James Beard Foundation 2014 Leadership Award honoree Ben Burkett at the fifth annual James Beard Foundation Food Conference this week. (Kent Miller Studios)

NEW YORK CITY — Ben Burkett, a Mississippi farmer who is president of the National Family Farm Coalition, was one of the winners of the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards announced this week at a gala dinner here in conjunction with the foundation’s annual food conference.

Burkett owns a 300-acre farm in Petal, Miss., that his ancestors obtained under a patent from President Grover Cleveland in 1889. Burkett is the fourth generation to farm the land and is also the state coordinator for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.

Burkett raises more than 16 types of vegetables including collard greens and okra but has long been active in efforts to help small- and medium-size farms of between five and 1,000 acres.

He has also worked with the federation’s Land Assistance Fund, which has tried to help black farmers keep their land, and represents the National Family Farm Coalition on the Via Campesina Food Sovereignty Commission.

“I will speak out for family farmers around the world,” Burkett said upon receiving the award. “Everyone is entitled to clean water, fresh food and good air.”

James Beard Leadership Award winners, from left: New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman; Navina Khanna of the Movement Strategy Center in Oakland, Calif., Ben Burkett, the Mississippi farmer who chairs the National Family Farm Coalition; Karen Washington, a New York City urban farmer, and Michael Pollan, food writer and University of California professor. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

The other winners of the James Beard Leadership Awards were:

• Mark Bittman, New York Times columnist and author
• Navina Khanna, a fellow at the Movement Strategy Center in Oakland, Calif.
• Michael Pollan, professor at the University of California and Berkeley and author of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and other books.
• Karen Washington, an urban farmer, community activist and former president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition.

The James Beard Foundation honors the legacy of James Beard, a cookbook author and teacher who died in 1985.

For 25 years its awards to chefs have been considered the Oscars of the culinary industry. Four years ago it began presenting leadership awards to thought leaders, activists, farmers and others who the foundation’s leaders believe “are helping to create a better, safer, healthier, more sustainable food world,” said Emily Luchetti, the chair of the Beard board of trustees and Susan Ungaro, the foundation’s president.