Booker T. Whatley facts for kids

Booker T. Whatley (born November 5, 1915, in Calhoun County, Alabama – died September 3, 2005, in Montgomery, Alabama) was an important agriculture professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama, USA. He was a leader in developing sustainable agriculture after World War II. His goal was to help create a strong middle class among African Americans through farming.

Booker T. Whatley: A Farming Pioneer

Booker T. Whatley was a visionary who changed how many small farms operate. He taught farmers to be "smaller and smarter" instead of trying to compete with huge farms. His ideas helped many small farms become successful and profitable.

Smart Farming Ideas

Dr. Whatley is famous for his regenerative farming system. This system focuses on making farms healthy and productive for a long time. He combined this with a clever way to sell crops: pick-your-own (PYO). With PYO, customers visit the farm and harvest their own food. This saves farmers time and money.

Whatley also promoted the idea of a subscription buyer's club. Farmers could sell directly to a group of loyal customers. These customers would pay a fee to be part of the club. This guaranteed market helped farmers plan their crops better. Today, pick-your-own farms are popular all over the world.

Whatley believed that regenerative agriculture helped small farmers use their farm's natural resources better. This made their farms more sustainable and profitable. He was inspired by Dr. George Washington Carver of Tuskegee University. Carver's work in the early 1900s focused on improving soil health. He taught farmers about crop rotation and planting special crops like peanuts and soybeans. These crops help put nitrogen back into the soil, making it richer.

His Early Life and Education

Booker T. Whatley grew up on a family farm in Anniston, Alabama. He was the oldest of 12 children. He earned his first degree in agriculture from Alabama A&M University.

After college, he joined the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was sent to Japan to manage a hydroponic farm. This farm grew food in water, without soil, to feed U.S. troops. After his military service, a scientist encouraged him to continue his studies. Whatley then went to Rutgers University and earned a doctorate in horticulture (the science of growing plants) in 1957. Later, in 1989, he also earned a law degree from Alabama A&M University.

The Whatley Plan: Farming for Profit

Around 1970, Dr. Whatley began teaching at Tuskegee University. He started telling small farmers to focus on "smaller and smarter" strategies. He advised them not to grow common crops like grains. Instead, they should grow high-value crops like berries and grapes. Then, they should sell these crops directly to a loyal group of customers. He suggested aiming for about 1,000 customers. These customers would harvest the crops themselves as members of a Clientele Membership Club.

Whatley taught farmers to focus on marketing and finding profitable crops for smaller pieces of land. Most importantly, he told them to use their farm's own resources wisely. These resources included the land, soil, sun, air, rain, plants, animals, and people.

The Whatley Diversified Plan for Small Farms is based on four main ideas:

• Creating a diverse pick-your-own (PYO) farm between 10 and 200 acres (0.81 km²).
• Producing at least 10 different products all year round. These products could be crops or handmade goods. They would be sold through a Clientele Membership Club in an area with at least 50,000 people.
• Selling to club members for 40% of the price found in supermarkets.
• Making a good profit from the farm.

Dr. Whatley's overall ideas are summed up in his "10 Commandments" for small farms:

Thy small farm shalt:

1. Provide year-round, daily cash flow.
2. Be a pick-your-own operation.
3. Have a guaranteed market with a Clientele Membership Club.
4. Provide year-round, full-time employment.
5. Be located on a paved road within 40 miles of a city of at least 50,000 people. It should have good soil and plenty of water.
6. Produce only what your customers want—and nothing else!
7. Avoid middlemen and middlewomen, who take a cut of your profits.
8. Grow crops that work well together and earn at least $3,000 per acre each year.
9. Be 'weatherproof' as much as possible, using both drip and sprinkler irrigation.
10. Be covered by at least $250,000 (or better, $1 million) in liability insurance.

Spreading His Ideas

After retiring from teaching, Whatley spent his time promoting his farming system. He became a well-known expert. He inspired readers of magazines like Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening Magazine in the 1980s.

To share his message, Whatley traveled widely in the U.S. and other countries. He gave training seminars and shared his ideas for making small farms profitable. Many of his ideas appeared in The New Farm Magazine and his monthly Small Farm Technical Newsletter. This newsletter reached about 20,000 subscribers in 50 states and 25 foreign countries.

In 1985, Tom Monaghan, who founded Domino's Pizza, was very impressed by Whatley's ideas. He read about Whatley's plan in The Wall Street Journal. Monaghan then asked Whatley to help develop a 100-acre (0.40 km²) PYO farm at Domino's World Headquarters in Michigan. This farm grew fruits, vegetables, herbs, and raised animals like lamb and fish. The produce was supplied to Domino's restaurants and employees through a Clientele Membership Club.

Whatley and Monaghan quickly became friends. Whatley noted that while many traditional agriculture groups pushed farmers to use old marketing methods like farmers markets, Monaghan understood that direct marketing was key. Monaghan's success with Domino's Pizza showed he knew a lot about marketing. He realized that making a small pizza took as much effort as a large one. This led him to focus on larger, more profitable items. Whatley applied similar thinking to farming.

Lasting Contributions

Booker T. Whatley is considered one of the modern pioneers of sustainable farming. As one writer said in 2005, Whatley was "30 years ahead of his time."

Even in the 1960s and 70s, Whatley was talking about ideas that are popular today. These include:

• Pick-your-own (U-pick) farms
• Community-supported agriculture (CSA)
• Drip irrigation (a water-saving way to water plants)
• Growing special crops like shiitake mushrooms and kiwi
• Direct marketing (selling straight to customers)
• Organic gardening
• Farm bed and breakfasts

Throughout his career, Whatley offered practical and positive ideas for small farmers. These included growing many different crops, using organic methods, creating value-added products (like jams from fruit), and using new direct marketing plans. These sustainable ideas have grown and are now used by many farmers worldwide. They help create important niche markets for small and medium-sized farms.

Whatley also created several new plant varieties. Some of these include:

• The Foxxy Lottie grape, named after his second wife, Lottie.
• Five different sweet potato varieties, including the popular yellow-fleshed Carver sweetpotato.
• 15 varieties of muscadine grapes.