Ben Burkett
Farmer and Mississippi State Coordinator for the Federation of Southern Cooperative
Ben Burkett is a fourth-generation farmer in Petal, Mississippi. His family has been growing food on the same plot of land since 1889, when his great-grandfather received a homestead from the U.S. government just 24 years after the end of the Civil War. It was one of the first African American-owned farms in the state. Since then, the farm has grown to roughly 320 acres. Depending on the season, his fields grow okra, kale, turnips, rutabaga, watermelon, sweet corn, eggplant, and a wide variety of peppers. He sells his produce to restaurants in New Orleans as well as local grocery stores and farmers markets. Before Hurricane Katrina destroyed his fences, the farm also hosted livestock: Chickens, goats, sheep, cattle, hogs, ducks, and turkeys. In 2014, he won a James Beard Foundation award for his work to support family farming. He was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame on May 6, 2020, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.