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Farmers Take Fieldtrip to Statehouse, More than 100 farmers from across the state met with lawmakers in Columbia Wednesday to ask for their support of the family farmer and to ask them not to balance the budget on the backs of farmers. There has been talk of the General Assembly raising taxes on products farmers use on the farm as a way to balance the State budget. Those discussions were enough to get the attention of farmers around the state and motivate them to leave the farm during one of the busiest times of the year and come to Columbia. Many of them came as farm representatives for neighbors who could not leave their work behind. SC Farm Bureau President David Winkles said, “The farmers I know are struggling just to make ends meet in the wake of a four year drought, historically low commodity prices, and a growing competitive world market place. So when conversations started about the possibility of balancing the budget at the farmers’ expense, it was enough to get them out of the field and on the road to the Statehouse.” Winkles said, “We work to keep the emotion out of the debate in order for the facts to remain clear. But a tax increase on the farm is an issue where we couldn’t control the emotions. Tractor-cades and farm protests of the 1970’s had little effect. That’s just not an effective way to make our point. As an advocate for agriculture, Farm Bureau has historically been very effective working with legislators on behalf of farmers as issues arose, providing them resources so they could make decisions based on sound science and facts. But this is a case when farmers wanted to tell lawmakers first-hand how a tax increase would affect their family’s farm.” Many farmers did the math for legislators showing them that an agricultural tax increase would take away more than half of their family’s net income. In addition to sharing facts about the economic impact that an agricultural tax increase would have, farmers also expressed their appreciation for the support they have received this year from the legislature. They thanked members of the House of Representatives for their support of H-3555, the Right to Farm bill passed by the House in April. That bill would keep local governments from adopting regulations tougher than those already established by the State. The bill was introduced after several counties began passing regulations that would prohibit certain segments of agriculture from being produced in their area.
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