<strong>From staff reports</strong>

South Carolina Farm Bureau hosted a roundtable with United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers, South Carolina Farm Bureau President Harry Ott and Farm Bureau members.

The roundtable, held September 2 in Hampton County, gave Farm Bureau members the opportunity to discuss various agricultural topics and hear more about United States Department of Agriculture’s programs.

“We are very fortunate to have someone in Washington like Secretary Perdue,” said SCFB President Harry Ott. “He understands a farmer’s perspective and more importantly he wants to listen to know more about what’s happening daily on our farms and in our rural communities.”

The panel discussed important agricultural issues including access to labor, feral hogs, rural broadband and relief programs. The Secretary was also able to hear from specialty crop farmers, like mariculturists, on ways the USDA could help support them.

“It was great to have an opportunity to meet with the United States Secretary of Agriculture yesterday,” said Chris Stevens, chair of the SCFB Young Farmers and Ranchers committee. “Everyone in attendance could tell that he and the USDA have the interest of our South Carolina farmers in mind.”

Participants were: Anthony Gray (Hampton), Walter Mack (Beaufort), Jeff Massey (Charleston), Robert Mixon (Hampton), Brad O’Neal (Allendale), Joe Oswald (Allendale), Don Sharp (Allendale), Rachael Sharp (Allendale), Chris Stevens (Horry-Loris), Wesley Ulmer (Colleton), Landy Weathers (Orangeburg) and Gary Youmans (Hampton).

South Carolina Farm Bureau is a grassroots, non-profit organization that celebrates and supports family farmers, locally grown food and our rural lands through legislative advocacy, education and community outreach. The organization, founded in 1944, serves more than 100,000 member families in 47 chapters. For more information, please visit www.scfb.org.