Growth industry

Economic impact of agribusiness far exceeds tourism, new study finds

The blue grape crop was excellent on Jeff Baldwin's family farm this year, and the Ison grapes don't look too bad either.

The Ravenel vineyard has made it through another year. Still, as Baldwin checked his rows Wednesday, he was a little surprised to hear the news that agribusiness is now the top industry in South Carolina.

"I thought it was in big decline in this state," Baldwin said.

South Carolina's oldest industry is once again on top, according to a new study released by the Palmetto AgriBusiness Council and the S.C. Forestry Association. Farming and forestry have a $33.9 billion impact on the state's economy, according to a nine-month study, more than double the impact of tourism, long considered the state's economic heavyweight. Agribusiness employs about 200,000 people.

Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers hopes the study will build investment in the industry and help with business recruitment and public awareness.

"It's a great reminder of our roots as a state," he said.

At Edisto Produce, a family farm on the island, a dozen workers spent Wednesday sifting through the day's harvest of grape tomatoes, crating them up and preparing them for shipping. The timing is delicate — they have to be picked and shipped just at the right time, and farmers are never sure what bounty the earth will deliver, or what price the market will set for their labors.

In the 1970s there were 35 or 40 tomato growers in the area, said Edisto Produce owner Adair McKoy. Now there are five.

Even though the number of local farms has declined over the years, McKoy said it remains a fairly healthy business.

For that reason McKoy wasn't surprised to hear that business is booming for the state's farmers.

"I've suspected it for a long time because of the number of people employed in the business," he said.

Part of the reason South Carolina is such a fertile ground for agriculture is that, unlike a lot of Midwestern states, there are two growing seasons here, allowing farmers to double up on crops. McKoy grows vegetables and melons, and has diversified his business with a roadside stand and plans to crank up a grist mill.

For years, agriculture has not gotten much attention from state officials, who were eager to do whatever the tourism industry has needed. Depending which numbers you use, tourism has an economic impact of between $10.9 billion and $16.7 billion. Some people estimate the Charleston area accounts for about $6 billion of that.

Although the study combines agriculture and forestry to create its economic impact and employment numbers, its authors — Miley, Gallo and Associates LLC of Columbia — call it a conservative one. The numbers do not include food stores or restaurants, fiber manufacturing or government employees. It also does not factor in "agri-tourism or eco-tourism," which could include anything from corn mazes to bird-watching venues.

Agribusiness does include farms, logging companies, nurseries, sawmills, paper mills, fishing, hunting, egg production, bakeries, wineries and lawn and garden equipment and manufacturing, among other segments and jobs.

Split up, agriculture and farming equal or exceed numbers for tourism. The forestry industry generates more than $17.1 billion and employees 83,824; agriculture generates $16.8 billion and is responsible for 115,645 jobs.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott, a St. Matthews farmer, said he has been trying to get the message of agribusiness' far-reaching impact to his colleagues in the Legislature for years. He's hopeful this study will help catch the attention of state officials.

The Legislature this year passed immigration reform that puts steep consequences on farmers for hiring an undocumented worker.

"I don't think this study would have changed the outcome of the immigration bill," Ott said. "Quite frankly, it was too important politically for some people to get an immigration bill out."

For the labor-intensive harvest season, farms often must hire migrant workers — it's not easy to get folks for part-time jobs. Ott said he doesn't know of any farmers who want to hire illegal immigrants, but they often don't have a big labor pool to choose from. Now, much of the harvest time is spent chasing red-tape and paperwork, cutting into what profit they can find, to adhere to a state law that contradicts federal law, he said.

So many family farms today must rely on the family to do all the work. Many have to grow smaller crops, another factor that can mean the difference between profit and loss on a season.

That also is a tradition.

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