Commissioner, I understand you went to Sunbelt Ag Expo recently for the Southeastern Farmer of the Year Awards in support of a South Carolina farm family.

Yes, Mike. Every October we head to Moultrie, Georgia, for Sunbelt and for the Farmer of the Year awards.  

South Carolina was runner-up this year. Faylene Whitaker of North Carolina won the top spot. I congratulate her and her family.  

I want to tell you a little bit about Ty and Tracy Woodard, our South Carolina Farmer of the Year.

Ty is a third-generation diversified farmer and agribusiness owner in Darlington County.

Ty, his father, Frankie Woodard, III, and Ty’s brother, Wes, partner in the family-owned operation that was incorporated in 1980 and now grows peanuts, cotton, corn, soybeans, timber, and Angus beef cattle on over 5800 acres of rented and owned land.

Ty married Tracy in 2008 and they began farming full-time.

Tracy is from Lexington and studied Graphic Communications and Business at Clemson, where she and Ty met. I think you can see both their backgrounds coming through in their agribusiness success.

In 2018, Ty and his wife Tracy began an agribusiness called Covered in Cotton that cultivates and crafts cotton products (throw blankets, baby blankets, hand towels, and table linens) made exclusively from cotton grown on the family farm.

They use a local supply chain — from a South Carolina gin to a yarn spinner and plyer in North Carolina and back to the farm for packing and shipping.

The family was inspired by their then-newborn son’s lengthy hospital stay and surgery in 2015, when one of the nurses gifted them a comforting blanket.

Their ‘Cotton with a Cause’ mission includes donating one throw to a local children’s hospital for every 10 they sell and one baby blanket to a local family ministry for every 10 they sell. Since 2018, they’ve donated over 1300 blankets.

They continue to excel in farming beyond Covered in Cotton. In 2022, Woodard Farms had the highest peanut yield in the state and set personal records in corn and peanuts.

Ty and his family work to implement efficient and responsible agricultural practices through soil conservation techniques, precision application, GPS technology, and water conservation.

Ty and Tracy are both very active in speaking for and promoting South Carolina agriculture. I have so much respect for their hard work and innovation.