As I write this, an early spring has sprung in South Carolina.
Some farms began picking strawberries at the end of February, and peach trees got an early start by blooming around that same time. Like every year, we’ll all be holding our breath until we get past late frost — but the trees are at their best appearance when blooming.
In much the same way, I’m feeling guardedly optimistic about the year ahead for South Carolina agriculture.
We’ve moved beyond some of the supply-chain pressures, inflation and extremely high input costs of the past few years, and things are slightly more on an even keel.
On the other hand, many commodity prices are projected to move lower than what we saw the past few years — but after a couple of big years, that’s to be expected.
I hope you saw that a few months ago our agency announced the realization of a long-held goal: The agribusiness industry exists in our state because we grow, process and deliver products from South Carolina’s farms and forests.
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The industry now generates a $51.8 billion economic impact on South Carolina annually.
Agribusiness is responsible for nearly 260,000 jobs in the state as of 2020, according to a new analysis by Dr. Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist with the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business. The report also highlighted the tremendous potential that is ahead for the industry.
We didn’t get here by accident.
In 2009, the state’s industry and government leaders set a strategic vision to grow the economic impact of agribusiness to $50 billion annually by the year 2020. Our “50 by 20” focus helped the industry increase its impact from $34 billion in 2006.
We didn’t just lay out the 50-by-20 goal and hope for the best.
The South Carolina Department of Agriculture and its partners worked to expand the Certified South Carolina program, created the Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship (ACRE) to nurture and fund new agribusiness entrepreneurs, and developed new expansion and export opportunities to grow South Carolina agribusinesses. All this strategic planning and collaborative effort paid off.
Based on the economic impact report and the ongoing mission of the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, the task ahead is to keep growing agribusiness — in some very specific ways.
Soon, we will announce the awardees of over $3 million in matching grants to help local meat-processing facilities expand. This project will help South Carolina-grown companies employ more workers, assist the state’s more than 700 livestock farmers in serving local needs, and increase the supply of local meat for consumers.
South Carolina processing facilities that are awarded funding can use the grant funds to expand their capacity through infrastructure and equipment improvements, as well as to train workers. For beef animals to be grown to processing weights adds to the value of our beef industry in the state.
We’ve asked the South Carolina legislature to invest $75 million in an agribusiness development fund to offer similar grants across food-processing and other ag-related enterprises, a move that could dramatically improve the ability of South Carolina farmers to find in-state markets for their products.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Congress is at work on the 2023 farm bill, a bundle of subject-specific “titles” related to agriculture spending, programs and priorities, and related areas like nutrition assistance and conservation policy.
The farm bill is written every five years.
In general, I urge Congress to take a measured approach to the farm bill.
Maintaining and improving crop insurance programs is a priority.
From the Great Recession to trade wars to the pandemic, there have been a lot of other pressures on bottom lines, but crop insurance helps farmers ride out some market uncertainty and, for the consumer, reduces the volatility in the food supply chain. Whether Congress slightly modifies these programs or alters them significantly, we do need these protections.
I also support the continued efforts to help specialty crop producers navigate risk in the same way we do commodity producers. That may also include more funding for specialty crop research and promotion through the Specialty Crop Block Grant program, as well as broadening the definition of what is a specialty crop.
Growing specialty crops helps farmers diversify their crop mix and navigate changes in markets and consumer interest, and it also helps our country strengthen our food security.
Development of the farm bill can be a balancing act between the “commodity title” support and incentives to develop specialty crops.
Something else that’s being discussed in the next farm bill is a permanent federal fund for disaster assistance for farmers.
I think this would be a good move.
The purpose of the farm bill is to ensure a safe and consistent food supply, and a disaster fund would allow us to help farmers more quickly when disaster strikes.
Our South Carolina legislature created a similar fund last year. While we haven’t had to dig into it yet, it’s a weight off my mind to know that we could help Palmetto State farmers through a disaster with a minimum of obstacles.
Putting this law in place was a result of the Farm Aid program that the SC Department of Agriculture had to develop after the 1,000-year flood of 2015.
Rest assured that I’ll be in frequent contact with our leaders in Washington as well as our leaders in Columbia as we move through 2023.
As always, I appreciate that the readers of The T&D understand what agriculture means to everyone — farmers and consumers alike — in this part of the state.
