Rosa Lee Murphy: Lifetime Commitment to Farming
4 March 2003
Rosa Lee Murphy loves her farm and the farming way of life, so she and her family have held on to it against all odds.
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| Rosa Lee Murphy: I’ve always been a hard worker, and I like to work. |
Rosa Lee Murphy would hardly break five feet standing on the porch steps. Her face is a map of lines from which her eyes twinkle kindly, and she recently turned eighty-nine years old. But every morning Ms. Murphy gets up and puts on her boots and goes out to take care of her farm. She has two hundred acres, and since her husband died last year, she and her youngest daughter run it by themselves.
Ms. Murphy loves her farm and the farming way of life, so she and her family have held on to it against all odds. In the last 20 years, large corporate farms (agribusinesses) supported by federal subsidies have driven huge numbers of small farmers out of business. African Americans and other minorities have an especially hard time, facing discrimination from many directions: banks refuse loans and credit is hard to find, and markets won't let them participate. But the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, an organization that seeks to preserve minority-owned farms, is making it possible for Ms. Murphy and her neighbors to remain on the land and make a living. Oxfam has supported the Federation for more than eight years.
Among the many ways the Federation can help, it offers Ms. Murphy technical guidance on planning her growing season. Then she and other coop members market their harvests together, competing favorably with larger operations. Last summer the coop and others made a record $450,000 on watermelons sold through Red Tomato, an Oxfam partner and distributor in the Northeast, and wholesale buyers in the Southeast.
Ms. Murphy's story is inspiring. She and her husband relocated from a nearby county in 1938 with two small children. At that time it was a big move, but they were able to buy 100 acres of their own land in an African-American community with a good school. Not long afterwards, they doubled their acreage and built the little white clapboard house where Ms. Murphy still lives today. With determination and hard work they raised twelve children,six boys and six girls.
The sale of watermelons through Red Tomato gave everyone in the cooperative a great boost. The potential to increase their income and make sure they keep their farms has given them hope for a future with security.
"The cooperative helped," said Ms. Murphy, "Next year I'm gonna grow even more watermelons. I would've grown more this year but it's a lot for me to supervise. I've always been a hard worker, and I like to work. I just do the best I can."
