34,500 Lbs. String Beans Shipped At Ravenscroft

(Reprinted from The Sparta Expositor, Sparta, TN, August 27, 1943.)

Nell D. Hembree, associate FSA director for White and Cumberland counties, announced today that last week above 11,050. bushels or over 34,500pounds of string beans had been shipped from the community co-operative at Ravenscroft and in the near vicinity. While all of the approximately 35 growers in the community are not FSA growers the majority are, Mrs. Hembree stated.

The Farm Security Administration in late 1938 began working on a plan whereby the fanners of the mountain district could take a living from the ground ,without having to dig it from the mines. “It seems that beans and potatoes were best suited to the soil of the mountain and they to the soil,” Mrs. Hembree stated. “At any rate at present every one of the 35 growers are satisfied. One man alone this year received over $460 dollars from less than an acre of beans.”

Every farmer in the project has from one to two acres in beans this year and prices as well as production have been upped considerably. At present bunch beans are bringing 5 1/2 cents per pound and stick beans, a more choice variety, about eight cents per pound. The buyers, mostly representatives of the Kroger Co., stated the variety and quality of the White county mountain bean is average and above the market. The farmers of the community project, through careful selecting and cultivation, have raised the standard of their product by a good bit since the project was first started, according to Mrs. Hembree.

Harvest of the bean crop got under way August 1 and has steadily increased each week until last week the record of 34,500 pounds was shipped. Mrs. Hembree predicts the shipments for the next two weeks to be stabalized on this market and after that sharp decrease as potato season nears.

The people of the community project have learned cooperation and as a result have been able to help themselves as well as the buyers, One man in the community has a truck and he makes a foray through the district picking up other farmers' beans and brings them to a central point where the buyers assemble with trucks instead of making house to house calls over the country side. As a result of this they are willing to pay higher prices.

FSA claims no credit for the success of the project, Mrs. Hembree pointed out. “The hard work, cornbined efforts, and cooperation of the farmers of the district have been the factors in their success. We only supply educational supervision and financial aid. However, a good many of the farmers have never sought any backing at all,” she stated.

Within two weeks the bean crop will have been exhausted and potatoes will appear on the market. The potatoes grown in the White county mountain district are among the finest varieties on the market it is stated by agricultural authorities who know potatoes.