Ja’Quan Battle: A Helping Hand for Struggling Small-Scale Farmers

Agricultural education major Ja’Quan Battle wants to help small-scale North Carolina farmers facing economic challenges. Overcoming challenges is something the 2024 graduate understands well; he is an overcomer himself.

A former student Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, Battle spent his senior year looking at ways in which struggling farmers could use value-added products – agricultural products that have been altered to increase market value – to improve their revenue.

“What made me really interested in this particular project is that small-scale farmers account for most of the farms, but make the least annual sales,” said Battle. “I thought about it personally – how small-scale farmers and their families put all of this hard work into making sure we have fresh produce, making sure it’s up to par and meeting a lot of quality requirements, they don’t make nearly as much profit. They pour into us; we can feed into them and help them reach a profit.”

According to U.S. Dept. of Agriculture statistics, only a handful of small-scale farmers earn close to $50,000 in annual sales. North Carolina is one of the top 10 agricultural states in the nation; in 2023, the economic impact of the state’s agricultural activity topped $103 billion. Yet, Battle noted, small farmers still struggle to survive on farm income alone.

“North Carolina small farmers are facing decreasing profitability,” said Battle. “Their future operational sustainability is linked to the farmers’ ability to generate supplemental income from sources they have on hand.”

Battle can empathize; he navigated through a storm of financial and personal hardships when he enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences in 2021 as an agricultural education major with a focus on professional service.

“As an independent and self-supporting student, I had to work to take care of myself financially to be a full-time student,” said Battle. “For a while I didn’t even think I deserved a good life or that I would be able to accomplish anything because of my circumstances. But I have always kept my faith in God, and through him I have been able to accomplish more than I could have ever imagined.”

By the time he graduated in May ‘24, Battle was a Multicultural Scholar Program Scholar, a CAES 1890 Scholar, an Agricultural Education Scholar, an A.P. Bell Scholar, an Aggie Gentz Scholar, a Minorities in Agriculture, National Resources, and Related Sciences
(MANRRS) VIP Scholar, and a John Deere MANRRS scholar who had presented his research at more than 10 national conferences.

Battle began his Undergraduate Research program project in fall 2023 looking at the ways in which farmers could understand consumer attitudes on value-added products – items such as jerky, salsa, pies and jams that are made from the original product to increase sales. For this, Battle collaborated with professor and department chair Kenrett Jefferson-Moore, Ph.D. on a qualitative study on consumer attitudes.

Battle and Jefferson-Moore collected Qualtrics survey results from 849 North Carolina respondents. These surveys were randomly selected to provide demographic, personal food production, and consumption preferences. They used QDA Miner Lite, qualitative data analysis software, to categorize and analyze the data.

“Ja’Quan is very actively engaged in the research process,” said Jefferson-Moore. ”In fact, he reached out to me to work with him on setting up the survey and looking at economically viable enterprises for these farmers to engage in.”

The first part of the analysis involved conducting cross tabular calculations to profile the N.C. consumers who were willing to pay for the convenience, Battle said. The second part of the analysis involved showing the number of number of responses of the youngest and oldest respondents, males and females, and the number of counties and zip codes that were included in the dataset. The third part of the analysis showed the number of responses for those who were willing to pay extra and those who were not willing to pay extra.

“The survey asked consumers how they preferred to receive their products,” said Jefferson-Moore. “Questions like, ‘Would you like to go to a grocery store? Would you like to know your products are coming directly from the farm? If so, how would you like that product delivered to you?’”

Battle’s survey results showed that small-scale farmers were more likely to get consumers interested in their value-added products if they were to participate in community supported agriculture programs or by marketing them locally door-to-door. Making their products cost-effective, fresh and attractive also enhanced their consumer appeal, particularly in households with three or more children that earned between $50,000 and $99,000, or those who are self-employed, students, retired, disabled or unable to work. 

“From the consumer side, Ja’Quan’s findings show attitudes towards purchasing locally produced foods through community supported agriculture or other opportunities are positive,” Jefferson-Moore said. “It’s important information for these small-scale farmers to know just how to market their products and get those products to those who want them the most.”. 

Battle graduated with his bachelor’s degree in May 2024 and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in mass communication at Norfolk University.

“I’ve overcome a lot of obstacles to get to this point, but I’m excited,” said Battle.