“Grounded in Our Roots, Focused on Our Future”

- DeShawn L. Blanding

Pillar 4: PRESERVATION

The Problem

Everything in Pillars 1 through 3 depends on one thing: having farmland to farm. If current trends continue, by 2040, South Carolina will lose another 436,700 acres of farmland — the equivalent of 3,600 farms, $239 million in economic output, and 5,900 jobs. South Carolina is the third-fastest growing state in the nation, and its most productive farmland sits in the path of suburban sprawl. Heirs’ property, land passed through generations without a formal title, disproportionately affects Black farm families and compounds these losses. No modernization plan is complete without a strategy to protect the land base itself.

The Plan

  • The General Assembly passed the Working Farmland Protection Act, signed into law in March 2024, which created a Working Farmland Protection Fund within the SC Conservation Bank that compensates landowners up to 50% of their easement value for conservation easements that permanently preserve their farmland. As Commissioner, build on this foundation by:

    • Advocating for sustained and increased annual appropriations to the Working Farmland Protection Fund — the inaugural year had more eligible applicants than available funds.

    • Using the Commissioner’s bully pulpit and relationships with the Legislature to make farmland protection a budget priority year over year.

    • Working with land trusts, USDA’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and local governments to stack funding sources and stretch every conservation dollar further.

  • Heirs’ property — land passed through generations without a formal title, disproportionately affecting Black farm families in the Black Belt and rural Lowcountry — is one of the most urgent and underaddressed challenges in South Carolina agriculture. Without a clear title, landowners cannot access USDA loan programs, conservation easements, or most state agricultural assistance. As Commissioner:

    • Partner with SC State University, the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation, and other legal aid organizations to build a statewide Working Lands Title Clearance Initiative that helps farm families resolve heirs’ property issues and access the full range of agricultural programs.

    • Incorporate heirs’ property assistance into the Regional Innovation Centers as a standard service offering.

    • Advocate for state legislation that strengthens protections for heirs’ property landowners against forced partition sales.

  • Pilot grants for rent-to-own leases to transition land to other farmers, clearing heirs’ property titles, and improving soil and water infrastructure for new, beginning, or veteran producers. Positioned as both a next-generation farmer support tool and a farmland succession instrument — ensuring that when a farmer retires, their land stays in agricultural production rather than being sold to development.

    • Delivering market reports via SMS text alerts and a mobile-friendly platform accessible to farmers without reliable broadband.

    • Partnering with Clemson Extension and SC State’s 1890 Extension to translate market data into accessible formats for beginning farmers.

    • Disaggregating reports by region and farm size so small producers can see pricing relevant to their scale.

    • Expanding coverage to include specialty crops, direct market pricing, and local food hub transaction data — not just commodity markets.