82nd South Carolina Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Bryan Smith is the County Coordinator for the Laurens County Extension Office. He is also the chair of the SC Confined Animal Manure Managers Program, which is a required program for all SC confined animal facility owners, and the Laurens County Master Gardener Program coordinator. He earned his Bachelors of Science degree in agricultural engineering from Clemson University in 1995 and earned his Maters degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of South Carolina in 1996.

Bryan's interests include animal manure management, livestock watering systems, and commercial, residential and agricultural irrigation systems.

Bryan was born on a family farm centered around commercial beef cattle and hay production.

Charles Ruth is a Wildlife Biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and currently serves as the Big Game Program Coordinator. He has been employed by SCDNR as the Deer Program Coordinator since 1995. He also oversees the Wild Turkey program and Black Bear program. 

He earned his bachelors degree in biology from the College of Charleston in 1986. He later earned his masters degree in aquaculture, fisheries and wildlife biology from Clemson University in 1990.

Charles is a certified Wildlife Biologist by the Wildlife Society and has authored or co-authored over 30 scientific publications related to big game biology and management.

In February of 2020 he was awarded the Deer Management Career Achievement Award by the Southeast Deer Committee for his contributions and dedication to white-tailed deer management in South Carolina and the Southeast.

Charles is an avid archery deer hunter.

Dr. Greg Yarrow is a professor of Wildlife Ecology in the Department of Forestry and Environment Conservation at Clemson University. His teaching, research and extension responsibilities include: 

• Teaching – wildlife management & ecology, wildlife damage management
• Research – wildlife ecology, integrated wildlife management on farms                                               and forestlands, human-wildlife conflicts
• Extension – wildlife conservation on private land

Dr. Yarrow has authored numerous publications including the book Managing Wildlife which is used as a textbook in university wildlife programs and as a reference for natural resource professionals.

He and his wife Tina have five children and four grandchildren. His hobbies include hiking, fishing and spending time spoiling his grandchildren.

Since 2012, Hunter has served as an Agricultural Mechanization and Business Lecturer in which topics of machinery management and equipment safety are covered. In addition to his current duties, he now serves as the director of the Agricultural Safety Program for Clemson University. When Hunter began this role, there was no existing farm safety program in the state of South Carolina. Since March 2019, the program has seen significant growth and University support to include farm safety field days, safety demonstrations, and grain bin entrapment trainings for fire and rescue teams.

Kari Barbic, AFBF director of communications, leads executive communications for AFBF President Zippy Duvall. Kari has been with AFBF since 2014, where she has developed consumer messaging around key issues such as farm bill, sustainability, labor and rural broadband. Most recently, she has led public opinion polling, research efforts and message development on the Make America Healthy Again (or MAHA) movement. Kari was raised in the Central Valley of California, where her dad has worked in agriculture for nearly four decades. Now a Capitol Hill resident in D.C., she enjoys exploring the city with her pup Beatrice, spending time with her niece and nephews, and getting out to visit farm country as much as possible. Kari was previously a writer and editor at the Weekly Standard and Philanthropy magazine, and her writing has appeared in a variety of publications.

Shelley is the Agricultural Safety/AgrAbility Associate for South Carolina. She received her Bachelors of Science degree in agricultural mechanization and business from Clemson University in May of 2022. Following graduation, she moved directly into a graduate program. She graduated with her Masters Degree in agriculture from Clemson University in August 2023. Her work focused directly on the Agricultural Safety Program at Clemson and looked into agricultural safety education in school-based agricultural education programs throughout the state. In her current position, Shelley works through the safety program to host field days throughout South Carolina for high school aged students to provide them with needed agricultural safety education. The program also works with fire and rescue teams to train them  how to rescue someone who has been entrapped in grain with the use of the Grain Bin Entrapment Simulator that was built in the university's Agricultural Sciences Department.

Steven leads Clemson's Department of Plant Industry, which regulates the trade of nursery stock and the state's most problematic invasive species. In addition to leading the Department since 2015 and serving on several national plant regulatory committees, he is an active member of the Lexington County Farm Bureau Board and a past county president.