McMaster signs bill aimed at protecting SC farmland from urban sprawl and development By Josh Archote 19 hrs ago COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill on April 23 aimed at helping South Carolina farmers protect their farmland from development.
The Working Agricultural Lands Preservation Act creates a program with the South Carolina Conservation Bank that compensates landowners for conservation easements, which are legal agreements that limit how a piece of land can be used.
Lawmakers joined the governor, farmers and others at Cottle Strawberry Farm on Garners Ferry for the bill's signing April 23.
"We have got to keep our farms sustainable. We've got to keep those properties intact with those families. And this bill is going to do that," said Rep. Patrick Haddon, R-Greenville, the sponsor of the bill and a farmer himself.
For farmers, conservation easements are a common method to permanently preserve their land from being developed into urban uses. An easement transfers with the land, should it sell, effectively protecting properties in perpetuity. The fund created by the bill will compensate farmers up to 50 percent of their easement value.
Farmers would need to meet certain criteria to be compensated, like whether their soil is classified as prime farmland and whether their property is threatened by urbanization.
Applicants would first work with a local land trust, like Upstate Forever or Congaree Land Trust, to begin the easement process, then apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The application would need final approval from the South Carolina Conservation Bank.
The development of farmland poses a threat to local and regional food supplies, according to the American Farmland Trust. From 2001 to 2016, roughly 4 million acres of farmland was developed into urban uses.
In South Carolina, where agriculture is the biggest industry, nearly 300,000 acres of farmland were lost during that period, with Lexington County seeing the most significant losses at 29,000 acres of farmland redeveloped for commercial uses, a 2020 study by the organization found.
Harry Ott, president of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, said this bill would help balance the need for farmland with commercial and residential demand.
"Yes, we need to develop," Ott said, "but we also need to protect our heritage and our agricultural property."
If current trends hold, South Carolina, along with other Southeastern states, is projected to experience some of the most significant losses in farmland, according to another 2023 study by the farmland trust.
This is largely driven by rapid economic and population growth in the state. The same study found that South Carolina is among the most quickly urbanizing states in the U.S.
Louis Whitesides, vice president for public service and agriculture at the University of South Carolina, said the program will especially help minority farmers.
"The land on which they toil was handed down through generations from ancestors and family members whose dream it was to own land," he said. "The (law) will add to our toolbox to ensure farmlands are preserved and remain an asset to build generational wealth and provide income that helps to improve the quality of living and the standard of living for all South Carolinians."
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