Department of Agriculture seeks funds for food safety, inspectors, seafood marketing and agribusiness fund

A Department of Agriculture representative told the subcommittee the agency faces higher operating costs and reduced federal reimbursements and presented a package of recurring and nonrecurring requests to address program gaps.

The recurring requests included roughly $1,000,000 to help offset operating shortfalls tied to staff who are fee‑based, $860,000 to replace reduced Food and Drug Administration cooperative funding for food‑safety responsibilities, $580,000 to hire seven additional retail food inspectors (to maintain inspection ratios as retail locations grow) and $350,000 to expand seafood marketing under a certified South Carolina label. The representative said, "Farmers made good yields and poor markets," characterizing the current squeeze of production costs and weak market prices.

Among nonrecurring requests, the department asked to replenish the Growing Agribusiness Fund with $30,000,000 to support projects that increase processing capacity and rural economic development; the representative cited past investments in export facilities, forestry and poultry processing. The agency also requested about $750,000 in equipment to expand in‑house biological lab capacity and $2.5 million to develop an event space at the PD State Farmers Market.

Lawmakers pressed the agency on coordination with prior federal efforts for seafood country‑of‑origin tracing and on whether penalties or enforcement mechanisms will be available for seafood mislabeling; the department said it would work with DNR and other partners to verify chain of custody and would not promote businesses that falsely claim local catch. Members also discussed whether federal funding shortfalls could require future state supplementation; the department said multiple cooperative agreements were affected and that earlier supplemental requests had been approved in prior years.

Committee staff asked the department to provide follow‑up details about proviso language, current cooperative agreements and enforcement tools so lawmakers can evaluate the requests during the budget process. No vote was taken at the hearing.