SC Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers

The year 2024 is off to a hot start. The South Carolina Agritourism Association is holding its annual conference Jan. 21-23, 2024. This is a great way to learn more about agritourism for your farm, or enhance your farm’s agritourism activities. The registration deadline is January 7, 2024. The conference includes a Sunday night reception, two-day […]

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) is partnering with USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to offer over $4 million in competitive grants to support middle-of-the-food-supply-chain infrastructure for domestic food and farm businesses and other eligible entities. Grants under the Resilient Food System Infrastructure program, or RFSI, will support expanded capacity for the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, […]

Next week, many of us will gather with our loved ones to celebrate Christmas. Commissioner Hugh Weathers joins me now. This is an important time of year for all of us, including farmers. It’s been a good Christmas tree season. Most local Christmas tree farms are already sold out for the season and closed, but […]

COLUMBIA – A new partnership is helping more South Carolina farmers show buyers their commitment to food safety. The South Carolina Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship (ACRE) is helping South Carolina farmers achieve Good Agricultural Practices certification thanks to a $100,000 grant from Duke Energy. Good Agricultural Practices, or GAP, is a voluntary […]

A few months ago we heard about ChangeSC. Let’s get an update on how it’s going. More than 80% of South Carolina’s counties have food deserts, where residents have limited access to fresh, healthy food. ChangeSC is our effort to bring fresh, nutritious food directly to the doorsteps of these communities and teach people how […]

We support our South Carolina producers by representing the state at produce trade shows throughout the year, and New York this week is always an interesting one. South Carolina’s season starts early, so we are a key supplier of produce like strawberries, blueberries and leafy greens to Northeastern retailers. As summer crops emerge, we sell […]

This is an exciting new program being led by the S.C. Department of Corrections and South Carolina-based AmplifiedAg, Inc. with our support. The legislature has approved construction of a vertical farming facility and training program at Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution, a women’s prison located in Columbia. This will be the first vertical farm in […]

Thanksgiving is this week. It’s a holiday with special significance in the ag industry. Yes, Mike. This is a big holiday for local agriculture. People are eating regional American foods. They’re focusing on American agricultural products like turkey, sweet potatoes, collard greens and cranberries. Some good news on that front: The American Farm Bureau Federation […]

Today we’re talking about some new duties that will be take over by the SC Department of Agriculture. I’ve been telling people we’re “The Food Agency,” and this is part of it. Starting July 1, 2024, the South Carolina Department of Agriculture will take on some important regulatory duties that are currently handled by the […]

This is a day we honor military veterans for their service to our country. Nationwide, there are more than 370,000 producers with military experience. That’s nearly 11 percent of all US producers. Nationwide, veterans represent $41 billion in annual ag sales and 130 million acres farmed. Here in South Carolina, the rates are even higher. […]