SMALL FARMS RESOURCE CENTER
The concept of a Center at Alabama A&M University (AAMU) devoted to studying small farms issues and their impact on the survival of these farms was first conceived in 2000 with funding from USDA’s National Office of Outreach under Section 2501of the 1990 Farm Bill. The 2501 project (a.k.a. Small Farmers’ Outreach and Technical Assistance Project) at AAMU received its first funding in 1994. The overall goal of the 2501 project at that time was narrow and restricted to the provision of technical assistance and training in record keeping, and delivery of production and marketing information to farmers not reached by traditional extension programs. The clientele in this category usually operate small-scale, family-owned or managed farms, often with limited resources. The project's service area included 12 counties in north Alabama.
As project staff and faculty grew in numbers and became diverse, and activities more complex and/or holistic in nature, the need for a Center devoted to small farms research, education and outreach became increasingly inevitable. Thus, the Small Farms Research Center was initiated in 2000 to provide services throughout Alabama, with special and particular emphasis on 21 underserved counties in north Alabama. The Center is an integral part of the Department of Agribusiness within the School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It is housed in 215 James I. Dawson Cooperative Extension Building on AAMU campus. The Center caters and responds directly to the needs of small and limited resource farmers, researchers, organizations, agribusiness management specialists, extension agents, and consumers by providing research results, publications, outreach, and educational programs on small farms topics. The Center is multi-faceted with increasingly diverse functions including, but not limited to, the following:
. Serving as a clearinghouse for questions from small and limited resource farmers, land owners, farm and agribusiness management specialists, extension personnel, government officials and agencies, and the academic community;
. Conducting socio-economic research and evaluating issues and factors that might directly impact the profitability of limited resource farms, enhance economic development, and promote viability and overall sustainability of local communities;
. Publishing research findings, manuals, fact sheets, proceedings, pamphlets, leaflets, and a quarterly newsletter, News Update, that include news of upcoming events, publications, topical issues, and profiles of outstanding and exemplary small farmers, extension personnel and key local community leaders;
. Sponsoring, conducting, distributing, and promoting information about on-farm research, sustainable practices, and marketing strategies for small farmers;. Organizing farm-based events and learning opportunities that promote and educate local agricultural producers and community members;
. Fostering a connection between area farmers/land owners and community members that establishes and promotes communication about local agricultural concerns;
. Organizing and coordinating local, regional and statewide conferences, meetings, training workshops, and symposiums, and supporting extension personnel, farm management specialists, farmers markets and farm organizations in regional and local programs;
. Providing opportunity for local limited resource farmers to socially, educationally and philosophically interact; and
. Providing leadership and coordination for the Small Farmers Outreach and Technical Assistance Program and other projects within the Center.
For more information about the Center, please follow the links or call us at 1-(866) 858-4970 or at 1-(800) 548-5000. You may also reach us by email at duncan.chembezi@aamu.edu.
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