by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

As Dr. Cornell West at the "State of the Black Union" was calling Minister Farrakhan’s
plans for the establishment of a new government for Black people in America a "pipe
dream", one of the ministries of that new government was reporting its progress at the Nation
of Islam annual Saviours’ Day Convention. This report was given on February 25, 2006 in Chicago
just as Dr. Cornel West in Houston, laid a challenge at the feet of the Nation of Islam and the
Millions More Movement.

On October 15, 2005 over a million Black people agreed with Minister Louis Farrakhan that we
needed a Ministry of Agriculture. However, Minister Farrakhan had already begun that process in the
Nation of Islam in August of 2003. We have been directing the development of the Ministry of
Agriculture along with running the Nation of Islam’s 1600 acre farm near Dawson, Ga.

The mission statement of the Ministry of Agriculture states: "Our major goal is to develop a
sustainable agricultural system that would provide at least one meal per day, according to
the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for the 40 million black people in
America. Also this system should provide the necessary raw materials for the production of clothing
and housing for the 40 million or more black people in America. This requires the attainment, proper
utilization and conservation of the useful land and using science and technology to make the
non-useful land useful."

To accomplish the goal of feeding 40 million black people we will need at least 51 million acres
of land, if we eat meat or 6.3 million acres of land, if we don’t eat meat. To operate this amount
of farmland we need $2 billion in equipment and 18,000 farmers.

There are two ways to establish the infrastructure or "lay the pipes" for our
"sustainable agricultural system": 1. Buy the land, equipment and train the farmers and/or
2. Utilize the existing Black farmers, their land and equipment. The Ministry of Agriculture of the
Nation of Islam is using both approaches. First through the generous donations of Black people all
across the country to the Three Year Economic Savings Program, we have bought 1600 acres of land in
Georgia and have been in operation since 1995. In our continued efforts to make our farm, Muhammad
Farms, a viable operation and a model for other Black farmers in 2005 we installed a state of the
arts irrigation system which included laying 7, 200 feet of 8 inch irrigation pipe (see pictures at
www.MuhammadFarms.com).

Although we are proud of our accomplishments in our farming operation, we realize that 1600 acres
is not enough acreage to meet our objectives. Therefore we have reached out to our Black farmers to
bring them first, back into business, then secondly within our food production and distribution
system. We have been working with the Black farmers in their struggles against the USDA since 1998.
We have marched, organized and served as an expert witness in the Pigford v. Glickman class action
lawsuit. We encourage our readers, especially Dr. West, to visit and read the past articles on the
"Farmer Newsletter" to see how we have been fighting for and with the farmers since 1998.

Also on the Mall in DC on October 15, 2005, Minister Farrakhan said that we need to help Black
farmers by supporting legislation that is being introduced into Congress that would stop the USDA
foreclosures on Black owned land. He also stated that the Black community needs to set up grocery
stores to serve as outlets for the products of Black farmers, not only to help the farmers but to
provide safe and healthy food to our people in the cities who are dying from diseases that are
produced by a poisoned food supply.

In the Ministry of Agriculture we hear and obey (smile). We started a letter writing campaign to
influence the passage of the "Black Farmers Judicial Equity Act" on the Mall on October 15^th.
You may down load the letter by going to www.MuhammadFarms.com.

Three years ago the Ministry of Agriculture began "laying the pipe" for a new food
distribution system for Muhammad Farms and other Black farmers by setting up food buying clubs. To
date we now have 11 active food buying clubs in eleven cities. These "clubs" will
eventually become cooperative corporations, and then cooperatively owned super markets. We also have
Ministers of Agriculture in 23 cities who act as farm marketing coordinators that help educate our
people and distribute our produce.

Each year the Ministry of Agriculture sponsors farm tours and farming experiences for our
"city cousins" and youths. You can see some of our visitors by going to "Visit
Muhammad Farms" on our web site. We will be expanding our capacity to teach and train more
students so they can carry this experience back to the cities and set up community gardens.

We have also begun an "Eat to Live" tour to teach our people the life giving
instructions of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad on "…what you should eat and what you should
store in your houses" (Holy Qur’an, 3:48). We have been to six cities thus far and where ever
we go we leave the seeds for a new food buying club.

Gary R. Grant, President of BFAA, and myself have been invited to speak on many campuses and at
many conferences, where we spread the word of Black land ownership, and establishing an independent
food production and distribution system, "from the land to the man". Therefore, to my dear
brother Cornel West, if you talk to the right people you might find that the nine ministries that
Minister Farrakhan talks about are no "pipe dreams", because the Ministry of Agriculture
is already laying big "pipe".

In the Ministry of Agriculture we say "Let hope die", if that hope is in the moral
conscious of American whites. White America didn’t care when they took Black farmers’ lands.
They don’t care that now the Black victims of Katrina are being stripped of their land and
dispersed like refugees in their own country.

We say "Let hope Live" in God, ourselves and our will to be free. We want a future for
our Black children. GM, Ford, and IBM are laying off while we in the Ministry of Agriculture, BFAA
and Muhammad Farms are laying the pipes for an agricultural industry that will provide safe and
wholesome food for ourselves and jobs for our babies. And like our Native Americans, we know that
"the only thing that the white man invented was the patent office". We will now keep our
creativity for ourselves, market ourselves, produce for ourselves and with the protection of our God
defend our industries against the "Skull and Bones" pirates of this world.

Books and lectures by Dr.
Ridgely A. Mu’min