation.coop for information about our programs.

Note: The Federation, now in its 37th year,  assists Black family farmers across the South with farm management, debt restructuring, alternative crop suggestions, marketing expertise and a whole range of services to ensure family farm survivability.