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mm mmmmmmmmmm 7A NEWS^e Ctarliine $ot Tuesday, November 22, 2005 State fund to decrease health disparities Continued from page 1A into preventive health initia tives and $78 million to fund a prescription drug assis tance program. The Department of Health Education at histoiically- black North Carolina Central University in Durham will provide techni cal assistance to applicants and grant recipients over the three year period. Six region al half-day information workshops for potential apphcants will be held in Durham on Dec. 10; Winston-Salem on Jan. 12; Charlotte on Jan. 18; Lumberton on Jan. 21; Greenville on Jan. 25 and Elizabeth City on Feb. 1. Anyone interested in attend ing should pre-register for these regional workshops by calling (800) 530-5356. Grant proposals will be accepted from existing HWTF grantees and organi zations not receiving HWTF funding. Organizations are eligible to receive a trust fund grant if they are: • A state agency • A local government or other political subdivision of the state, or a combination of such entities • A nonprofit organization which has a significant pm - pose promoting the public’s health, limiting youth access to tobacco products, or reduc ing the health consequences of tobacco use Applicants can obtain a copy of the Request for Proposal and other applica tion materials by visiting the web site at www.HealthWellNC.com. Final applications must be received by March 1. Black farmers lcx)k to Ethiopian crop to find market niche By Roxana Hegeman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WICHITA, Kan. - Black farmers in Kansas are exper imenting with growing the Ethiopian crop known as teff - a cereal grain popidar as an alternative to wheat for gluten-sensitive consumers - as a historical and cultural niche in today’s marketplace. Backed by a grant from the Agricvdture Department, researchers and black farm ers planted several test plots of teff in Kansas this year to see if it would be a viable alternative crop in Kansas climate. It grew well. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, thousands of former black slaves - known locally as “Exodusters’ - flocked to the fertile Kansas prairie in search of a better life. Of the nearly half dozen black set tlements here, only Nicodemus survived. TTie northwest Kansas town, located about 300 miles west of Kansas City is now a pro tected National Historic Park site. It’s there that Gary and Gil Alexander planted their first teff plots in the spring, exper imenting with different vari eties. The Alexanders _ dis tant cousins and descen dants of the former slaves that first settled Nicodemus _ were both intrigued by the connection teff had with Ethiopia and Afiica. Just three black farmers still toil the land around Nicodemus, and the Kansas Black Farmers Association is comprised of only about a dozen black farmers statewide who are still left on their family farms. ‘We are trying to find a way not to deal on the open com modity markets market,” Gil Alexander said. “The farmers are not getting a fair shake. We raise a lot of wheat, a lot of sor^um. I’ve raised my best sor^um crop ever this year and it’s not worth any thing.' Looking for an alternative crop they could grow and that would fill a market niche, the cousins were receptive when Edgar Hicks, a grain marketing consultant in Omaha, Neb., approached them with the idea of grow ing teff. “Tfeff is a crop grown pri marily in Ethiopia, and using At MMion Meet your saiings from the ups and downs of inflation with the new Scries I Bond front theUi-Treasuiy And I Bonds are available at most financial institutions. Call 1-800-4US BOND, for more information. lOomkt I4PMUSB0MD the connection between Ethiopia and Nicodemus being a black settlement, we thought teff would be some thing to try,” Gil Alexander said. A native Louisianan with no family ties to Nicodemus, Hicks has nonetheless long been drawn to this all-black settlement His grain indus try expertise earned a $83,965 grant three years ago to develop a historical community-based wheat milling cooperative, a project that is stUl in the works. He got a $197,000 grant last year to fund teff research in Kansas. ‘When I approached it, 1 kind of started it off as a black project,” Hicks said. ‘Tt has gotten to be far beyond that right now.” TfefiPs low ^uten content, nutritional qualities, drougjit resistance and for age benefits have all added to the cultural ties that first drew Hicks to the crop. Tfeff is also used by Ethiopians to make a flathread that is a staple in their diet “Times are so tough for farmers now. ... Tbu^ times have made people more open to look at this as not so much a crackpot-type thing,” Hicks said. Sarah Evert, a graduate student at Kansas State University, is writing her master’s degree thesis on the research she’s doing on growing teff in Kansas. She worked with the black farm ers, experimenting bn grow ing teff at different planting rates and using different planting techniques to see what worked best. ‘We have only one summer research,” she said. ‘Tt defi nitely grew. It grew well in western Kansas. Once we got the stand established, it was pretty drought tolerant and hardy” Back in Nicodemus, Gary Alexander was harvesting this week the last of his two acres of teff The test plot was small enough to be cut wjth hedge trimmers or a small hand scythe. It reminded him of the old days, when farmers would still cut wheat by hand and big shocks of wheat would stand in the fields. He knows of at least one commercial grower in Oklahoma who grows hundreds of acres of teff, enough to run his com bine to harvest it Someday, big teff fields could dot the coimtryside around Nicodemus. But not even black farmers who are toying with growing it in the hopes of supplementing their income expect it will ever become a primary crop “This is wheat country,” Gil Alexander said. “The plains of Kansas have always been wheat country and I don't see that changing.” did your mom go counterculture? Learn aboutremarkaWe women who transformed politics, work, sports and culture in 1970s Charlotte. Ifs a powerful tribute that reminds some how far they've come. 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The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Nov. 22, 2005, edition 1
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