Senators want to offer farmers $35 million in financial assistance on top of federal help as rising costs risk closing farms under a budget clause added Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Courtesy of S.C. State Ports Authority)
COLUMBIA — Small farmers say they’re in trouble, and legislators want to help.
On Thursday, senators added a clause to the state budget that would collectively give farmers $35 million in financial assistance. And representatives proposed their own, separate legislation that upped the aid to $50 million.
The Senate’s budget clause, which is part of its $15.3 billion spending plan, would give farmers money based on how many acres of crops they have planted, with grants maxing out at $135,000 each.
The state assistance would be in addition to the $70 million farmers are expected to receive under the federal Farmer Bridge Assistance program, created under the One Big Beautiful Bill to give farmers nationwide a combined $12 billion.
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So far, South Carolina farmers have received about $52 million under the federal program. Even with the proposed state help, the total is still not enough, said Harry Ott, a Calhoun County farmer and head of the state Farm Bureau.
“We’re asking for a Band-Aid on top of a Band-Aid,” said Ott, the former state House minority leader.
The state’s row croppers, who grow corn, soybeans, cottons and produce, have lost about $700 million over the past two years, according to Farm Bureau data.
“There is no sugarcoating the situation that our state is in right now with regard to our agricultural economy,” said Sen. Wes Climer, a Rock Hill Republican who proposed the budget clause. “It is in absolute crisis right now.”
A number of problems converged to create such a crisis, Ott and senators said.
The number of farms has dwindled as stagnant sales prices for crops and increasing costs drove many out of business. With farmers already on the edge, the war in Iran drove up fertilizer and fuel prices, Ott said.
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A drought during what would normally be planting time for several crops only made matters worse, he said.
“We’re sitting still and waiting for the good Lord to send some rain,” said Ott, who farms cotton, corn and soybeans.
As the state’s population grows, many farmers are tempted to sell their land to developers looking to build homes and businesses, causing farmland to dwindle even faster.
That has left “an entire industry on the brink,” said his son, Sen. Russell Ott.
“There’s nothing we can do up here this week that is absolutely going to save everyone,” the St. Matthews Democrat said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “There are going to be farmers in your communities that go out of business this year. That is the sad reality of where we are.”
Nothing the state can do will solve the problems, most of which are national problems, said Sen. JD Chaplin, a fourth-generation farmer and Darlington Republican.
Stopgap funding can at least get farmers through the coming year, with the hope that costs eventually go back down and next year brings a better crop, he said.
Farms closing means more than simply the loss of a business for the state, said Chaplin, who abstained from voting. Crops grown on his farm include corn, cotton, soybeans and grains.
Farmers are struggling mentally under the stress of trying to balance their livelihoods with rising costs. Calls to a suicide hotline dedicated specifically to those who work in agriculture, called AgriSafe, have increased in recent years, according to the latest data in the nonprofit’s annual report.
Running a generational farm can be a lot of pressure as farmers worry about being the one to lose land their family has tended for decades, Chaplin said. He worries about his own friends amid the financial pressures.
“It’s hard,” Chaplin said. “It’s very difficult, what’s going on in our industry right now.”
Under the Senate plan, the money would come from a fund the Department of Commerce uses to encourage businesses to locate in the state.
Amid frustration over cost overruns in the construction of a Scout Motors plant in Blythewood, senators added a separate clause in the budget requiring the economic development agency to go through the Legislature before spending any money on new economic development projects, freeing up that money to spend elsewhere.
Representatives introduced a different plan Thursday in the House that would dole out $50 million in grants through a “farm aid” fund. The bipartisan bill would put the Office of Resilience in charge of distributing the grants, with help from the Department of Agriculture in developing the details.
So far, 72 representatives have signed on.
“South Carolina farmers are the backbone of our rural communities and our state’s economy,” said the bill’s primary sponsor, Bamberg Democrat Rep. Justin Bamberg, in a statement. “When they’re struggling, it affects all of us.”
Cattle farmers could use some help too, said Sen. Everett Stubbs.
While the situation isn’t as dire as it is for those who farm row crops, a budget clause Stubbs proposed would study the feasibility of building a central processing facility in South Carolina where beef cattle spend the final months of their lives before being slaughtered and packaged for sale — called a feed lot. The Senate adopted the proposal by voice vote.
If there aren’t any good locations to build such a facility, the state should consider whether to give farmers grants to cover the cost of processing cattle on their own farms, Stubbs said.
Most farmers ship their cattle to other states for that process, which is known as finishing, because South Carolina doesn’t have anywhere to house or process those cows, said Stubbs, a Republican from Rock Hill.
When Chaplin used to farm cows, he shipped them off to Michigan, then to California for processing, he said.
“It wasn’t really an option here,” Chaplin said.
That adds to the cost, and it makes people think they’re buying beef from other places when it could be advertised as homegrown, Stubbs said.
“I believe that South Carolinians are loyal people,” Stubbs said. “I think if we were able to at least market, ‘Hey, this cow was South Carolina originated, fed with South Carolina corn, I think people, including myself, would probably pay a premium” to help out their neighbors.
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Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
