Mississippi Delta sees a slow demise

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19299037/

Mississippi Delta sees a slow demise
Farm subsidies favor big over small, white over black

By Gilbert M. Gaul and Dan Morgan

Updated: 12:54 a.m. ET June 20, 2007
SHELBY, Miss. - From 2001 to 2005, the federal government spent nearly $1.2 billion in agricultural subsidies to boost farmers' incomes and invigorate local economies in this poverty-stricken region of the Mississippi Delta.

Most residents are black, but less than 5 percent of the money went to black farmers. They own relatively little land, and so they generally do not qualify for the payments. Ninety-five percent of the money went to large, commercial farms, virtually all of which have white owners.

In Bolivar County, where Shelby is located, farmers received a total of $200 million in crop subsidies over the five-year period, while just $11 million in Rural Development grants from the Agriculture Department went to replace the abandoned factories, decaying houses and boarded-up downtowns in dozens of dirt-poor, majority-black Delta towns.

Many of these towns are trapped in a long, painful death spiral, plagued by poverty, crime and unemployment. More than 100,000 people -- nearly a quarter of the population -- have fled in recent decades in search of a better life.

...more at link provided above.


--- A heartbreaking look at life in one of the most depressed areas of our country. Not surprised that the programs have been drastically cut in the last five years. :(

WMU

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A part of our country dying and not many noticing.

Thanks for posting! :hi: