Policy Center at Alcorn

The 2018 Farm Bill Policy created the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center: “Title XII: Miscellaneous- Subtitle B: Socially Disadvantaged Producers and Limited Resource Producers amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to direct the Secretary to award a grant to a college or university eligible to receive certain funds, including Tuskegee University, to establish the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center.”

The Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center is national in scope with a strategic focus on the 18 states with 1890 universities to assist in reaching the socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in high concentrated areas. Although national in scope, the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center is located at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi in the Biotechnology building.

The Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center at Alcorn State University is an outstanding geographical location to collect the data needed for research. This site is designated as headquarters of the Center; with satellite locations in other areas through partnerships with 1890’s Universities. Forty-percent of the black farmers in the United States reside in Mississippi and the four adjacent/contiguous states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The crops grown in Mississippi are a representative sample of crops grown by blacks in the south and will assist with an understanding of black farmers and their crops grown in other parts of the nation. Although, Mississippi has the second highest number of black farmers, the decline of black farmers and the loss of black-owned land in Mississippi are greater than other states. Alcorn State University has the premier Small Farm and Agribusiness Center in the 1890 community. In addition to providing broad-based technical assistance, the Center has a vibrant Small Farm Loan Program that has approved over 300 loans to farmers and cooperatives for a total of $3,000,000 since 1996, having a cumulative economic impact of $12,000,000 in the state. The Center and the Extension Program have connected farmers and their co-ops to USDA Programs in a substantial way. Alcorn State University has a solid working relationship with Mississippi State University and the Southern Rural Development Center that can assist with research and will use the collaboration skills learned within those partnerships to create collaborative relationships at a national level. In addition to collaboration experience, Alcorn State University currently houses a farmer and rancher policy institute that works primarily with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

For more information about the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center, contact:

Eloris Speight
Director

 (601) 877-6601
 [email protected]