agriculture in aiken county

AGRICULTUREIN AIKENCoUNTy

FEBRUARy 22, 2015

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT To

Downtown Aiken Farmers Market

History of Agriculture in Aiken County

SC Local Grown/Backyard Farmers

Chicken Farming in Aiken County

Cotton Farming in Aiken County

Economics of Agriculture in Aiken County

FFA Influence on Agriculture in Aiken County

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The face of agriculture changes constantlyBy HugH WeatHers SC Commissioner of Agriculture

Agriculture is ever chang-ing, moving and growing at tremendous speed. Ad-vances in techniques and technology are presented every day, and it’s our job to keep up with them and use them to best advantage.

Who would have thought, just 10 years ago, that farm-ers would use GPS technol-ogy to harvest peanuts? Or that irrigation systems would be ensuring near-maximum yields of row crops like corn and soybeans using less water than before?

Sometimes it’s hard to recognize the industry we thought we knew. Although

the commodities we grow are the mainstay of farming, agriculture is so much more than growing food and fiber. It embraces relatively new specialties, like sod and turf grass, biomass crops like

corn stalks and sorghum that can be used for fuel, and the increasingly popular area of agritourism. Did you realize that when you attend a horse race like the Aiken Steeple-chase, you’re supporting agritourism?

Agribusiness - which combines agriculture and forestry - continues to be the state’s largest industry. The most recent updated study reveals an annual economic impact of nearly $42 billion. We are well on the way to reaching our goal of being a $50 billion industry by the year 2020. I call our plan “50 by 20.” In 2009, the impact was measured at $34 billion.

Our department continues to break new ground. This

year we are putting our full support and energy behind a potential food hub in Marion County, similar to several other successful models across the state. A new me-trology lab is being built at the State Farmers Market to better serve our consumers’ need for calibration services. Through our participation in events such as the Southeast Wildlife Expo in Charleston, we are exposing thousands of new people to the benefits of local food.

We capitalize on valuable, untapped resources through our partnership with S.C. Parks, Recreation and Tourism, such as the Chef Ambassador program. Four talented chefs from across the state share our passion

for locally grown and pro-duced food, and they are a welcome addition to our Certified SC program.

People are changing too, in a seemingly impossible way: they want new experi-ences, while they also want to get back to their roots. Our farmers solve that prob-lem! Programs like Fresh on the Menu emphasize unique pairings of local food, while the Commissioner’s School for Agriculture introduces yet another generation to our exciting industry. An incu-bator farm in the Low Coun-try introduces beginning farmers to the industry.

Informing the public and keeping our consumers safe is our top priority. We sup-port farmers of all sizes with

programs like Good Agri-cultural Practice (GAP) cer-tifications, Farm to School, community-based markets in more than 120 locations, and three State Farmers Markets. These opportuni-ties for farmers, producers, and consumers make deli-cious local food accessible to the public.

We look forward to all of the changes 2015 will bring. We continue to share our message, keep our consum-ers safe and informed, and provide opportunities for our farmers. Visit our web-site, agriculture.sc.gov for more information about our agency and our programs.

We also welcome your ideas and comments. That’s how we continue to grow!

Hugh Weathers

agriculture.sc.gov

South Carolina agriculture and forestry have grown 23 percent since 2006 to have an annual economic impact of $41.7 billion and support 212,000 jobs.

These figures were shared when Governor Nikki Haley and Commissioner of Agri-culture Hugh Weathers un-veiled a study conducted by Dr. James London, London & Associates, of Clemson, South Carolina. The study was commissioned by the Palmetto AgriBusiness Council, South Carolina Department of Agri-culture, South Carolina Farm Bureau and Clemson Univer-sity Public Service Activities.

“The news that agriculture and forestry mean tens of bil-lions of dollars for our econ-omy and 212,000 jobs for our people is a real reason to cel-ebrate,” said Governor Haley. “We have invested in agribusi-ness and in our rural areas, our farmers know we continue to have their back, and working with Commissioner Weath-ers, we’re going to keep South Carolina on the move.”

South Carolina’s diverse Agribusiness Cluster consists of 60 sectors in the agriculture component and 29 sectors in the forestry component – gen-erating $41.7 billion total and $26.8 billion in direct output.

In aggregate, these sectors account for 9.1 percent of eco-nomic activity, 10.5 percent of the state’s workforce and $8.8 billion in labor income in South Carolina.

“It’s exciting to see this growth in jobs and our agri-business economy,” said Hugh Weathers, S.C. Commissioner of Agriculture. “The numbers also help portray the magni-tude and powerful influence of this great industry in our state. We must continue to ac-tively support our farmers and producers in South Carolina to generate an even greater impact on the rural economy as well as job growth.”

“Agriculture and forestry

share a rich heritage in South Carolina,” said David Win-kles, President of the S.C. Farm Bureau. “Those sectors, including food, fiber and forest products and support services continue to be major economic drivers for our state.”

Much of the growth can be attributed to the “50 x 20” plan pushed by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture along with the Palmetto Agribusiness Council and the South Carolina Farm Bureau and the 20/15 Project led by the South Carolina Forestry Commission and the SC For-estry Association. The 50 x 20 plan calls for increasing the economic impact of the

Agribusiness Cluster to $50 billion by the year 2020. The 20/15 Project calls for the forest industry to have a $20 billion impact by year 2015. Reaching these targets would increase Agribusiness’s impact by $16 billion over the impact assessment for the year 2006.

“The purpose of this effort is to let South Carolinians know that the agribusiness industry is focused on the future, not the past,” said Gene Kodama, S.C. State Forester. “The outlook for this sector has im-proved significantly and will continue to make great strides, creating more jobs and driving economic growth for years to come.”

South Carolina Agribusiness has $42 billion economic impactSouth Carolina Agriculture and Forestry Industries Have $41.7 Billion Economic ImpactGovernor Haley/Commissioner Weathers cite 23% growth since 2006; Industries account for more than 212,000 jobs

S.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers speaks at a Statehouse news conference as Gov. Nikki Haley and other officials look on.

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Agriculture – our past, our passion, our future

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2 | Sunday, February 22, 2015 Agriculture in Aiken County

Aiken County Farmers’ Market still going strongBy Paul WidenerMarket Manager

Located at the corner of Wil-liamsburg Street and Richland Avenue, the Aiken County Farmers Market is the oldest county farmers market in the State of South Carolina (in continuous operation at the same location). In 1952, the Farmers’ Grange, with the help of the local county chain gang, began work on the cur-rent structure. In 1954 the market was completed. The farmers and their families built the 45 tables which are still used today. In 1980, plans were made to sell the prop-erty for commercial develop-ment. Thanks to the efforts of Rosamond McDuffie & the Aiken Historic Preservation Commission, the Market was rescued. In 2003 the Aiken County Farmers Market was designated a Historical Land-mark in Aiken.

The Aiken County Farmers Market is a place to shop, visit with friends and reminisce. Today, you can find a wide variety of items at the market: local produce, fresh eggs, processed meat and poultry, baked goods, cheese, raw milk and local handmade crafts just to name a few. The

market is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from April through Decem-ber. However, Saturday is the best day to come out and ex-perience the market at its best. The key to getting the freshest produce is to come to the mar-ket early! The Market opens at 7 am and closes around noon (or when the farmers sell out). (Here is a tip for you: you may also catch an occasional farmer at the market on other days of the week and during the off season.)

Thursday Evening MarketIf you happened to be in

downtown Aiken on a Thurs-day evening this past summer, chances are you noticed that the sidewalks in “The Alley” were lined with tents and tables, filled with all kinds of produce, crafts, baked goods, eggs and seafood. Each Thursday evening people filled the street browsing, shopping and meeting over 20 vendors participating in the downtown market. There was live music, fresh squeezed lemonade and plenty of fresh, local produce. The 2015 Farmers Market in The Alley plans are being made. Mark your calendar for Thursday, June 4th for the launch of the new season.

Small farms looking to the past for future guidanceBy Valerie Sliker

When talking about agricul-ture in Aiken County, we can’t ignore the rise in the demand for locally grown products or the demand for backyard farming. David Williams, owner of Wagener Milling Company, said that busi-ness has gotten a lot stronger recently. “People want to go back to the old way. What we did sixty years ago was all we could do - raise our own chickens, raise our food. Now people are wanting to do that again to get away from the drugs and hormones.”

Wagener Milling Company serves “people with ten acres, maybe five cows and a bull for a hobby and they depend on the smaller farm stores.” People need a small place for farm supplies not purchased in bulk. Pet owners come here for discount feed; Ranchers, for hay; Gardeners, for seed and fertilizer.

Roy Dollar of Speckled Egg Farms, also in Wagener, is a good example of backyard farming. His goal is to do everything as it was done fifty years ago. “Having a natural food chain,” he explained, “creates a natural cycle of agri-culture with as much variety of animals as we can sustain and they’re all somehow connected to each other. I do this for good health, for the benefit of my kids.” Dollar also installed solar panels to supplement his energy use. “We’re just trying to be as green as we can, learn-ing as we go.” There are some power company incentives for families to install solar panels in Aiken County.

Speckled Egg Farms is not organic, but they stay away from hormones and antibiotics and are grass-based as much as possible. They sell out of the farm as well as at the Ai-ken Farmer’s Market. Dollar’s goal is not to be a full time farmer, but rather to educate more people in South Caro-lina about making better food choices. Dollar is a teacher by trade.

Dollar processes up to 35 broilers every three weeks. Occasionally, he has ducks, geese and turkey, both for meat and eggs. “One duck egg is equal to around 1.5 chicken eggs and they’re really rich, good for baking.” Dollar said. Speckled Egg Farms is cur-rently the only vendor at the Aiken Farmer’s Market that sells pork. “We breed Berk-shire Pigs and send them out to Northwest Meat Center in Greenwood for processing and packaging.”

David Williams, sitting in his dad’s old chair in the Wagener Milling Company’s office, sur-rounded by open Bibles and used receipt books is fielding phone calls and managing stray dogs while attempting to talk about Agriculture in Aiken County. “Oats are high. Corn’s not going to be much this year. I have to sell some new things now, maybe some GMO things and some non-GMO, but we still carry a lot of the old stuff – seeds, soybean meal, and molasses. I make a homemade chicken scratch where everything is natural. People buy it from miles around.”

“Dad’s been dead twenty years now and it doesn’t seem that,” Williams reflected. “He hung around here for me. A big company back in the ‘80s offered him a lot of money, but he knew they would come in and modernize. He kept it for me and now people want to go back to our old ways.”

In addition to backyard farming, another big trend is the desire to buy local. The Certified South Carolina program makes this easy for us. It is a combined effort of the South Carolina Depart-ment of Agriculture and South Carolina producers, proces-sors, wholesalers, and retailers. The goal is for consumers to easily identify and buy South Carolina products. Products in your grocery store or farmers market will have a Certified SC Grown or Certified SC Product label on them for easy recognition.

The CertifiedSCGrown.com website is an excellent site, easy to navigate. You can fil-ter by product and county. Are you looking for Hydroponic Heirloom Tomatoes in Aiken County? Amaretto-Peach Preserves made with Aiken

County peaches? Free Range, No Chemicals Added, Chicken Eggs in Aiken County? Do you want to buy products from a non-profit farm with the mission to feed the homeless? Are you looking for Basil, Rosemary or Parsley grown in Aiken County? How about hot or mild Gourmet Sauces, Rubs and Marinades made in Aiken County? How about Asparagus from a family that has farmed it 100 years, ever since Aiken County was labeled “Asparagus Capitol of the World?” Aiken County grown and developed nuts, honeys, coffees, fruit, figs, corn, and more can be found and purchased local with a simple search on your comput-er. Once you are at the Certi-fied SC Grown website, follow links for recipes and more.

What’s in the future for buy-ing local, buying organic or backyard farming in Aiken County? Education, Conve-nience and Conservation. In Roy Dollar’s view, “The big-gest challenge is educating the consumer. The more the consumer cares about what they’re putting into their body, the more organic products and local products they will demand.”

Convenience will also play a part of the future. People like going to one place to get everything. It will be easier to do that and still support locals with the Certified SC Grown label on various items in one store.

Conservation is a hot topic right now in South Carolina. The changing water laws and the incoming corporate farms are challenging all of us to think about conservation. “Farmers have always tried to take care of their resources,” said Carl Brown, Jr., and Aiken County cotton farmer. “Sometimes they didn’t know what to do, but farmers have always tried to conserve natu-ral resources, to take care of the land, to try to treat the land and to always look at how you can improve. Farmers have always been interested in con-servation. If they haven’t, they are not going to survive.”

Photo by Valerie SlikerDavid Williams, owner of Wagener Milling Company

Speckled Egg Farms

Meet us at the market andshop local this season.

Now featuring seasonal andlocally grown produce, fresh

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join us at the marketTuesday, Thursday, Saturday

from 8 a.m. until the farmers sell out (or by chance)

Summer Market will be on Thursdays in The Alleyfrom 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (starting June 4th)

Aiken County Farmers Market{ Connecting friends and farmers for generations }

Farmers Market Information: www.VisitAikenSC.com or (803) 293-2214

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Agriculture in Aiken County Sunday, February 22, 2015 | 3

The only constant in agriculture is changeBy Valerie Sliker

Aiken County was created on March 10, 1871 during the days of radicalism and reconstruction. It consists of land taken from Orangeburg, Lexington, Edgefield and Barnwell Counties and, nota-bly, has not lost any territory since it was formed, despite the most persuasive attempt to form something called “Heyward County.”

Cotton, timber, watermel-ons, turpentine and kaolin were the earliest forms of agriculture in Aiken County. Cotton and timber were shipped – or floated – to the coast via the Edisto and Savannah rivers. The Black-ville, Alston and Newberry Railroad (B.A.N.R.R.) began expanding up-country from Blackville specifically to ship these products in 1888.

Kaolin mining in Aiken County prospered. Kaolin did not exist at all except in a few favored places and Aiken County was the most favored, world-wide. Kaolin is a white, gritless clay, sedi-mentary of origin, attributed to the Cretaceous Age. Min-ing Kaolin in Aiken County proved to be practical and profitable. The Standard Kaolin Company with Mr. George A. Wagener as Presi-dent, sent kaolin to manufac-turers in Europe, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Kaolin, at that time, was worth from $11 to $22 a ton.

As soon as the railroad con-nected Blackville to Salley, towns and depots began to spring up fast. There is even an 1888 reference in “The Swamp Rabbit – It’s Time and It’s People” to Rocky Spring Church, a church that remains today. The Swamp Rabbit referring to the Rail-road through “Giddy Swamp Township.”

William Gregg, the father of textile industry of the South, made a home in this part of South Carolina, well before it was “Aiken County” (1840s) and established The Granite-ville Manufacturing Com-pany, the largest cotton mill of the South at that day. The Vaucluse, Hickman, Warren and more mills were estab-lished in part to deal with the local cotton being farmed and shipped to Charleston. Once we could process the cotton, this area of South Carolina changed drastically.

At the turn of the 20th century, Aiken County was ranked 11th in the state with a population of 53,191 and 3,847 farms with an annual crop value of $8,000,000. The crops were cotton, corn, sweet potatoes, peaches, oats, wheat, peanuts, pecans, as-paragus and apples. Aiken County ranked 47th county

in the nation for sweet potato production.

Rural electrification, a sys-tem of paved highways and the Clemson University Co-operative Extension Service (“Clemson Extension”) trans-formed Aiken County. The Clemson Extension brought the latest research informa-tion to our rural communities. The 4-H and Home Eco-nomics programs involved the youth and began drastic improvements. The Smith-Hughes Act brought agricul-ture and home economics to our schools. The FFA was established in 1928 and began to teach leadership skills to our vocational students.

In 1913, the SC Dept. of Agriculture established the Market Bulletin to help link farmers, buyers and sellers. By 1935, the South Carolina Market Bulletin had 50,000 subscribers. It remains a valuable resource today.

By far, technology is the biggest cause of change for current Aiken County farm-ers. While today’s farmers’ parents and grandparents dealt with upgrading equip-ment, this generation faces the constant growth of tech-nology. 20th Century farm-ers in Aiken County worked maybe 100 or 200 acres, mostly manual, using perhaps a small John Deere model H along with a working mule or two. They would often work two or three other jobs to keep their family in clothes. They raised cotton and veg-etables and livestock includ-ing cows, hogs, and goats. A little later on, they might have a four row tractor, then a six.

Chicken FarmingRay Fechtel and A. D.

“Chick” Amick brought chicken farming to the east-ern part of Aiken County in the 1940s. Fechtel, out of At-lanta, owned The Southeast-ern Hatchery (now Columbia Farms/House of Raeford) and Amick owned Amick Farms, still running under that name today, but acquired under

the OSI Group. These big farms were just beginning to introduce “integrated” poul-try farming, a method that unites the different stages of poultry production – feed mills, hatcheries, farms and processors – under one com-mon owner, streamlining uniformity and technology and reducing overall cost.

Before Southeastern and Amick arrived, most of the chicken farms were small. Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Hall of Wagener had one of these smaller farms in 1948. By 1958, Hall had six hen hous-es, 500 x 44 and he raised all the hatching eggs for Southeastern. By 1961, Hall left Southeastern and went into his own commercial lay business called Edisto Egg Farm. According to Starrett Hall, Sr., Hall’s son, “Daddy had his own feed mill and

ground his own feed. He had his own washer and grader. Daddy sold eggs all over SC and GA and some even to NY.” By 1969, Hall was back with Southeastern with the broilers. Integrated farming became the only way to man-age chicken farms.

Soon after Woodrow Hall’s death, his son Starrett Hall Sr. replaced the outdated chicken houses with new ones and by 1976 he had switched integrators from Columbia, formerly South-eastern, to Amick, now be-ing run by Chick’s son Bill. “I want to say this,” Hall insisted, “Bill Amick was a Christian man. I always enjoyed working with him.” Bill Amick died at the age of 70 in 2013 after a lifetime of Christian leadership in Lex-ington and Columbia, SC.

Farming TechnologyAs for technology, remote

control prototype lets a farmer operate one tractor or combine and the second can be operated via remote con-trol. Variable rate fertilizer, seed, and irrigation is all computer controlled. Today, all modern combines have mapping systems. Once the first line is set, every other row will follow. Everything is GPS and works off satel-lites. There’s a spreader truck that will mix three products, changing the mix on the go. Simply plug in your grid sample and it will mix all three as you go in-stead of making three sepa-rate trips, cutting fuel cost tremendously.

“We’re not on the cut-ting edge,” Ronnie Cook, a Wagener farmer reported, “Some of the new irriga-tion systems now have soil monitors that measure wa-ter and will cut off when the soil monitor indicates enough water. It’s all about conservation.” Center pivot irrigation systems can notify a farmer in bed that it has begun raining where he is watering and he can turn the water off at that point, or if he has the latest technology, the system will turn itself off and let him sleep.

Conservation methods are used with fertilizer and seed application as well. With grid sampling, you can alter the fertilizer spread on dif-ferent areas. Cook contin-ued, “The first year we put in grid sampling, the savings in the first 150 acres paid for the whole system. We only had twenty acres that needed the full ton.” Variable rate planters will automatically change the rate to dry or wet land rates.

Technology is a part of ev-ery aspect of farming, even livestock production. “I can pull a blood sample from a potential mother cow, send it to the lab and they can tell me the potential profit in the kind of milk that cow will produce.” Cook said. The milk production rate determines her value for calf reproduction.

Ronnie and Jimmy Cook farm cotton, corn, hay, Si-mangus cattle and peanuts. Cook continued, “If I pull twenty heifers out for re-placement, I can pull a blood sample and find out which ones will be my best produc-ers based on a projection of her milk production, mother ability, and length of produc-tions. Normally I rotate them out in 12 years, while some need to stop at 7 years. This projection gives me her

Photo by Valerie SlikerSimAngus cattle on Ronnie and Jimmy Cook’s farm work farm near Wagener, SC

Modern-day cotton harvesting,; a Case cotton picker withon-board module building.

See Agriculture, page 5

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Chicken farming in Aiken County: A family affairBy Valerie Sliker

The roots of chicken farming in Aiken County don’t go as far back as row crops or livestock, but it has grown into a large part of agriculture in Aiken County and has had a huge impact on the economy. The chicken farms running today are family-run with few or no employees and are contracted with large integrated chicken production and processing companies like Amick or Columbia Farms.

Running a chicken farm hasn’t always been profitable. Starrett Hall, Sr., a second generation chicken farmer in Wagener, said, “There were times we paid only what we had to. There’s a dif-ference between making money and making a living. You might make a living at chicken houses, but you won’t make money. The day you get your chicken house paid for is the day you have to start doing updates. Expensive updates. When you get through with the updates, you’re in debt again. I built new houses in 1978 and 1998. Twenty-five years is probably about the life of new houses today.”

Profitability depends on many variables. The price of corn af-fects the price of chicken feed. Your integrator may be short on drivers due to SCDOT driver-hours restrictions. The Depart-ment of Health and Environmen-tal Control’s waste management regulations have to be covered by the individual farmer. Weather

will affect the utilities expenses. Food, water and air quality have to be managed well to save mon-ey. For example, another farmer explained, “A computer program runs the fans, changing the air in the house. Someone has to keep any eye on it and keep it balanced with your heat at this time of year so it doesn’t pull your heat out and cost you more.”

Chicken farmers have some access to fuel and wind-speed incentives from both their inte-grators and from the Farm Bill. If a chicken house is updated and kept modern, it may qualify for more incentives and energy conservation savings. Upgrades with drinkers and feeders help with feed conversion, also mini-mizing expenses.

The supply chain in vertical integration with poultry farm-ing is fascinating. The chicken houses you see in Aiken County can be either Broilers, Breed-ers or Layers. The integrator, Amick or Columbia, provides structure and control in bios-ecurity and sanitation practices, housing technology and feeding regimens. The integrator pro-vides the chicks, transportation, and feed as well as some vac-cinations, veterinary services and management techniques. They automatically change the composition of the feed delivered throughout the nine weeks the farmer has the chickens. The house temperature remains at 92 degrees all year long and this is controlled via computer. The

food, water and air is all com-puter controlled. The farmer pays the utilities. To simplify, the farms gets paid per the amount of meat produced less the feed used. A lot of factors determine the amount of meat produced, mean-ing how well the chickens grow. A six-house farm requires about 2.5 million lbs. of feed every nine weeks.

Each farm competes against other farms, depending on the age of your chickens. Nine weeks after delivery, the integra-tor’s crew comes in to catch the chickens and take them to the processing plant. The farmers then clean the houses, sanitize and get ready for more birds.

“Any kind of livestock are happy in a pattern,” one chicken farmer said. “When you disrupt that pattern in any way, it makes a difference. Even something as little as if I walk in the house and go left instead of right, it will disrupt that pattern for the chicks and they may stop eating for a while. To maximize how your birds grow, you need to keep things running smoothly from day one and that’s very hard to manage.”

Many chicken farmers in Ai-ken County have a second source of income. It may be row crop farming or working for a power company nearby. Chicken farm-ers can sell the manure to brokers as another source of income. In 2002, manure prices were up and down, but recently they’ve remained high because oil prices

have driven up the price of fertil-izers.

Both Amick Farms and Co-lumbia Farms are expanding in Aiken County. They are looking to establish more chicken farms. Columbia Farms is building a new hatchery near Monetta.

“I think the future looks good,” one chicken farmer said. “The water table is good here, a good aquifer in this area, the pH levels are decent. That makes a difference in chicken production. Your initial investment is high and the return on your money is probably a lot better than some businesses so it looks pretty good for the younger folks to get start-ed..” Chicken farming remains a great way for a family to work together, while remaining avail-able for school and community involvement.

potential income over her lifes-pan.”

Weed and insect control have also seen a lot of change since your father’s farming days. In previous generations, the only weed prevention was a cultiva-tor or hoe. It was hand-work in the 1950s. Today everything is chemically controlled and geneti-cally modified seed-resistance such as Round-Up resistant cot-ton seed. In Aiken County, the only weed that remains problem-atic is the Palmer’s Amaranth, Pigweed, which can grow a couple of inches per day around here. As for insects, Brown said, “We have one bug that’s giving us some issues in cotton, the Stinkbug. The Bt Technology doesn’t work on the Stinkbug because it doesn’t ingest or feed on the foliage. The cotton plant has a gene inserted so it produces the Bt protein that works on the boll worm because it feeds on the fruit and foliage.”

In 2015, the average farm needs to be over 1000 acres for a farmer to make a living. One or two generations back, a family of six could live off a 133 acre farm.

“If the farmer in Aiken County is to survive, he has to be will-ing to change and go where the profit’s at.” Cook speculated, “We have to be willing to change, and we always have been. I’ve

seen years where farmers aban-doned total cattle production, sold the cattle, pushed up the fence, and planted everything in cotton and corn.”

Carl Brown put it this way: “We have a Norman Rockwell idea of what agriculture is sup-posed to look like. I was raised on a farm that resembled that when I was real young, but the reality is simply that in farming, there’s a little bit of lifestyle in it, but it’s a business. If a business doesn’t adapt to the changing times and changing opportuni-ties, they’re not going to survive as a business. We can’t do what we did ten years ago if we’re going to be successful business people today. You have to look at the opportunities and change. If you want to make a living out of a farm, you’ve got to generate enough income for that to hap-pen.”

There is an Aiken County poem written by an anonymous poet that sums it up beautifully.

When man was dreaming grandeur,

He fashioned marts and mills;When God was dreaming

beauty,He made the Aiken hills.The pine trees bid you lingerWhere winter sunshine dwells;You’ll find the smile of DixieIn Aiken’s hills and dells.

Agriculture...from page 1

Photo source: sPeckled egg Farms Facebook Page

Chickens at Speckled Egg Farms in Wagener.

Photo by Valerie slikerChicken farm belonging to Starrett and Rachel Hall, Wagener

Cotton: The fabric of Aiken CountyBy Valerie Sliker

Cotton prices in 2015 will be below production cost and this has a lot of cotton farmers planning a small crop. Cotton production and sales exploded in the United States in 2011 and 2012, then immediately began a predicted plunge.

In a 2013 interview with Fox News, Aiken cotton farmer, na-tional representative and leader on many South Carolina Cotton Boards, Carl Brown, Jr. specu-lated that China, the world’s largest producer, consumer and importer of cotton was stockpil-ing cotton and if they continued, they could drive the prices down to fifty cents per pound.

China is one of the biggest producers of synthetics. In the past few years, the price was supported because China was actively buying. Brown said, “But they were buying to stockpile and now it’s caught up with us. When you’re at the farm level that I am, it’s not very encouraging.”

Two years later, as we enter the 2015 cotton season, Brown’s prophetic warning is revealing; cotton is currently projected to be around sixty-two cents per pound. As we talked, Brown

pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and pulled up the com-modities reports, “The average of the futures closing from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 is what cotton will be. Last year, the market price was seventy-nine cents per pound. It’s going to drop sixteen or seventeen cents now.”

Cotton is bought and sold, and when it moves out of the farm-er’s hands, much of that cotton is hedged against futures. When a mill buys cotton, they’ll hedge it until they spin it and sell it. Raw material prices are locked in and that protects them. Merchants do the same thing. So when cot-ton is high, the money goes into the supply chain, but not many farmers get that high price.

When a farmer locks into a

price, he or she is also locked into a delivery, meaning how much cotton they will produce and deliver, a prediction that can be difficult to fulfill. “Two years ago,” Brown continued, “1,200 lb. per acre was average. This past year, 830 lb. per acre was average production. You can’t predict this.” According to Tre’ Coleman with the SCDA, “The average production cost of an acre of cotton is about $550 per acre, so it would be a loss of about $17 per acre.”

Farmers can also contract with a cooperative. They put the cot-ton in a pool and try to get the best price overall and deliver what they promised together as a group. Many will do this with a small part of their crop to have a

little breathing room with deliv-ery requirements.

Subsidies and incentives have historically helped American farmers, but the technology incentives have been little to none and the new Farm Bill has dropped programs for cotton growers. When I asked Brown his opinion of the “comprehen-sive reform of cotton policy” that was touted in the new Farm Bill, Brown chuckled, “I’d call it a change of policy, not a reform.” Ronnie Cook, a Wagener farmer who farms with his brother Jim-my, said, “There’s no program in the new Farm Bill. For the first time in history, cotton gets noth-ing. There’s a program (subsidy) for soybeans, sunflowers, every-thing under the sun, vegetables; absolutely nothing for cotton.” Brazil’s recent litigation over US cotton payments resulted in a World Trade Organization mandate that cotton be excluded from the 2014 Farm Bill to be in compliance with the WTO.

Brown, who usually farms well over 1,000 acres of cotton said, “Acres will be down. We’ll be planting a little over half what we planted last year.” Cook said that they had previously farmed

Photo by Valerie slikerChicken farm belonging to Starrett Hall, Jr., Wagener

See Cotton, page 7

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The cow has always been one of the most productive and efficient creatures on Earth. She gives fresh milk for rich cream, golden butter, and flavorful cheeses, and in turn promotes human health and vitality. This humble cow helps small farmers offer her bounty up to the community with a chance at turning a profit, while at the same time providing rich manure for the garden or land from which she comes. She silently enriches the quality of your life as you benefit from the resources from her natural world.

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FFA goes beyond agricultureBy ValeRie SlikeR

The Future Farmers of America (FFA) is a national organization that is a part of agricultural education in our schools that brings class room instruction to life through hands-on applica-tions. Agricultural educa-tion instruction is delivered through three components: classroom and lab instruc-tion, supervised agricultural experience, and student-leadership organizations (FFA).

As of 2014, there are 610,240 FFA members in grades 7 – 12 who belong to one of 7,665 local FFA chapters throughout the US, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, earning $4 billion annually through hands-on work experiences.

There are five FFA chap-ters in Aiken County: Ai-ken High School, Midland Valley High School, Wa-gener Salley High School, Ridge Spring Monetta High School, and Aiken Career and Technology Center.

Congress passed the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act of 1917 to promote by funding vocational agriculture train-ing for students who want to be farmers. Agriculture and Home Economic classes became popular in the pub-lic school system at this time and later, Cosmetol-ogy, Welding and more.

In the 1920s, Henry Groseclose began an Ag club in Virginia and became the Father of the FFA. The first National FFA Conven-tion was in Kansas City, 1928, showing livestock and cattle. South Carolina es-tablished a national charter in 1928. In Aiken County, Wagener was the main pro-gram, then Aiken joined in. Aiken helped to consolidate the programs throughout the county. The FFA was for boys only until 1969 when girls were admitted.

The Wagener Salley High School (WSHS), in the east-ern part of Aiken County, has only had a total of 6 or 7 vocational Ag teachers as FFA advisors. The teach-ers in this field come to stay. The current vocational building at WSHS is named after its previous FFA advi-sor, Spencer Smith. Smith served from 1947 – 1982. After Smith, Dan Hender-son served for one year and was followed by the current WSHS FFA Advisor, Allen Williams. Two of the three past State FFA Presidents were from WSHS.

Williams’ motto “Learn-ing to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve” is obvious with any-one who knows Williams or

Smith. They are living ex-amples of what they teach, as are their students.

The FFA chapters in Ai-ken County serve to teach community service and rural leadership in all areas, not just in agriculture. In a combined interview with Allen Williams and Spencer Smith, Smith said “Some of the outstanding farm-ers in this side of Aiken County are former FFA members. The FFA has had a tremendous influence on leadership for the rural ar-eas, churches, and schools in Aiken County as well as on the state level. I had a couple of FFA members be-come state FFA officers and Allen has had four or five.” Williams and Smith began listing former FFA members who are influential today including Edward Schwartz and Wayne Furtick with the Aiken Electric Co-operative and John Brown with the Board of Education.

Smith said “About half of the maintenance crews at Aiken Electric are former FFA boys from Wagener.” He went on to proudly say: “The president of one of the biggest agriculture chemical companies and several exec-utives at Sonoco are former FFA members. Go into any rural areas and you’ll find the ones in leadership roles are former FFA members.”

The FFA instills a belief of self in students, the belief that they can perform and take part in situations they encounter. As well as belief in self, the FFA also teaches posture and manners, every-thing needed for leadership. FFA experience gives them the confidence and ability to take leadership roles. “We won several state contests in parliamentary procedure,” Smith added. “Allison Tyler (of Tyler Brothers in Wagen-

er) told me how much he ap-preciated that I taught him parliamentary procedure now that he’s the president of the Glider’s Association. My former students come by and talk with me now.” Smith laughed, “They’re not afraid of me anymore. They credit me for their higher education because I car-ried them up to Clemson so often.”

Travel is another experi-ence the FFA presents to students. With the rural students in Aiken County, traveling with the FFA may be the first time they go out of state or ride an airplane. Aiken County FFA mem-bers travel to Clemson often and travel to Myrtle Beach for camp, Kansas City or Louisville for National Con-ventions. While on these excursions, the students establish state-wide and na-tional friendships and learn the skill of networking as well. It is also noted that many of the students would not be able to take these trips without the funding by FFA.

In Spencer Smith’s days at WSHS, the FFA program was much diversified in-cluding forestry, livestock judging, horse judging, agriculture mechanics, etc. During Allen Williams’ time, there was a state-wide push for each school to develop a career cluster de-pendent on location, needs of the community and in-terests of the students. “In our community,” Williams said, “Our students chose mechanics. Aiken chose horticulture because of all the subdivisions that needed plants for yards and gar-dens. In Anderson County, there are many animal sci-ence FFAs. In Barnwell, it’s a wildlife program.”

During FFA week each

year, FFA students from around the state visit the SC Statehouse to meet with legislators and to show gratitude for their support of agriculture and career technology courses. The FFA students also remind them of the continuing need for that support as well as the importance of support-ing agriculture in our state because it is the largest eco-nomic industry in our state. While on these trips, FFA members take their plants to the Capitol to be planted around the grounds.

The FFA is growing with new Ag programs being opened every year in our state, therefore new FFA chapters. According to Williams, this is because many of the principals and school administrators have found that good Ag teach-ers provide an opportunity to teach Math, English and Science in a hands-on en-vironment which is the way students taking vocational classes learn best. “Many of the school districts have made an investment in the FFA program to better teach math, reading and science through the application pro-cess.”

There is a growing trend to go back to the small fam-ily farm where families can produce their own poul-try, eggs and vegetables. Whether it’s garden or farm food production or self-sufficiency, the high school Ag program is a good place to learn it. The larger cit-ies are now seeking Ag programs because of every-thing the FFA can provide.

In the Southeast we have a deficiency in Ag teachers. Any student who graduates with a degree in agriculture will do well. Programs are

Photo By VALERiE SLikERSpencer Smith and Allan Williams, Wagener-Salley Agricultural educators

See FFA, page 7

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1,200 acres of cotton and very little corn. Then corn prices went up and they reduced cotton to 300 acres and put the rest in corn. Now both are down. “Cotton and corn are (selling for) less than the cost of production right now. Soybeans are headed that way. The only thing that shows any po-tential at all right now is peanuts, livestock and hay.”

“With the low price this year,” Brown admitted, “You can’t just sit out the season unless you own the land – even then you can’t watch your picker just sit there if you still owe $100,000. on it. The problem is, no crop really looks good. We’re going to plant some soybeans. I haven’t planted soybeans in 3 or 4 years and we’ll

do everything as economically as we can.”

Is there any good news for cot-ton farmers in Aiken County this year? “We’re an optimistic group,” Brown said. “Cotton use ought to be moving up. A lot is being shipped out of the States due to the price. When I started farming the in 1970s, most of our cotton was spun in the US, 70% – 80 %, we were just get-ting into the export of all cotton, up until the mid-1980s. Now 80 bales out of 100 will ship out on a container.”

Since the 1990s, China’s cot-ton production policies have changed global consumption. As a result, the US is much more dependent on the global market. US consumption of cotton was

always much more than what was exported until 2001. After 2001, US consumption plum-meted. The USDA attributes this change to significant changes in international trade including the phasing out of developed country textile trade protection and some permanent changes in China’s consumption and China’s acces-sion to the WTO.

The Cooks will focus on their hay and beef production and minimize their cotton this year. “Hay is either good or better. We’ve never been able to produce enough hay to make it to the next season. Hay has always been a consistent crop. This is a demand driven market. If you’re not flex-ible in the farming business, you won’t be here long.”

Cotton...from page 5

closing every day because there’s no teacher. Simulta-neously, new programs are opening up throughout the entire Southeast.

“I have reaped the benefits of Mr. Smith’s teaching,” Allen Williams said. “I am teaching the children and grandchildren. I was lucky he came here.” Smith in-terjected, “No, I was lucky he came here.” Williams continued, “My success is due to Mr. Smith’s strong foundation.

“I personally aim for and hope that we teach the chil-dren to become anything they want to be with the leadership skills we teach,

whether in agriculture or being a doctor or lawyer, by providing hands-on experi-ence, leadership, parlia-mentary procedure, public speaking, basic goal setting, and to become conservation-ists. So they know and ap-preciate where their food is coming from, whether they stay in agriculture or not; in NY City or rural America, students can become posi-tive citizens like our mission

statement directs.” Spencer Smith, founder

of the Smith Scholarship in trust that will remain long after both of these men are gone, concluded for us. “I have no regrets. I told the Lord, when I was going across France, (World War II) that if He let me live, I’d try to do something for man-kind. I don’t know any other thing I could have chosen that would be better than an Ag teacher. I touched more lives than any other thing I could have done. What-ever I did to help, it wasn’t my wisdom, it was the Lord working through me. Giv-ing me wisdom to touch their lives. I’m so thankful for that.”

FFA...from page 6

Economic impact of farming in Aiken Countyby Valerie Sliker

Aiken County consists of 704,000 acres and is the fourth largest South Carolina county by land area at 1,073 square miles. The total number of farms in Ai-ken County as reported by The United States Department of Ag-riculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS) in 2012 is 1,102, averaging 140 acres each, for a total land of 154,280 acres being farmed.

The USDA NASS has not published statistics from 2013. The following information is based on 2010, 2011 or 2012, Aiken County alone, and noted accordingly. This information was provided by Jonathan Larry, Marketing Coordinator with the Economic Development Partner-ship.

The acres of forestland in Aik-en County in 2011 was recorded as 463,116; 65% of Aiken Coun-ty is forestland. The stumpage timber value was $7,038,305 in 2013 and the delivered timber value was $15,293,601.

Corn for grain (2011) harvested 3,300 acres with a 65.2 yield bushels per acre and produc-tion of 215,000 bushels. Cotton harvested 5,200 acres with 757 lbs. per acre yield and production of 8,200 bales. Hay harvested

13,800 acres with 1.95 tons per acre and production of 26,910 tons. Peanuts harvested 800 lbs. with 2,838 lbs. yield per acre and production of 2,270,400 lbs. Soybeans harvested 4,700 bush-els with 16.4 bushels per acre yield and production of 77,080 bushels.

The most common livestock produced are cattle, hogs and chickens. Livestock farmed in Aiken County are recorded with the USDA NASS as 11,800 cattle (2012), 400 hogs (2010) and 25,600,000 chickens (2011). The total market value of $106,751,000 breaks down as $20,644,000 in crops and $86,107,000 in livestock.

Those are the statistics. Drive around Aiken County, talk to the farmers and you’ll get a better image.

The major crops of Aiken County are cotton, corn, Bermu-da grass, hay, soybeans, peanuts, various vegetables, peaches, watermelon and timber. Cotton and corn are down this year, soy-beans are up and peanuts are yet to be determined. “Vegetables are the biggest thing taking over our area of Aiken County right now,” Wagener farmer Ronnie Cook said. “This area has a window of opportunity from the time Georgia product comes in

and goes out -- there’s a three-week window before North Car-olina product comes in. It puts South Carolina right in a perfect window. A vegetable plant is be-ing planted and harvested every day, no seasons necessary.”

Many of the vegetables in Ai-ken County go north, but that is changing with the rising demand to buy local. Commissioner Hugh Weather’s Certified SC Grown program is gaining popu-larity and making it very easy for

the consumer to buy local prod-uct and support local farmers.

The mild climate and predict-able precipitation contribute to the strength of Aiken County’s agricultural endeavors. Situated between the Edisto and Savan-nah Rivers, the land of Aiken County is a magical combination of rich, fertile soil and an abun-dance of water. The water laws have always been weak and are recently under protest as large corporate farms are establishing

farms here. Friends of the Edisto (FRED), Edisto Concerns and Edisto.TV are working hard to change the current water laws.

Some Aiken County farmers are not happy with the corporate farms coming in, increasing land rents and bringing in H-2A laborers. Corporate farms strive to provide local jobs, but when locals don’t want those labor in-tensive jobs, the corporate farms have to hire H-2A (Temporary Agricultural Workers). Aiken cotton farmer Carl Brown Jr. said, “It’s a legal requirement for companies to advertise for local labor before they take the H-2A laborers. The wage offerings are close to $10/hr. but a lot of people don’t want to do that hard, hard work.”

“Agriculture has always been important to economic diversity of Aiken County.” Will Wil-liams, President/CEO Economic Development Partnership said. “There is a long history of farm-ing in the county and these op-erations enhance the economic vitality of our county. These farmers purchase goods and ser-vices from local suppliers to use in their operations.”

Cook says it eloquently, “We’re not better farmers than our predecessors, we have better farming practices like strip till

and no till, better equipment like precision population of seed and precision placement, better seed with drought resistance, chemical resistance, and insect resistance. Last but not least, more and better irrigation, like GPS controlled ground moisture monitors and fertilizer and in-secticide placement. This being said, the American farmer is our own worst enemy – because of producing more with less: more food and fiber with less land and labor. 2014 brought the low-est commodity prices, with the exception of cattle, in ten years. We now have the largest carry-over of corn and soybeans and peanuts ever.

“Farming has never been easy, but it has always been the most rewarding of occupations. To be in partnership with Lord and the land is indescribable. To watch that new-born calf, to smell fresh cut hay, to make that first pass in a sea of white cotton makes the hard work seem almost pleas-ant.”

“Farming is definitely not for the faint of heart. An article once said ‘A farm is the best place in the world to raise a family, but one of the hardest to make a living.’ I can only hope mine will be here for genera-tions to come.”

Photo by Valerie SlikerSimAngus cow on the Cook farm in eastern Aiken County near Wagener.

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agriculture in aiken county

Documents

aiken countyas02

aiken countycotton farming

growing food

aiken countyffa influence

aiken steeplechase

benefits of local food

beginning farmers

port farmers