SC Commissioner Weathers: ACRE Advanced Program 2022

Posted on Posted in Daily Ag Summary, Featured Stories, SC Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers, Top Ag Headlines

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture works to promote entrepreneurship with the ACRE program, and Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers has some new businesses to announce as winners.

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship (ACRE) awards funding and business mentoring to agribusiness entrepreneurs.

This year we had 14 finalists pitch their business plans to a panel of judges.

$150,000 total divided among nine awardees:

  1. Earth People Farms in Beaufort County grows herbs and creates herbal products in the tradition of their African and Gullah/Geechee heritage.
  2. Using an innovative technique, Sandy Point Citrus plans to grow specialty citrus fruits, like Meyer Lemons, Ruby Red Grapefruits, and Satsuma Mandarina Oranges, in Charleston County.
  3. Whippoorwill Farms SC is a woman-owned biodiverse, regenerative agrotourism farm located in Jasper County, raising pork, chickens, eggs, and vegetables.
  4. Lightning Rock Land & Cattle raises heritage breed cattle in an environmentally friendly way.
  5. Rebecca Farmsin Florence County grows high-quality oyster and shiitake mushrooms at an affordable price.
  6. Rita’s Roots Backyard Harvest is a full-service operation with a nursery division that supplies high-quality, seasonally appropriate vegetable, cut and pollinator flower and herb plants to their customers.
  7. Feast & Flora is a woman-owned commercial cut flower farm operating on Wadmalaw Island, SC, with a new brick-and-mortar design studio located in Charleston, SC.
  8. Pickens County’s Rambling Rosa Farm grows diversified vegetables using organic methods, rescues farm animals, and shares their love for plants and animals with their community through product sales, educational classes, and community events.
  9. The CoffeeLady31 runs a mobile coffee truck that offers fresh-roasted coffee and espresso, and an apothecary and herb farm.

SCDA founded ACRE in 2018 to help identify and nurture new ideas and businesses in the Palmetto State’s agribusiness sector. 

Visit acre-sc.com for more information.