A program that assists local growers and women in agriculture will be expanding as a groundbreaking ceremony was recently held for a new commercial kitchen in Clarksdale.
The kitchen will be located at the Mississippi Delta Council’s regional relief distribution warehouse at 1536 Desoto Ave.
The equipment “helps a lot of people move a lot of goods” and will be the first of its kind in the Mississippi Delta, said Donald Green, executive director of the Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworkers Opportunities organization.
The commercial kitchen was made possible thanks to a grant totaling $91,138, which was awarded to the Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworkers Opportunities to install equipment to support the growth of the Southern Rural Black Women in Agriculture organization, which will lease space at the Clarksdale warehouse.
The monies will be used to purchase equipment for storage, as well as cold and dry freezers at the facility. The grant money is just part of the $400,000 that is being invested in the new kitchen. Green estimated a return on that investment will exceed $3 million.
“It’s going to be really nice. It’s going to be something really grand in the years to come. I’m excited about it,” said Renee Crafton, the area director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who was the keynote speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony held Tuesday, Oct. 30.
She said the project first started in 2013 with the idea for a commercial kitchen. In 2014, an application was submitted for a rural business enterprise grant.
“It stalled for various reasons beyond everyone’s control. There were some times when I wondered if we would get this thing off the ground,” Crafton said of the grant, which eventually transformed into a rural business development grant.
She said she was impressed with the vision that organizers had for the project. Crafton said the grant program is set up where non-profit organizations, such as the Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworkers Opportunities, can apply for grant dollars on behalf of small, emerging businesses to do things such as the integration of a commercial kitchen.
“Initially, it was a modest in scope job and work project.. as things stalled over time, it became an even bigger project and, in the end, turned out to be better than the initial goal,” Crafton said.
The kitchen will allow the Mississippi Delta Council for Farmworkers Opportunities to expand and offer more training and opportunities for its growers, of which Green said 60 percent of them are low income.
“We try to make sure that the socio-economic people have an opportunity to participate in high-growth, high-demand jobs, as well as those jobs they can do based on their skills and abilities,” he said.
Currently, the program does a lot of training for migrant and seasonal workers, Green said. General education classes that focus on basic entrepreneurial skills, as well as English as a Second Language classes are offered.
On average, there are about 200 to 300 participants who go through the program each year, Green said.
Currently, there are about 60 growers spread out over Coahoma, Washington, Tallahatchie, Quitman, Tunica, Holmes, Humphreys and Bolivar counties.
The majority of them are farming on acreage totaling less than 3 acres and some use greenhouses to extend the normal growing season. And there is a training program for the growers, which is in its third year, that touches on such things as soil testing and organic offerings.
“We make sure they’re trained before we send them out,” said Green, who asked for the growers’ “continued encouragement and engagement so we can make this project larger than it is today.”
Among the vegetables being grown are peas, squash, butter beans, watermelons, okra and tomatoes.
“Our focus is going to be on sweet potatoes,” said Carol Blackmon, who is a consultant with the Southern Rural Black Women in Agriculture Initiative.
Once the growers harvest their vegetables they take them to a processing facility in Quitman County for inspection.
“The processing plant is very instrumental in making sure that everything that goes out of here has been examined for any kind of disinfectants,” Green said. “We make sure that the food is safe when it gets to your table.”
Once approved, the vegetables will then come to the commercial kitchen in Clarksdale where Green says they will be “chopped up and shredded” and transported to buyers, which include such companies as Walmart and Kroeger.
“Last year, we sold about 40,000 pounds of peas,” Green said.
The growers either sell their goods through the system of buyers or at a farmers market held at the warehouse.
“They get their pay when they sell their product,” Green said. “They’ve been very happy.”
In addition, Blackmon said the USDA-certified kitchen will also be available for others in the community to use.
Those who bake goods or make food items at their home will now be able to use the commercial kitchen and then sell their goods to grocers and other markets.
Blackmon said her group is ecstatic that the program is moving forward.
“We’ve been talking about it for so long that actually we thought people would think we were making it up. We’re just tickled to death to be here today,” she said.
There is also monthly food distribution program at the facility that serves some 1,200 to 1,500 families to those in need, Green said.
Those wanting more information about any of the programs offered can contact the Mississippi Delta Council, which has been in place since 1971, at 662-627-1121.
