In 2001, Olivia asked her dad to plant watermelons for her. He was working full time as a machinist and on the weekends, building a new house for his family on the land where he and 10 brothers and sisters were raised. He made time to throw a few seeds in the ground, and by October, the garden had born 60 big, green, stripy fruit.

Olivia knew a ripe market when she saw one. She sold sweet, juicy melons to a stream of neighbors pitching in to help her dad by pounding nails and hoisting beams under the hot Mississippi sun. The half-pint entrepreneur walked away with $52 in sales.

Tickled by his daughter’s success, Daniel said to himself, “My daddy was a farmer all his life, why can’t I do this?” Shortly thereafter, he ran into an old college pal Glyen Holmes, who was looking for producers to supply a growing list of school districts in four southern states with fresh locally produced vegetables. Agreeing to help, Daniel planted three and a half acres of collard greens, sweet potatoes and okra. He found two small local grocery store chains also interested in buying his vegetables. And in a leap of faith, he quit his job.

“There’s some risk involved, but I’ve had an opportunity to see what the market will do and the risk was worth taking.” As one of few people in his neck of the woods growing collards and other vegetables, Daniel figures he’s got a corner on the local market. He’s hardly been able to supply his current accounts with the limited acreage he now has planted, let alone cultivate new markets such as the Jacksonville Farmers’ Market. He plans to expand the fields to at least 10 acres, adding sweet corn and peas for “you-pick” customers, and raise chickens and beef cattle. Olivia will be in charge of the watermelon patch.

Glyen’s project, begun in 1995 as a way to unite struggling African American farmers by finding reliable markets for their crops, has taken off. The small, non-profit organization, New North Florida Coop, coordinates several small-scale farmers in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi to supply collard greens, sweet potatoes and green beans to schools in over 50 school districts in those states. The largest district buying fresh vegetables, in Florida, has 250,000 students.

The produce is washed, chopped and bagged in a processing center in Marianna,Florida, and delivered fresh to individual schools. The yams are served raw like carrot sticks, with creamy dressing on the side for dipping, the collards are boiled in seasoned turkey broth, and the beans are steamed. Contrary to common belief, Glyen promises, kids love the vegetables. District food directors see it as a way to improve students’ nutrition and, because the produce is ready to use and delivered regularly in consistent quantities, the school cafeteria staff like it too.

The consistency of the demand is a big plus for the farmers. Schools plan lunch menus in advance, enabling growers to plan their supply. Daniel hauls his own harvested greens to the Florida plant once a week and delivers processed veggies to a Mississippi school district on his return trip.

Glyen had been working with farmers as a USDA outreach liaison for many years when he split off to found NNFC. African American himself, Glyen sensed he grasped the cultural obstacles farmers in this group face, and saw an opportunity by forming his own organization to “promote togetherness in the farmer community, especially in African American community.” He maintains ties to the USDA, which has been an important partner on NNFC projects.

Deeply committed to creating opportunities for all minority farmers, Glyen donates use of his own 40 acres of open land and blackberry bush-filled woodlot to Latino farm workers looking to establish their own farms. Through a NNFC and Heifer Project International farm business training course, farm workers have the opportunity to grow and sell crops and demonstrate success in running an operation before pursuing loans to buy land.

NNFC is also gearing up to assist Native Americans to become farmers by facilitating the founding of Native-owned farms and peanut processing plants to supply Native-owned casinos in Georgia.

Back in Mississippi on rolling acreage just north of the flat, fertile river delta, Daniel’s deep commitment is to spending time with his family—which is precisely why he quit working machines and started working his land. He wants his children to understand where their food comes from and how to have a healthy diet. Many kids today, he observes, are far removed from agriculture and don’t even know that “you had to kill a beast” to get a hamburger.

Daniel insists his own children ought to know how to grow and preserve their own food. When the few dozen peach and pear trees he planted mature, this father of four will “teach the kids to actually can like my mother did.” Daniel’s own parents raised 240 acres of soybeans and timber but also kept a few cows, chickens and laying hens to feed the big family, and tended a kitchen garden.

If hearing his son exclaim in wonder, “Dad, I just didn’t know that!” after learning that burying the growth tip of a collard seedling will rot the plant, or if Olivia’s preference over junk food for sweet potatoes sticks is any indication that the Teague kids are getting turned on to farming, then Daniel has already succeeded. As far as other youth are concerned, he’s working hard with the extension service to restart the 4-H program in his area.

As soon as the school district food director signs on—by year’s end, he estimates, Daniel’s children and all their classmates should be eating Mississippi collard greens and Georgia sweet potato sticks for lunch.