Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Many of our farmers are still in business this year because of the Farm Aid Relief Bill. After the devastating floods of October 3, 2015 which brought over 25 inches of water in one day, entire crops, everything that certain farmers were growing, were laid waste with nothing to salvage.
Thanks to the efforts of the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, Clemson Extension and Farm Bureau, the SC Legislature put $40 million into a fund to help affected farmers. Although it could only provide 20% of a farms’ total loss with a maximum payment of $100,000, these payments for operating expenses only allowed some farmers to buy the seeds and fertilizers to replant for 2016, to save their family farms, and for their land to remain in agriculture. Clemson Extension agents worked individually with hundreds of farmers helping them to calculate losses and complete the application process.
