Welcome to the Small Farms
Research Center's new and improved website! We hope you enjoy learning more
about our history, projects and outreach activities, and gain helpful
information and resources. We sincerely thank you for taking the time to learn
more about the Center which is the sole
outreach arm and vehicle of the College of Agricultural, Life and Natural Sciences (CALNS) at Alabama A&M
University (AAMU). As you'll see, we take our mission of serving,
engaging, inspiring, empowering and assisting underserved agricultural
producers and rural entrepreneurs very seriously. Indeed, since 2000, the Small
Farms Research Center has been making a difference among limited resource,
socially disadvantaged, and beginning farmers and ranchers and rural
entrepreneurs state-wide and nationally.
The Center works closely with the
Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities)
and with other state, academic and community-based organizations throughout
Alabama (Tuskegee University, Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network (ASAN),
Federation of Southern Cooperatives and Land Assistance Fund, State of Alabama
Farmers Market Authority, Tri-State Rabbit Growers Association, Alabama
Agricultural A+ Marketing Association, Tune Farm, Rosita’s Farm, Hopewell Women
in Agriculture, State of Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries,
Alabama Forestry Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agencies,
etc.). We are actively engaged in a broad range of programs and community
outreach activities, all focused on creating crucially needed transitions
toward profitable and sustainable farming systems, primarily in the area of
community outreach, technical assistance public policy, targeting small,
limited resource, socially disadvantaged, new and beginning farmers and
ranchers in Alabama's underserved communities. Since most of the problems we're
facing on this small planet are systemic in nature, the Center takes a holistic
or highly integrated approach to fostering change. The Center has taken on the
challenge of addressing the institutional and other barriers faced by minority
and underserved producers in accessing government programs, services and
benefits.
We have made remarkable progress
by developing collaborative relationships within and outside the great state of
Alabama in building green and livable communities, sustaining small farms and
ranches, and in defining a long-term vision of farm business profitability and
sustainability based on the common goal for both creating a safe and healthy
environment for our own and future generations. The Center's overarching goal
is to empower women, youth, farm populations, rural entrepreneurs and
organizations to look at all of the relationships and consequences related to what
they do and to grow into full responsibility for making informed decisions that
consider their effect on all people, communities, and all species, now and in
the future.
The Center's mission and overall
goals have been met over the years, thanks to the continued financial
assistance and support from USDA/Rural Development, USDA/Risk Management Agency
(RMA), USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA/Office of
Advocacy and Outreach (OAO) and USDA/Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The development
of this new website is a huge step towards our goal of providing a
comprehensive forum for communication, education, outreach training, technical
assistance, and collaboration. The message board will be further developed in
the near future, and we will be adding a “Web-based or Online Resource Center”
and an "Interactive Forum," where agricultural producers, rural
entrepreneurs and agricultural professionals will be able to obtain useful
information and share their outreach, farming and business experiences and
suggestions with us and with the general public within Alabama and nation-wide.
Our Annual Community Outreach
Conference held in mid-November here at Alabama A&M University
is true celebration of community outreach at its finest. It showcases CALNS’
best and the innovations of its faculty, staff, students and partners. It is
one of the best ways to engage this vibrant community and become involved in
the larger CALNS activities. You will want to mark mid-November on your
calendar as the time to make your way to the “Rocket City” (Huntsville,
Alabama), to meet, greet, connect with, and learn from colleagues from across
the state, the South, and the U.S.
Again, thank you for taking the
time to learn more about the Small Farms Research Center and its outreach
activities here at Alabama A&M University. We encourage and welcome your
feedback as our website evolves and hope it supports your quest for useful and
empowering information. You may reach us by email at smallfarmscenter@aamu.edu or by
telephone at 1-866-858-4970 or 1-256-372-4970.
Dr. Duncan Chembezi