By Robert Kittle
(COLUMBIA, SC)
A bill to offer grants to South Carolina farmers whose crops were lost in last October’s floods is headed to Gov. Nikki Haley’s desk, but she’s expected to veto it. She says she feels bad for farmers but she also feels bad for small business owners who suffered flood damage, and the state shouldn’t help one group over the other.
The bill would provide $40 million in grants to cover up to 20 percent of a farmer’s losses, up to a limit of $100,000.
Eastover farmer Harold Hill says the money is necessary for farmers. His cotton crop was ready to be harvested when the October storm dumped 27 inches of rain on it over two days. The crop was a total loss, but on top of the money he would have made at harvest he also lost all of the money he had invested in the crop, from seeds to fertilizer to weed control to the diesel fuel for his machinery.
“We made zero money last year,” he says. “We’re at the point now everything you see out here is financed. It’s on credit. And we’re at the point now if we don’t make a crop, if we don’t get this grant money, it’ll be time to go to jail.”
Gov. Haley says the state money isn’t necessary, though, because there are numerous federal programs to help farmers who suffered losses in the floods. There’s federal crop insurance, separate commodities programs for specific crops like cotton, and the Emergency Conservation Program that pays up to 75 percent of the cost to repair and refurbish farm land to get it ready for the next crop.
But Hill says even though he had the maximum amount of crop insurance available, it’s not enough to pay for 25 percent of what he had invested in the crop he lost. He’s hoping state lawmakers will override the governor’s veto if she does veto it. It appears the votes are there, since the Senate passed the bill 33 to 3 and the House passed it 85 to 2.
