Skipjack News
Reaching out to the Small Farmer
by Carol Kinsley
Susan Woods of Parsonsburg MD has relied on UMES expertise in raising her Boer-cross goats. "Agriculture plays a vital role in the economy of the Delmarva Peninsula, but with pressure from development and mergers among suppliers, some farmers, particularly those with small acreages, are having a difficult time making ends meet. In Maryland, a federally-supported program is aimed at preserving small farms and keeping their operators solidly "in the black." Officially entitled the "Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program," the effort recently was awarded a grant of $200,000 from USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.

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Outreach Program Assistant Erroll Mattox discusses packaging options with Perfecto Pyratta in his cabbage patch in Newark MD. Photo by Edwin Remsberg/MCE
Okarsamaa Brooks White, project director, said the small farm outreach program was started at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in 1991 by a professor, Dr. Ejigou Demissie. Brooks White, who holds a master's degree in agricultural economics, joined the program as a farm management specialist in 1994 when it was a joint project with Delaware State University.

Today, the program is based solely at UMES. The program targets five counties on the Eastern Shore (Dorchester, Somerset, Caroline, Wicomico, and Worcester) and five in Southern Maryland (Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's). To a lesser extent, it also assists those in Howard, Montgomery, Talbot, Queen Anne's, and Kent counties of Maryland; in Delaware; and on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Brooks White works out of the Prince George's County Cooperative Extension office in Clinton. Lewis Jones, a farm management specialist who came aboard in 2000, has an office on the UMES campus in Princess Anne, as does Erroll Mattox, who specializes in marketing. Project consultant Dr. Stephan Tubene is based at the Extension office in Anne Arundel County in Glen Burnie.

The program reaches out to historically disadvantaged farmers, including women and several "identified minority groups" including Mexican, Latino, Native American, Asian, and persons of African descent. "We also recognize part-time, tenant farmers, sharecroppers, youths, and farm workers interested in USDA programs," said Brooks White. As part of the Maryland Cooperative Extension (MCE) team in Maryland, she wouldn't turn anyone away. The outreach involves about 80 farmers now, working with each at least once a month.

The program helps these farmers own and operate farms and ranches; increase profits through improved management, financial planning, resource management, business marketing and access to information technology; and increase their participation in USDA programs.

Assistance includes negotiation through various USDA programs, conservation programs, nutrition programs with the farmers' markets, and Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan programs. FSA makes direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans to family-size farmers and ranchers who cannot obtain regular credit. Brooks White said, "We've been successful because the farmers ask for our assistance. They can come to one of us, and if we don't know the answer, we'll guide them to where they can find the answers."

Brooks White told the success story of Yao Afantchao of Baltimore, who smokes fish and markets ethnic vegetables. She identified a grant to develop a smoker for the fish. The Maryland Industrial Partnerships program awarded Afantchao a grant of $55,000. An engineer from New York and Dr. George Shorter in the UMES Department of Agriculture have also been involved. The smoker is on a trailer and can be transported from one site to another. Afantchao has been selling vegetables to foreign embassies, but one grower cannot supply the total demand for ethnic vegetables, so he is now sub-contracting suppliers.

Lewis Jones, a full-time staffer, holds a master's degree in business administration and helps provide management experience. "Farming is a business. It has to be looked at that way," Jones said. He knows farmers ought to have business plans, but he says nine times out of ten, he runs into farmers who have already been working a number of years. "Do I tell them this thing has to be done, or let old mother wit take over? I try to help them find the answers within themselves rather than tell them what to do. When I can reach in and help, I do."

Jones recognizes the value of "relationship marketing — who knows whom — and farmers know one another." Sometimes it's enough just to connect a buyer with a seller. "I was talking to a farmer who wanted to retire and had to reduce his assets. He had seven or eight tractors. Another farmer I talked to needed a tractor. I told him, ‘I know a man with lots of tractors. You need to talk to him.' I gave him the name and phone number and he talked to the man on his own. He bought a John Deere 3020 and they're both happy." Another farmer had a bad crop. Jones told him about the USDA's loan deficiency program and he was able to get money for his crop. "We tell them where to go, whom to contact, and what papers to fill out," Jones said.

Erroll Mattox of Hebron is the latest addition to the program staff at UMES. Mattox is a natural for the position of outreach program assistant. On his organic farm of 12 acres, he grows specialty vegetables and Katahdin sheep. He has been associated with the farming community for over 10 years, particularly with small farmers of the "diversified, sustainable type," he said.

Mattox earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from Howard University in Washington, DC. He has been president of the ShoreFresh Growers Association since 2001. He chairs the Maryland Organic Certification Committee and in 2002 was named Honorary County Agricultural Agent by the Maryland Association of County Agricultural Agents. Dr. Henry Brooks, who heads the 1890 Program at Maryland Cooperative Extension, said, "Mattox understands from personal experience the issues small farmers face, and he is using this knowledge to help others with their problems."
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Kim Elliott of Delmar MD, who has gotten marketing pointers from Erroll Mattox for her ornamental plants and grasses, prepares for a farmers' market in Berlin. Photo by Carol Kinsley

photoMeeting at UMES to discuss the outreach program are (l to r) Lewis Jones, Erroll Mattox, Dr. Henry Brooks, Okarsamaa Brooks White, and Dr. Stephan Tubene. Photo by Kat Harting

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Silver Seed Greenhouse owners Connie and Pat Dobly, in their third year operating a certified organic greenhouse, are exploring new marketing opportunities such as tradeshows. Photo by Edwin Remsberg/MCE

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Photo by Carol Kinsley

Mattox has only been working in the program since March, but already he's made a difference. "I identified farmers who are selling specialty products. I was able to demonstrate to them how to add value to what they're growing." He suggested to one grower that she go to the Dollar Store to buy pots and put her sprigs of lavender in them. That way she can charge three times as much. "That's value-added marketing!" said Mattox.

Mattox noted one greenhouse owner, who is taking over the lease on a piece of equipment that fills transplant trays, learned she can get an FSA loan at 3.55 percent rather than pay 21 percent interest elsewhere. She hadn't previously known that FSA existed. Mattox can help find financing for expansion. One woman bought her first greenhouse by tapping into her 401K. "She didn't realize she could get a lower rate by borrowing, and then the interest is an operating expense," Mattox said.

"Another of my farmers," Mattox said, "has limited English skills and is going back to school to improve his English. If you cannot negotiate the language, you are limited, especially in such things as the pesticide applicator's license. We are making available information so folks can make better choices in their lives and have a chance to be more profitable farmers."

Mattox, whose personal goal is to start a cooperative among small farmers to help them save money by buying in bulk, is looking forward to working with Susan Wood, a part-time nurse practitioner and breeder of Boer-cross goats. Since Boer goats are a meat type, she is also interested in a livestock cooperative. She has 27 goats, including 5 babies. Wood's animals are now being sold as 4-H projects, pets and breeding stock. When the herd is larger, she said, the focus will be on the ethnic meat market. Wood learned by trial and error and a lot of reading how to raise goats. She also credits Dr. Niki Whitley at UMES/MCE for her tremendous assistance as a resource for small ruminants.

Mattox has spoken with Maryland Agriculture Secretary Lewis Riley about how the Department of Agriculture can be of assistance to small, diversified farmers. "We need better ways to communicate with the farmer," he said. "Most small farmers are not members of large organizations. We need to work on getting information from MDA to the people in the state of Maryland."

The program is planning a public seminar this fall to discuss aspects of farm operation of interest to small-scale farmers in Maryland, with topics ranging from marketing and financial management to homeland security. Project director Okarsamaa Brooks White can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Carol Kinsley is now "semi-retired" from American Farm Publications after 23 years with "The Delmarva Farmer" weekly newspaper. She is editor of the monthly "Mid-Atlantic Grower" and offers writing, editing, and consulting under the name Kinsley Communications. She writes from her home in Seaford DE.

Links
www.newfarm.org — The New Farm magazine's web site aims to help growers profitably produce and market healthy, honest foods in ways that improve your soil, nurture the environment, revitalize rural communities and enhance your local community.

www.agnic.org — The web site of the Agriculture Network Information Center is a guide to quality agricultural information on the Internet as selected by the National Agricultural Library, land-grant universities and other institutions.

www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html — There is an office of Cooperative Extension in every state and some foreign countries. Funding is provided by local, state, and federal governments. To find your local office, visit this website and click on "find my county agent." Maryland Cooperative Extension is the outreach arm of both the University of Maryland College Park and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Its motto is "Educating people to help themselves."

www.mda.state.md.us/agdev/adphome.htm — Web site of Maryland's Agribusiness Development Program, this page offers links to many helpful resources at state offices.

www.americanfarm.com — American Farm Publications offers several stories from its agribusiness newspapers at this web site. http://www.mda.state.md.us - Official web site of Maryland Department of Agriculture, the first page includes, under information, "Whom to Contact," which gives names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses that may prove helpful.

www.sarep.ucdavis.edu - Subscribe to a newsletter on sustainable agriculture or follow leads to "research and information to help California producers develop and manage production systems in ways that meet the demands of society, address concerns for the natural environment, and provide economic security for their families and businesses." Much of the information would be helpful to East Coast residents also.

www.homesteadingtoday.com - You have to register to use this site, but if you have questions about how someone else solved a problem or found a way to make money beekeeping, for example, it's a good place to start.

www.agnr.umd.edu - Click on "producers" on the first page of this web site and you'll find "eAnswers: Unbiased, research-based information from Maryland Cooperative Extension."

www.ams.usda.gov/fv/mncs/terminal.htm - Here you'll find wholesale market news reports from all over the U.S.