Atlanta Daily World

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1938

Farmers Of Bot Project Of 100 Units Succeeds

WASHINGTON--(ANP)--Half-way through their first season, the 160 families, 50 of which are Negro, on the Southeast Missouri project of the Farm Security administration, are already showing definite signs of progress.

Aided by weather conditions that have been more than favorable, the majority of the families have raised large gardens and canned more than 200 quarts per family of the surplus fruits and vegetables. In addition, the cooperative store on the project in whose profits the family will all share is doing a brisk business both with the project families and the farmers in the surrounding area.

This project located near New Madrid, Mo., is in the heart of an area that is of particular importance to a large group of Negro farmers. More than two-thirds of the Negro farmers in Missouri, a total of nearly 20,000 persons, live in the seven counties that make up the southeastern part of the state.

As farmers in that area, they are faced with one of the nation's most difficult problems.

LAND RICH

The land on which these people live is one of the richest farming types in the United States. Within fairly easy reach, by roads, trains, and the river, are many of the largest markets in the country.

Yet practically every family receives an inadequate income. In 1935 the gross income of one-half of the white renters was less than $854. For white sharecroppers the figure was $415, with $264 for white laborers.

Why do these farmers, working a land that is capable of producing wealth, receive so little money?

The answer is not simple. One reason is that in the past, they have raised only one crop--cotton. Complete dependence on cotton has often left the families without any income, without enough food to eat. Raising this same crop, year after year, has weakened the soil.

Another check to progress has been the fact that the owners of the land have usually lived away in some village or city. These owners seldom saw the farms and the only interest they had in them was to sell them at a profit.

TENANCY BAD

Other phases of tenancy, too, were at their worst in this region. In 1935 in two counties almost 90 per cent of the families, and in a third county more than 80 per cent did not own the land they farmed. An unusually high proportion of these were day laborers.

Like similar groups in other parts of the country these families were continually moving from farm to farm in a search for better living and working conditions. Very few of them lived in one place long enough to repair the house or restore the gradually weakening strength of the soil. In 1936 43 per cent of the tenants had been on their farms less than one year.

Straightening out these problems is a big task for these people to accomplish. The FSA is one of several government agencies that are doing their best to help them.

Through its rehabilitation program that FSA is loaning small sums of money to farm families who can not get credit elsewhere, to enable them to buy necessary fertilizer seed and tools. It also helps them to work out a more economical farm program, and to obtain better leasing arrangements.

Through these and other methods it is gradually bringing a larger income, better terms of tenure, and a higher standard of living to many of these families.

HALF COLORED

On the Southeastern Missouri project, the FSA is carrying on an even more extensive program.

Here, on a 6,700 acre tract, live 160 farm families, 50 of which are Negroes. These families have been working this land as sharecroppers and laborers all their lives. Their problems are in general the problems of the whole area.

During the past year, the government bought this land from its absentee owners and replaced the old houses and barns with new buildings. They did this at a minimum of expense. Setting up a temporary mill on the project site, they built whole sides of a house in one piece.

This spring, the families moved into the new homes. The houses and barns were far better than any the farmers ever had before, but their troubles were far from solved.

The new homes would make life a little easier, but a better system of farming had to be developed before they could obtain a decent income.

For instance, none of these families had ever been able to attend an agricultural college, and but few had ever witnessed a "demonstration" in improved farm practices.

To overcome this lack of technical knowledge the government is paying an expert farmer to work with them and help them whenever they need advice. Together they have worked out a farm plan that promises to bring them a much higher standard of living.

ROTATE CROPS

As a result of this plan, cotton is no longer their sole support. Corn and other feed crops are raised for their livestock, and soil improvement crops are included in rotation.

Even in years when neither cotton nor corn produce a large income, the families will have enough to eat.

Large gardens are being cultivated and the surplus fruit and vegetables are being canned. Each family has a milk cow, 50 chickens, a sow and two shoats. To aid in the complete development of this plan a home economist helps the project wives with their canning and other household work.

Furthermore, many of these families have never had adequate farming equipment. The FSA has loaned them money, and through a cooperative which they established they have purchased tools, livestock and seed in wholesale lots. Further savings were made by the joint purchase of some of the heavier pieces of equipment.

For example, groups of these families purchased a corn and cotton planter, stalk cutter and disc and groups of nine families a drill mower, and rake. Ownership of these tools placed families in a far better position to compete with other farmers.

In addition, they plan extensive use of the cooperative. Besides aiding them in purchasing their equipment, it will operate a community cotton gin and a store, and will sell their farm products. It will probably be several years before these families will be able to start buying their farms, but meanwhile they are rapidly attaining a large measure of security. With an average amount of success, they should be able to repay the government every cent that it has invested.

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