INDIAN SPRINGS COOPERATIVE/FARMERS ASSOCIATION

Indian Springs Farmers Association is a member-owned cooperative of 45 Mississippi farmers growing traditional Southern vegetables who collaborate in growing and distributing their produce. 

Members have access to a centrally located, state of the art packing shed, where they are able to grade, pack and ship their produce. To fulfill its marketing goals and contracts, the co-op joined with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, an umbrella organization composed of 35 co-ops representing 12,000 African-American family farms. This affiliation helps to secure higher prices through collective bargaining and access better marketing opportunities. The cooperative’s organizer, Ben Burkett, is a revered Mississippi farmer who farms on 225 acres in Petal, Mississippi, the same land his great-grandfather, George Tisdale, began farming in 1889.

Location: Petal, Miss. 

Products: Pink Eyed Peas, Crowder Peas

Practices: Conventional growing practices