AIKEN, SC — State leaders call agriculture the lifeblood of South Carolina, and 2024 has been a challenging year for farmers in the Palmetto State.

Between Helene, Debby and the summer drought, the state estimates South Carolina farmers have suffered more than $600 million this year alone.

Officials said it will take a combination of federal, state and local resources, plus help from nonprofits and the private sector, for South Carolinians to recover.

They aim to bring them together for those in the agricultural sector for a series of events that started Friday called “Farm and Forest Recovery Resource Days.”

“If you’re looking for help and you don’t know where to turn, then you don’t know where to turn. But often you have to go to this side of town and then over to another town and then way over to someone elsewhere, if you even know where to go, Gov. Henry McMaster said Friday.

It’s a tough situation the governor said they don’t want South Carolina farmers to find themselves in, especially right now.

The state’s agriculture commissioner has said no farmer was saved from loss this year in the Palmetto State, between the drought and the two devastating storms.

In response, the state launched Farm and Forest Recovery Resource Days, the first of which McMaster attended in Aiken.

“It’s answering their questions, and a human person who knows the answers gives them the answers,” McMaster said

Among the roughly two dozen organizations with representatives on hand Friday at USC Aiken, where the event was held, was FEMA.

The federal agency said there is still time for South Carolinians who suffered damage from Helene — farmers and non-farmers — to apply for assistance if they live in one of the 28 approved counties, along with the Catawba Nation.

“This assistance might be used for basic home repairs, a temporary place to stay. If you’re a farmer and your equipment was damaged, you might be able to get help that way, even for any fuel,” said Nikki Gaskins Campbell, FEMA Media Relations Specialist.

As of Thursday, FEMA said it had approved more than $221 million in post-Helene assistance to more than 216,000 South Carolina households.

“FEMA’s assistance was never designed to return someone to their pre-disaster state or make them whole,” Gaskins Campbell said. “But we can help them get back on their feet.”

McMaster is optimistic that more help will soon be on the way.

Last week, he wrote a letter to South Carolina’s congressional delegation asking for additional help specifically for the critical agriculture industry.

“Requesting, I think, $631 million in a grant to do the same thing for the farmers and the forest that FEMA did on the home and business side of the equation,” McMaster said.

Two more of these resource days will be held in the coming weeks in Greenville and Myrtle Beach:

• Greenville: Thursday, November 21 at 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM – Greenville Technical College, Student Success Center, 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville, SC
• Myrtle Beach: Friday, December 6 at 9 am to 4 pm – SC Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting at the Embassy Suites at Kingston Plantation, 9800 Queensway Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC

The following agencies and organizations will have representatives available to explain assistance options at the events:

• AgSouth – Provides information on loans, crop insurance and leases for farms, equipment, timber and agribusiness.
• Clemson University Extension – Helping people find resources to support farm-related business decisions during storm recovery.
• Farmer Veteran Coalition of SC – Connects veteran farmers to technical resources, grants and training opportunities.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency – Provides information on registering for financial assistance related to the storm.
• Internal Revenue Service – Provides information on available federal tax law provisions for disaster relief.
• Small Business Administration – Provides assistance with business start-ups, SBA lending and federal contracts.
• SC Conservation Bank – Provides information on agricultural land grants.
• SC Department of Agriculture – Will be on site for support and discussion.
• SC Department of Commerce – Provide businesses with information on services such as small business resources, innovation, commerce, recycling, industry support and crisis management.
• SC Department of Employment and Workforce – Provides information on housing inspections of all storm-damaged employer-owned housing prior to Foreign Labor Application Gateway applications and on unemployment benefits, including disaster unemployment assistance and employer services.
• SC Department of Employment and Workforce – Provides information on housing inspections of all storm-damaged employer-owned housing prior to Foreign Labor Application Gateway applications and on unemployment benefits, including disaster unemployment assistance and employer services.
• SC Department of Environmental Service – Assists farms and tree producers with options for storm debris management, well water sampling and regulated pond issues.
• SC Department of Insurance – Provides information on insurance claims, coverage and fraud prevention.
• SC Department of Mental Health – Provides information on available mental health services.
• SC Department of Natural Resources – Supports local soil and water conservation districts that provide conservation technical assistance to South Carolina farmers and tree producers and help identify funding opportunities.
• SC Department of Veterans’ Affairs – Provides referrals for identified veterans and their families available through the South Carolina Veteran Coalition.
• SC Emergency Management Division – Provides information on statewide planning for recovery and availability and eligibility for grants and assistance programs.
• SC Forestry Commission – Provides management support for forest landowners, including timber damage assessment, salvage logging, replanting guidance, information on financial assistance for repairs, and fee-based services such as fire plowing and prescribed burning.
• SC Office of Resilience – Provides case managers to assist eligible citizens with disaster-induced unmet needs.
• SC Small Business Development Centers – Provides free private consultation to assist small and medium-sized agricultural businesses affected by disasters with recovery planning, financing, damage assessment and other recovery needs.
• SC State University – Provides technical services, support and guidance on recovery in areas such as agriculture, forestry, health, families, natural resources, youth development and more.
• USDA Farm Services Agency – Provides information on disaster programs that offer cost-sharing assistance and emergency loans to help farmers and producers recover from losses of land, crops and livestock due to a natural disaster.
• USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service – Provides financial and technical assistance information to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.
• Other federal, state, and local nonprofit organizations.

Feel more informed, prepared and connected to WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to ours newsletter via e-mailand download our apps. Do you have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.

Copyright 2024 WIS. All rights reserved.