Agricultural Enterprises

Agricultural Enterprises

Updated: 02/02/2012

FY 2011

Agricultural Enterprises is a division under the Institutions Division responsible for the farming operations at Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP) in Parchman, MS and South Mississippi Correctional Institution (SMCI) in Leakesville, MS. The majority of the farming activity takes place at MSP.

Minimum custody inmates are given the opportunity to participate in the Agricultural Enterprises program each year in planting, harvesting and processing the crops. Inmates plant several kinds of fruits and vegetables which are harvested and processed to feed inmates at MDOC facilities statewide.

Some of the fruits and vegetables grown last year include:

Blueberries Broccoli Butter Beans

Cabbage Cantaloupe Pecans

Cucumbers English Peas Sweet Corn

Green Beans Potatoes Okra

Pumpkins Mustard Greens Turnip Greens

Tomatoes Squash Watermelons

Crowder Peas Peppers

MPAE leased out 8265.4 acres in Sunflower County and 197.0 acres in Quitman County for a total of $585,657.29. This represents an average rent per acre of $69.21.

MPAE farmed 5,334.6 acres in Sunflower County of rice, corn, soybeans, wheat and vegetables.

Soybean production of 66,812 bushels produced $777,271 cash.

Corn production totaled 43,246 bushels with all bushels being delivered to the feed mill to produce chicken feed at a value of $288,941. This corn will produce approximately 1,800 tons of feed.

The 2011 fiscal year rice crop of 126 acres produced 17,336 bushels of which 7,336 were sold for a cash price of $34,499. Approximately 10,000 bushels of the above bushels were processed for inmate consumption at a value of $62,500.

The Feed Mill is in operation utilizing corn grown by MPAE and all feed is produced on site for the poultry operation. The Feed Mill operation produced 1,888 tons of chicken feed at a cost of $368,853.

The poultry facility is in full production with a 36,000 layer capacity. A total of 528,272 dozen eggs were delivered to MDOC food service with a total value of $520,560.

MPAE vegetable operation produced a total of 5,262,100 pounds of vegetables for inmate consumption on approximately 2,000 acres of land.

MPAE processing received 5,262,100 pounds of vegetables for processing which netted a total of 3,923,201 pounds of vegetables for inmate consumption. The value of these processed vegetables based on the Atlanta market was approximately $1,653,734.

Total value of food donated for inmate consumption for FY 2011 was approximately $2,174,294.

MPAE generated cash revenues of $2,844,935 and expenditures were $2,406,378.

MPAE has 25 acres of blueberries at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Green County. In FY 2011 there were 42,291 pounds of blueberries harvested that produced $59,809.79 in cash.

During FY 2011 MPAE averaged working 293 inmates per month which equaled 76,180 man days. Based on 8 hours per day this would equate to 609,440 hours the inmates were not idle.