State's farmers get major boost

Wal-Mart joins promotion of local produce

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

John Dawson selects Johns Island-grown tomatoes at the Mount Pleasant farmers market earlier this month. Locally grown produce will be available at Wal-Mart, as the retail giant joins a program to promote South Carolina crops.

Weathers

The state Agriculture Department kicked off the second year of a campaign to boost sales of locally grown produce Tuesday with the help of a potentially influential partner — Wal-Mart.

The world's largest retailer said it will step up its efforts to help the agency promote sales of South Carolina-raised fruits and vegetables at its stores across the state. The produce areas of Wal-Mart stores will include prominent displays showing shoppers which items came are part of the department's "Certified S.C. Grown" program.

The company's Supercenter near the Tanger Outlet Center in North Charleston on Tuesday showcased tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelon, peaches and cantaloupe from Palmetto State farms, including W.P Rawl & Sons Inc. in Lexington County.

The goal is simply to "advance agricultural commerce," said Hugh Weathers, the state agriculture commissioner. "We are fortunate to have an abundance of agricultural resources here in South Carolina, especially our produce farms," he said.

The department launched the marketing campaign last year after it found 90 percent of South Carolina residents would prefer to buy produce grown within the state if the quality and price were competitive with commodities raised elsewhere.

The problem, Weathers said, was that most shoppers could not tell whether the goods came from South Carolina or South America.

He also said his department is working with Clemson University to gauge the financial impact of the buy-local marketing effort and "put a dollar value on that." Sales from this year will serve as a better barometer than last year because the 2007 produce crop was affected by a late frost, Weathers said.

About 50 Charleston-area restaurants are participating in a similar campaign organized by the Agriculture Department called "Fresh on the Menu." That promotion is being expanded.

Weathers said another advantage of buying locally is that it reduces transportation costs at a time of record-high fuel costs.

"Not only does it keep a little of the grocery money close to where we live ... it also helps save on the cost of energy because locally grown travels less," he said.

Reach John McDermott at 937-5572 or jmcdermott@postandcourier.com.