Agribusiness has $51.8B yearly impact on SC economy. Why leaders want $75M to help it grow
South Carolina’s agriculture leaders are asking lawmakers to spend $75 million next year to further grow the state’s agribusiness industry, which already produces an impact of nearly $52 billion a year.
State industry leaders said Monday that the industry could see $800 million invested in the state to produce more agricultural products rather an importing products from outside South Carolina.
The one-time $75 million, leaders said, would be spent next year to set up a program helping beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables and cotton processors expand operations in the state through matching grants.
Budget discussions at the State House are set to begin next month, and lawmakers will have $3.5 billion of one time and annual dollars to spend. The current state spending plan is $13.6 billion.
“The cotton, the soybeans, the timber, those are examples of the raw products that get value added somewhere,” S.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers said Monday from the State House. “We want the value added here.”
If the state can add or expand processing capacity, Weathers said one sector, the cattle industry, could grow by as much as $511 million each year.
Much of the cattle farmers in the state raise calves to 400 or 500 pounds, and then send them to another state to finish growing for slaughter before they come back to South Carolina as beef, Weathers said.
It’s more than food that could record growth in the state, Weather said.
The hemp industry, for example, Weathers said can grow, but should diversify from focusing mainly on CBD oil, legal and often found in creams or personal care products. Separately, the state Department of Agriculture and the State Law Enforcement Division have been sued by a hemp farmer who has accused state officials of destroying his crop because he had grown in a location not authorized by the state.
“We have great potential with our manufacturers in South Carolina, Boeing, BMW, all the car industries to use hemp as fiber (and) process it here,” Weathers said. “It would have to pivot somewhat. It needs infrastructure to support that.”
On Monday, leaders released a study that shows $28.6 billion of the agricultural economic impact in the state is from traditional agriculture, with poultry making up the largest segment. Forestry represents of $23.2 billion of the agribusiness in the state.
The study was conducted by Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist with the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business.
The agribusiness industry — from agritourism to poultry and forestry — in South Carolina supports more than 259,000 jobs.
The agricultural industry grew 40% between 2010 and 2020, according to the study.
“Agribusiness has long been a pillar of South Carolina’s economy, and its contribution is continuing to grow,” Von Nessen said.
The study was a look back at a goal set in 2009 for agriculture to have a $50 billion annual impact on the state’s economy by 2020.
“The decade that we’ve just completed certainly was significant for the agricultural industry, and it lets us all know that agriculture is a part of this economic momentum that South Carolina has,” Weathers said.
