SC Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers

I joined farmers Travis and Misty Howard in breaking ground on a new beef processing facility near Roebuck, South Carolina, in Spartanburg County. The Howards’ $2.6 million investment is supported by a $600,000 grant from SCDA. Expanding small processing in South Carolina will create more opportunities for small, in-state facilities to serve the state’s farmers […]

 Lowcountry Oyster Company is expanding its operations with the construction of a $6.4 million seafood processing and cross-dock facility in Green Pond, South Carolina. The Colleton County facility is projected to create 30 new jobs. With a state-of-the-art chilled water wet storage system and climate-controlled processing and holding areas, including over 10,000 square feet of refrigerated […]

Tropical Storm Debby has now made its way out of the Carolinas and moved on. But what kind of impact did we see from that? I’m talking now with South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers. Commissioner, what did you see across South Carolina in the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby? “Well, it was as […]

Hurricane Debby is heading for SC. What’s the report on the ground, Commissioner? Yes, farmers are keeping an eye on weather reports as Debby approaches. By the time this episode airs, it should be affecting our state. What makes this storm unusual is the large amount of rain it’s forecast to bring, particularly to the […]

The South Carolina Commissioner’s School for Agriculture was held last week. Here with me is Commissioner Hugh Weathers to talk about why there’s a summer camp connected with the Commissioner of Agriculture. Yes, I was at Clemson University last week to met this year’s Commissioner’s School class. Commissioner’s School is a career and leadership development […]

South Carolina Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers now finds himself with added duties, and he joins me now to talk about that, and I understand that as a result of the working ag lands bill that was signed by Governor McMaster back in March, you now sit on the board of the South Carolina conservation bank. […]

The drought continues in South Carolina, and I understand there’ve been some new developments affecting farmers. You and I talked about drought last week, of course. But since then, South Carolina hit a few new milestones showing just how rapid and serious this drought is. The state Drought Committee met and moved the entire state […]

The latest Drought Monitor map reflects what every South Carolina farmer already knows: We’re in a drought. Here to talk about it is Commissioner Hugh Weathers. The latest US Drought Monitor map, released July 3, has 71% of the state in the Moderate Drought category. Just two weeks earlier, only a small fraction of the […]

Dry conditions are threatening crops in both Carolinas. North Carolina Farm Service Agency Director Bob Etheridge tells SFN the damage to some crops is irreversible. “The corn crop for all practical purposes, are pretty well gone, except in some of the black land areas down east, where the ground’s a little heavier, they had a […]

I understand the South Carolina Department of Agriculture has twice as many employees as it did last week, and some new responsibilities. Here to tell us about it is Commissioner Hugh Weathers. As of July 1, the food safety duties that were part of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) are […]