SEGMENT: FARM BUSINESS, GARDEN, & ORGANIZATIONS
Lloyd Johnson>ISM Interviews A-L>ISM Interviews A-L, Segment 23
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- FARM BUSINESS
- He is retired; rents our pastures to neighbors for heifers. He phased out livestock. Can't afford to put $6/bushel corn into a cow.
- GARDEN
- ORGANIZATIONS
- He and brother Bill joined FFA in high school. Also Farm Bureau for insurance, etc. Farm Services Agency for USDA programs; he served on Madison County committee, state committee. In FFA, you take Ag classes, judging contests, speech contests, parliamentary procedures, class projects. About 1998, black farmers in the south filed a class action suit against the Department of Agriculture for discrimination in lending. As a result of that, the Department of Agriculture decided they needed an outreach program for socially disadvantaged. Instructed the county offices that they need representation from among those disadvantaged. Always a plus if that member is black. The local director, along time friend, called him up for help. That's how he joined FSA. He was appointed to the state committee as a 'face' during the Republican administration. The committee deals with program issues, appeals; no politics.
