Last week final passage of the 2013 Farm Bill failed with a 195-234 vote in the U.S. House of Representatives. Farmers across the nation rely on the stability a farm bill provides. Therefore, passage of a comprehensive farm bill is vital to maintaining the American agricultural landscape.

Two U.S. Representatives from South Carolina, Representatives Tom Rice and Joe Wilson, voted in favor of the bill.

"I commend and thank Representative Rice and Representative Wilson for supporting the 2013 Farm Bill. Our farmers need the agricultural direction a farm bill offers to help balance the inevitable risks of the industry that feeds the nation. Moving forward, I encourage South Carolina's other U.S. Representatives to focus on the bill's agricultural merits and to maintain the traditional bi-partisan nature for creation of a farm bill," said South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers.

Commissioner Weathers urges all South Carolinians to thank those members of Congress who supported the 2013 Farm Bill and to encourage the other members to see the importance of such a bill.