Federation of Southern Cooperatives: Georgia

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives (FSC) was founded in 1967, with a mission as urgent and relevant today as it was then: to provide self-help economic opportunities and hope for low-income communities across the South, to preserve black-owned land and family farming, and to use cooperatives as a tool for land-based economic development. 

Today FSC has over 70 active cooperative member groups, themselves with a membership of more than 20,000 families working together across ten southern states, with a concentration in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. 

Red Tomato has worked closely with the FSC Georgia Field Office for a number of years. Our first project together was marketing southern watermelon, produced by FSC growers and sold at fair prices negotiated by Red Tomato to retail markets in the northeast. The project helped build a working relationship between RT and FSC Georgia which led to a new focus: development of diversified vegetable crops for a southeastern regional market. The core elements remain consistent: crops produced by FSC co-op members and marketed at fair prices. 

Flint River Cooperative member Cornelius Key is leading efforts to develop field crops such as greens and traditional southern field peas. A women’s cooperative guided by Shirley Sherrod, Exec Director of the Georgia field office, also produces herbs and other crops for local markets. Processing and packaging facilities, branding, and ongoing implementation of advanced IPM practices are all part of this multi-year project.