Agribusiness & Rural Development

Retaining a current and strong Farm Bill is a necessity for SC AgriBusiness.  With the new Farm Bill overdue, PABC supports a new Farm Bill that benefits agriculture, forestry and rural South Carolina.  The Farm Bill is broad in relation to impacting agribusiness and addresses so many industry operational matters along with aspects of living in rural communities.  An example of an issue within a new Farm Bill that will be monitored closely is keeping crop insurance programs in place that are equal to or improved compared to programs presently in place leading up to consideration of the next Farm Bill.

PABC supports maintaining Commodity Checkoff programs that provide funding for research and promotion of agricultural commodities as they are currently structured.

The Associated Industries of SC formally took the lead on Be Pro Be Proud SC in 2020 working along side SC DEW, and this effort has led to improved recruitment of high school students into much needed skilled trade careers.  As future funding considerations are made to sustain Be Pro Be Proud SC, PABC supports efforts to assure this program’s success.  This program benefits SC agribusiness in many ways, and PABC remains supportive of this program within our state.

As technological advances continue to occur relative to both agricultural and forestry equipment, it is important that the agribusiness operator retain the right to work on their equipment and/or choose who will do so in order to appropriately manage operating costs.

Since 2020, our state and country have dealt with major supply chain issues relating to agriculture and forestry.  Admittedly, other industry sectors are also impacted by this issue.  Relative to agribusiness, PABC supports all efforts to assure all needed, affordable supply chain products and services are available to support agribusiness.

Energy is a major operational investment for agribusinesses.  A high priority need is affordable access to fuel to operate trucks and equipment essential to agribusiness operations.  Recently, SC initiated a debate regarding additional access to various energy sources within the state.  As this debate continues, PABC supports reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy sources for all aspects of agriculture, forestry, and our SC rural communities.  PABC encourages the continued use of energy produced within the SC agribusiness sector such as biomass provided by the state’s forestry industry.  PABC does not support mandated percentages being applied to any specific source of energy or policy that places a significant burden on the private property rights of rural landowners such as eminent domain issues regarding rights of way.

Broadband access has improved in SC, but access to broadband continues to be an issue in some areas of SC and especially in the rural areas of the state.  As ag and forestry businesses utilize technology more in the future, improved broadband access will be essential.  Additionally, the need to improve both access to telemedicine and educational processes is obvious in many rural areas. PABC continues to support affordable access to broadband within all areas of South Carolina.

With the increase of “lab-grown protein” products available in the marketplace, there is a concern as to the impact upon traditional animal agricultural grown products.  PABC supports requirements to specifically identify “lab-grown protein” products and to prohibit these items from being labeled for marketing and display as meat or poultry.