Federation of Southern Co-ops:
Three decades of sustaining rural Southern communities,
saving black-owned farmland
ince 1967, the
Federation of Southern
Cooperatives/Land
Assistance Fund
(Federation) has successfully
provided self-help economic
opportunities and hope for many lowincome
communities across the
South. The Federation is, in fact, the
only organization in the Southeast
United States that has as its primary
objectives the retention of blackowned
land and the use of cooperatives
for land-based economic development.
“Cooperatives are businesses that
are locally controlled and build wealth
through the participation of people,”
says Federation Executive Director
Ralph Paige. “They are an ideal way
of helping poor folks advance their
own interests and provide for their
own destinies.”
In 1984 the Emergency Land Fund,
the pioneer organization in black land
retention, merged with the Federation.
This led to a much stronger and
more comprehensive program that
retains, acquires, manages and develops
land and other resources using
cooperative principles.
Membership includes 12,000 black
farm families, who individually own
small acreage, but collectively own
more than a half million acres of land
and work through 35 agricultural
cooperatives to purchase supplies, gain
technical assistance and market their
crops. It also includes 15,000 small
savers in 16 community development
credit unions that have accumulated
$24 million in shares and made $113
million in loans since inception.
The Federation owns and operates
the Rural Training and Research
Center (RTRC) on 850 acres of land
near Epes, Ala., where members learn
farming skills, rural business development
practices, leadership skills and
ways of working together in cooperatives
and credit unions.
The programs of the Federation are
comprehensive. They cover agriculture,
credit, housing, markets, land
retention and advocacy. While its programs
are implemented in its offices in
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and
South Carolina, the RTRC is the hub
of the Federation’s outreach and training
efforts. Primary programs include:
- Small Farm and Sustainable
Agriculture — The Federation is
committed to providing outreach and
technical assistance to black family
farmers as integral to its overall
thrust. One of the avenues of outreach
to farmers was the 1990
Minority Farmers Act (Section 2501
of the Farm Bill). As an initiative of
the Federation, Section 2501
addresses the need for USDA to
offer more services to limitedresource
minority farmers by offering
grants to community-based organizations
and landgrant colleges to
offer outreach services. The primary
goal of the sustainable agriculture
program is to help farmers develop
successful family farm businesses
through: financial analysis of farms;
technical assistance in setting individual
farm goals; technical assistance
in farm management; assistance in
debt restructuring; and alternative
crop analysis.
- Land Assistance — Black rural land
ownership has declined drastically
over the last century, from 16 to 19
million acres owned in 1910 to only
7.8 million acres in 1997. And the
decline continues. To help retain and
protect rural land ownership, the
Land Assistance Fund Program
focuses on: legal assistance; education;
tax sales; wills and estate planning;
adverse possession; eminent
domain and condemnation; mineral
rights; and financial assistance.
- Cooperative Marketing — The
average size of an African American
farm is just over 100 acres. The
Federation encourages alternative
crop production that is more suitable
to smaller farm size to help ensure
sustainability of the farm. The focus
of our marketing program is: production/
marketing assessments; cooperative
development; value-added projects;
rural/urban marketing; and
emerging market opportunities.
- Credit Unions — The focus of the
credit union department is to provide
technical assistance and training
to individuals from low-income
rural communities who have determined
a need for low-cost, community-
controlled consumer credit.
Technical assistance is offered in the
following areas: chartering; computerizing;
non-member deposits; business
plans; youth credit unions;
auditing; board training; and committee
training.
- Housing — The Federation has
been instrumental in building quality
affordable housing and manages its
housing programs through the
Panola Land Buyers Association.
The housing department focuses on
three major areas: multi-family housing
development; multi-family housing
management, and technical assistance
for single family housing
- Advocacy and Coalition Building
— To ensure appropriate and relevant
program services for rural communities,
the Federation works in
coalition with other organizations
and advocates for: rural communitybased
economic development;
affordable rural housing; farmers’
rights; fair trade policies; cooperative
and credit union development;
renewable energy strategies; environmental
policy.
Contact Information:
www.federation.coop; (404) 765-0991;
2769 Church St.,
East Point, GA 30344;
Executive Director: Ralph Paige.
