C.O.O.L Farming Project off to a good start

Special to The Canton News 

The new Community Oriented Opportunities for Learning (C.O.O.L.™) Farming Project officially started on June 17 with a kickoff event at the Mississippi Ag and Forestry Museum in Jackson. The program, funded through the USDA, is designed to educate and train beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers to plan, launch and/or sustain independent organic farm businesses. Prior farming experience is not required. The program is available at no cost to the participants.

SR1 sought seventy participants for the program, but nearly one hundred fifty people signed up. SR1 expanded the program to accommodate all of the participants. People from all over Central Mississippi registered for the program. 

“We’re excited to help our farmers, our socially disadvantaged farmers, plan, launch and sustain their organic businesses. We want to grow together as we learn key concepts, developing business models, crop plans, and learning key concepts of effective farming,” said Dr. Jasmine Hendrix, SR1 Agriculture and Food Science Department Director.

The goal of the program is to increase the number of organic farms in Mississippi. SR1 leaders believe this will help the state in a variety of ways, such as providing healthy food for food desert communities, improving community members’ health, creating new businesses and jobs for the region, and improving the environment.

Participant Kendrick Glover, 37, of Canton, is excited to learn organic farming techniques and put them to use. 

 “I want to be a part of the Beginner Farmer Program to be educated on farming to help my community eat healthy and become healthier in the future,” he said. “Three years I’ve been looking for something like this and wanting something like this, so of course I am excited!”

The C.O.O.L.™ Farming Project is a three-year-program. Beginner Farmers in the program will work with an experienced team and gain knowledge and experience to prepare and launch a farm, plus learn how to sustain a farming business. In addition to the organic farming practices, participants will also learn business management and financial management concepts for successful farming. In the second year, farmers will launch their business on a half-acre plot to test commitment and potential for independent farming.

“The C.O.O.L.™ Farming project participants will gain hands-on experiences implementing organic and sustainable agriculture practices, learn about sustainable agriculture practices from a variety of subject area experts, and work with an experienced team to conduct on-farm research-based activities such as organic no-till practices, cover crops, soil management, and much more,” Dr. Hendrix added. 

The Beginner Farmers will begin courses in July. They will start farming in the fall. SR1 will operate the C.O.O.L. Farming Project at the Davis-Green Pastures’ Research, Education, and Development Center in Forest (Scott County), and the SR1 Research, Education, and Development Center in Canton, the heart of Central Mississippi, where fertile soil and temperate climates affords year-round farming.

For more information on the The C.O.O.L.™ Farming Project and Beginner Farmer Program, call SR1 at 601-206-4544, or visit www.sr1ag.org.