This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is talking with Mircha King of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives about the Pigford case- a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination on the part of the USDA concerning the distribution of loans and credits. Tune in to hear Mircha and Erin discuss the roots of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in the Civil Rights Movement, the history and intricacies of the Pigford case, and the changes that black farmers see twenty years after the case. To learn more about the Pigford case, visit BlackFarmerCase.com. This episode has been brought to you by Fairway Market.

"What these lawsuits had asserted that the United States Department of Agriculture had systematically discriminated against African American farmers on the basis of race, which violates the 5th Amendment."

"Before Reagan left office, one of the things that he did was terminate the office of civil rights for the U.S.D.A... So for years there were stacks of boxes and boxes with claims of discrimination that no one even touched."

"We have all of these discrimination claims- we have black farmers, Native American farmers, women farmers, Hispanic farmers- and he [Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture] made a personal commitment to settle these claims."

-- Mircha King on The Farm Report

This week on Straight, No Chaser, Katy Keiffer chats with Mark Dunlea about everything current in US Food Policy. Mark is Executive Director of Hunger Action Network of NYS, for which he has worked for 26 years. For the last 11 years he has helped coordinate the Faith and Hunger Network with Bread for the World. He is a co-convener of the NYC Food and Farm Bill group. Tune in to learn more about the Farm Bill and why it is not necessarily helping family farms as advertised. This program was sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.

"[They] promote things like corn, which gets turned into corn syrup, and soy, that gets turned into fat, rather than provide incentives for fresh foods and vegetables."

"If farmers don't exist in America, then food prices will be through the roof. We need to create a sustainable food system that provides both an adequate wage to the farmer while providing us healthy food at a reasonable price."

"If one looks at almost any community and sees how much money is being spent on food in that community, it's often the single largest part of the economy. Everybody, rich or poor, has to eat three times a day."

"Most farmers in America get almost nothing out of the Farm Bill."

"The problem isn't what people buy with food stamps, the problem is with what American people buy overall."

--Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of Hunger Action Network

Peteh Muhammad Haroon, affectionally known as Brotha’ P, is an inspirational Spoken Word Performance and recording artist and native of New Orleans, LA. Brotha’ P has been performing his unique style of poetry since 1995 as a member of Nommo Literary Society. After leaving Louisiana in 2005, Brotha’ P moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he was reconnected to the world of agriculture--a world he was introduced to as a child. As a student of Arkansas State University, Brotha’ P, along with others who were interested in growing their own food, established a Student Garden Organization. The intentions of the organization were for the garden to grow into a place where students without an agricultural background could have a place to experience a hands-on food growing course and learn to start and maintain a home garden. After being elected and serving as the first President of the organization for a year, Brotha’ P decided to return to New Orleans to pursue his burning passion to establish gardens throughout local neighborhoods. Spending countless hours under the sun volunteering at the Village Ova da River and the Teche Street Garden, he was offered the opportunity to serve as a landscaper with Common Ground Health Care Clinic. Currently, Brotha’ P is working with New Orleans Food and Farm Network and others local organizations such as the Backyard Gardener's Network to create sustainable green spaces throughout the city of New Orleans. For more information, Brotha’ P can be reached by email at anotherfamilyproduction@yahoo.com. This episode is sponsored The Hearst Ranch.

"I'm looking forward to getting back into [New Orleans] and helping them, I grew up with those people . . .it is my full intent to help any backyard garden in the lower 9th Ward."

--Brotha' P on Greenhorn Radio