What's For Dinner?

Tonight's Guest: Ben Burkett The Federation of Southern Cooperatives is one recipient of the 2015 Food Sovereignty Prize. Its work addressing racial discrimination by the US Department of Agriculture demonstrates a principal form food sovereignty work has taken in the United States. The Federation emerged out of the civil rights movement in 1967. For decades discrimination againt Black farmers by the USDA contributed to the decline in Black farm ownership from 14 to 1 percent since 1915. In response the Federation's members in 10 southern states helped bring a discrimination lawsuit and supported African-American farmers to become plaintiffs. Guest Ben Burkett, farmer, director of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives and President of the National Family Farm Coalition describes this work.