As of June 17, payments to Arkansas farmers totaled $280.9 million, according to the state office of the Farm Service Agency, a USDA branch helping administer the aid program. Last August, when the USDA announced the startup of the $12 billion Market Facilitation Program, the agency alluded to a cap of $125,000.
Full Answer
What was the Arkansas Delta Farms project?
Using grants and resettlement funds, the RA in 1936 began another project, called Arkansas Delta Farms, that resulted in five other resettlement efforts—three for white farmers and two for African-American farmers.
What were the two projects that the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation started?
Two other projects started by the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation were located in southeastern Arkansas. Chicot Farms held 13,781 acres in Chicot and Drew counties split into eighty-nine units, which included the entire town of Jer ome (Drew County). It was developed at a cost of $568,692.81. Kelso Farms consisted of 7,582 acres in Desha County, purchased for $43,333.41 but never developed as a farm resettlement project. The farms were leased to the War Relocation Authority after World War II began, and the sites would house Japanese American citizens in the Jerome and Rohwer internment camps; Jerome would also house prisoners of war.
What was the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation?
Under the auspices of the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation, Dyess sought to develop a swampy section in southwestern Mississippi County as a planned agricultural community. FERA administrator Harry Hopkins approved the plan in early 1934, and the corporation purchased 15,144 acres of swamp and unimproved timberland. Colonization Project Number 1, which would settle destitute farm families on plots of land in an effort to set them up as independent farmers, was established in May 1934. Little Rock (Pulaski County) architect Howard Eichenbaum designed the simple, functional houses—wired for electricity, and in several different layouts—for the colony. Each farm would also have a barn and chicken house, in addition to other outbuildings.
How many acres were there in the dyes colony?
The colony, which eventually totaled 17,500 acres, was divided into 300 twenty-acre units. A city center—which included an administration building, commissary, canning center, theater, and school—was established. The colony was renamed for Dyess after his January 1936 death in an airplane crash, and some 482 families lived in the colony when it was formally dedicated on May 22, 1936. Completed at a cost of $4,233,045, Dyess Colony stopped recruiting new colonists in January 1939, and many of the colonists eventually paid off the federal loans on their farms and became, as Dyess had imagined, independent farmers. The Dyess Colony Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1976, and parts of the town have been restored through Arkansas State University ’s Heritage Sites program.
How many acres of land did FERA purchase?
FERA administrator Harry Hopkins approved the plan in early 1934, and the corporation purchased 15,144 acres of swamp and unimproved timberland. Colonization Project Number 1, which would settle destitute farm families on plots of land in an effort to set them up as independent farmers, was established in May 1934.
What was the purpose of the Resettlement Administration?
On April 30, 1935, through Executive Order 7207, Roosevelt combined several rural relief agencies into the Resettlement Administration (RA), which was created to provide financial assistance for poor farmers, establish resettlements for migrants and farm workers, and perform farm conservation activities; the RA was a desperately needed agency in Arkansas, which ranked sixth in the U.S in farm tenancy. Rexford Tugwell, a close associate of the president, led the agency, which he divided into several regional organizations. Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana became Region VI.
What is Lake Dick Farm?
The Lake Dick Farm, Inc., association rented the land from the federal government, and membership in the association allowed the families to have ownership interest in the land and facilities. Lake Dick was listed on the National Register on July 30, 1975. In addition to the RA-generated projects, the agency also inherited resettlement projects ...
What is the money received from a claim?
The money received from a claim was income that should have been reported on the claimant’s tax return. The indictment alleges that the four sisters arranged for defendant Jerry Green to provide tax preparation services for the claimants they had recruited. The indictment further alleges that Green falsified the tax returns in order to create a tax refund. The conspiracy resulted in false tax items totaling $4,615,009.
What is the indictment for Martindale?
The indictment alleges that Martindale would deposit claim checks into his law firm trust account, issue a check from that trust account to the claimant, and withhold his attorney fee. For both BFDL and HWFR, attorney fees were restricted to $1,500 per claimant. The indictment alleges that the four sisters entered an agreement with Martindale in which they would split the attorney fee. The sisters also demanded and received additional money from the claimants themselves.
What did Arkansas farmers do in the nineteenth century?
Historically, however, most Arkansas farmers in the nineteenth century were not able to diversify and turned to political activism to try to improve their economic standing. Some sought out national organizations such as the Patrons of Husbandry (Grange); others tried local groups, including the Brothers of Freedom and the Agricultural Wheel. The latter evolved into the Southern Alliance, extended beyond the state's boundaries, and ultimately merged with a Northern group to become the People's Party of America (Populist). Black and white farmers joined these "improvement societies" but maintained separate affiliations.
How did agriculture change in Arkansas?
One of the most significant changes in Arkansas agriculture came in social relationships. Altering the landscape – whether clearing forests, draining swamps, channeling streams, or replacing cotton with rice and soybeans or chicken houses and cattle – transformed the rural culture. Ironically, while millions of acres were being brought into cultivation, thousands of people were leaving the land. The way of life that had sustained them for generations was rapidly dying. Not only was their occupation gone, but also was the land that served as a source for food, fuel, and leisure.
How did the Civil War affect agriculture?
In some ways, the Civil War had a major impact on Arkansas agriculture, but in others, little changed. The most obvious change came after 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation freed Arkansas's 111,115 slaves. Related to that were the thousands of acres of farmland that lay fallow, some for the duration of the war, depriving individuals and the state government of income. Perhaps the most divisive impact of the war was a policy that allowed those owning twenty or more slaves to be exempt from military service. Historian Carl Moneyhon established that many large landowners persisted through the war and continued to dominate Arkansas agriculture economically after the war.
What was the purpose of the Southern Homestead Act?
For ten years, the Southern Homestead Act was an experiment in public land reform, placing individuals using the land above the speculator. But lofty though its goals, and as well intentioned as its sponsors may have been to help the Southern underclass, it was not a panacea. Black farmers were slow to sign up for the new lands and even slower to finalize their claims, for several reasons. The bill did not become law until the third week of June (too late to plant cotton), and the General Land Office was slow to reestablish offices in the seceded states. In Arkansas, the main office did not open in Little Rock until October 1868. While the state was fortunate to have two additional offices – one in the Arkansas River Valley west of Little Rock and one in southwest Arkansas near the Red River – all were far from the Delta and most of the public land. Immediately after the war, confusion and uncertainty made it difficult for freedmen to take advantage of the legislation.
What crops did the New South grow?
To avoid or escape the credit-debt trap of single crop agriculture, and in keeping with the New South emphasis on diversification, some farmers turned to fruit and vegetable farming. Apples were the crop of choice for landowners in the northwest hill counties, particularly after the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad extended east from Eureka Springs (Carroll County) in the 1890s and allowed growers to ship to outside markets. However, disease infested most orchards less than two decades after apple growing became commercially feasible. Despite significant efforts by scientists in the University of Arkansas's College of Agriculture to control disease and pests and to develop new varieties, apple producers have not been able to regain a significant share of the market from the Pacific Northwest.
How did the Southern Homestead Act affect Arkansas?
Congress's amending the Southern Homestead Act led to a wave of speculation as representatives of timber and railroad companies descended on the South to buy millions of acres from the public domain. Buyers representing seven Northern companies bought 114,334 acres in Arkansas between 1876 and 1888. Additional purchases by Arkansans pushed the acquisition of public lands to 628,744 acres. By the time Congress took steps in 1888 to again limit access to the public domain, Arkansas had few public lands left. Thousands of acres were now under the control of private companies that saw little reason to assess the land for its true market value. Not only did these companies deny the state tax revenue by taking land off the market, they deprived the state of even more revenue by transporting resources out of state for processing.
What was the impact of the 1930s on Arkansas?
The 1930s were difficult for almost all Americans, but for Arkansas farmers, the Depression started with the Flood of 1927, a disastrous flood along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. By June, water covered more than 6,000 square miles and all but destroyed the row crops. That year also saw a precipitous drop in housing construction and a downturn in the forestry industry.
What was the issue with the Pigford settlements?
For Everlyn Bryant, the issue with the Pigford settlements is that the $50,000 payments were too little, too late for many farmers struggling to survive — including lead plaintiff Tim Pigford.
How many black farmers were there in Pigford I?
Representing the largest civil settlement in U.S. history, the Department of Agriculture eventually provided more than 16,000 black farmers a total of $2.3 billion in settlements distributed in two waves, known as Pigford I and Pigford II.
How many people did the Bryants employ?
The Bryants started early in the fields, before dawn, and they stayed late. They typically employed five people. Like most farmers, they had good years and lean years, balancing the array of bills inherent to running a farm, with income derived from their crops.
How old was Everlyn in the farm?
Everlyn, meanwhile, had started farm work much younger, as a 10-year-old member of a family of laborers who neither owned nor leased land. Unlike her brothers and sisters, 71-year-old Everlyn said, “I always loved farming, even when I was chopping and picking cotton.".
What is the Stine lawsuit?
Pitting a collaborative of five black farmers from Tennessee and Mississippi against Stine — a privately held company that Bloomberg valued at $2.9 billion in 2016 — a legal battle has been waging over soybean seeds a Stine representative sold the farmers, whose suit alleges fraud and discrimination.
When is the Stine case going to be back in court?
The case is scheduled to be back in court for mediation April 5.
Who filed the Stine Soybean Suit?
When Joe Three attempted to join the lawsuit, with a motion filed on his behalf by the Memphis black farmers group, lawyers for Stine and other defendants in the case swiftly filed opposing motions.