Growing Opportunities for Farmers at the Black Belt Marketing and Innovation Center
Published 2:00 pm Thursday, May 15, 2025
Photos submitted | Members of the National Science Foundation-funded Socio-Agroclimatology team, along with graduate students from Auburn University and the University of Alabama, speak with Kristin Woods of Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension and look at photos showcasing BBMIC accomplishments and possibilities.
Photos submitted | Kristin Woods of Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension demonstrates to tour participants how the inline washing conveyor operates and answers questions.
Photos submitted | Michelle Worosz of Auburn University (left) looks at the container garden used for research outside the BBMIC facility. Some of the seeds for the garden come from the BBMIC’s grow chambers for germinating seeds. Other grow chamber seedlings are given to the local community.
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By Kaitlin Fischer, Kristin Woods, and Wendiam Sawadgo
Consumers tend to prefer local food. For example, a recent study found that Alabama consumers are willing to pay a 20% price premium for sweet potatoes grown in Alabama compared to those grown out of state.
Since fresh produce is not always available, processing can be used to preserve your favorite Alabama fruits and vegetables so they can be enjoyed year-round, while also ensuring that produce meets the standards and needs specified by buyers. Processing helps local farmers, as buyers in retail and wholesale markets provide important outlets for small- and medium-scale farmers to sell their products and reach consumers.
Tuskegee University’s Black Belt Marketing and Innovation Center (BBMIC) in Selma has undergone extensive transformation in recent years to become a produce research facility, aggregation center, and processing incubator for the Dallas County region. After a break during pandemic years, the facility began processing again in 2024. Processing helps local farmers, as buyers in retail and wholesale markets provide important outlets for small- and medium-scale farmers to sell their products and reach consumers.
The BBMIC is fully equipped with an inline washing conveyor, sorting tables, grading tables, pea shellers, greens spinner, and vacuum packaging equipment. But the most critical need fulfilled by the BBMIC for farmers may be its cold storage capacity, since cold storage is vital for extending the shelf life of saleable products and reducing waste. The BBMIC is one of only a few facilities in the state that provides the equipment and training necessary to increase economic opportunities for agricultural producers who face barriers to accessing markets. This increases the availability of fresh produce for Black Belt families, who can access BBMIC-processed produce via wholesale distribution, direct home delivery to the elderly, two food banks, three farmers markets, and one church.
The BBMIC prioritizes education and research to benefit small-scale, underserved farmers in the Alabama Black Belt. As a result, the farmers, community members, and interns who engage in processing fruits and vegetables receive training on related topics, including good manufacturing practices and general food safety and hygiene for food handling.
The BBMIC also serves as an event space for gatherings such as the 2nd Annual Black Belt Food Systems Alliance Meeting held in December, where farmers had an opportunity to connect with available resources for scaling up their farms and discuss their vision for a strong Black Belt food system that is financially viable for producers. Tana Shealey, Lowndes County Extension Director, participates with the farmer’s conference, which serves Black Belt farmers, including those in Lowndes County.
In 2024, 271 individuals attended 63 events at the Center. Tuskegee University’s BBMIC has the potential to become a major research, education, and Extension hub, and is engaged in ongoing initiatives and infrastructure improvements to achieve this vision. Read more about the work of the BBMIC at https://conservegroup.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/growing-opportunities-for-farmers-at-the-black-belt-marketing-and-innovation-center/.
To learn more about Tuskegee University’s programs supporting Black Belt farmers and food producers, including their mini-grants up to $5,000, please visit Tuskegee’s Carver Integrative Sustainability Center website. The work of the BBMIC is made possible by generous public and private support, including funding from several USDA sources, The Heart of Alabama Food Bank, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Kaitlin Fischer is a rural sociologist and Postdoctoral Fellow in Decision-making and Team Science at Auburn University. She can be reached at kmf0101@auburn.edu. Kristin Woods is a Sustainable Food Systems Resource Specialist for Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension, with a focus on Diverse Farming Systems. Her email address is kwoods2@tuskegee.edu. Wendiam Sawadgo is Assistant Professor and Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Auburn University. His email address is wendiam@auburn.edu.
