Category: York

Finding a facility to harvest and process your livestock is a challenge for producers of any scale. This challenge has been exasperated by labor shortages and increased local meat demand. Fortunately, an exemption for small-scale poultry producers allows them to harvest and sell their meat.

Many South Carolinians bought poultry during the pandemic as a hobby and our call volume regarding poultry harvest and processing has certainly increased. To safely and humanely process chicken requires hands-on training. This can be a complex skill and is certainly not something you’d try to handle “virtually”.

Through an extension innovation grant, we have secured funding to put together a mobile processing unit. This consists of an enclosed trailer that houses the necessary equipment to teach producers on-farm the proper practices of processing. We are still outfitting the trailer but have planned its first two outings. We will use the mobile processing unit at a “train the trainer” meeting and then will offer a poultry processing workshop to the public on November 11th. The goal of the mobile processing unit is to educate producers of any size on humane harvest, efficient processing, safe food handling, good marketing practices, and even some good cooking recipes.

I anticipate a busy fall with livestock shows, cattlemen meetings, and our extension workshops. Thank you for your support of Clemson Extension.

Since its inception, the Cooperative Extension Service has served community needs as they grow and change. Recently the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) and Clemson Extension partnered to bring a crucial job skills training to inmates that are within one year of scheduled release. The program provides training to persons wishing to rehabilitate themselves and provides skilled labor to a growing labor market deficiency in South Carolina’s green industry.

The SCDOC recruited 40 inmates to participate in the South Carolina Certified Landscape Professional Program. The course lasted ten weeks, and participants received instruction in basic horticultural skills such as soil conditioning, weed management, turf grass management, and integrated pest management concepts to reduce pesticide use. There was a total of four sites that participated via zoom to observe the lectures. Most participants were engaged and asked multiple questions, including how this certification can help them to find gainful employment. The project was funded by an internal grant from Clemson University Cooperative Extension. We are working with SCDOC to seek grant opportunities to sustain the project and offer it to a broader inmate audience.

Please click here to see what the local York County Extension Agents are doing: York County Winter 2022 Newsletter

I’ve been busy helping several new small-sized farms across the upstate get established and prepare for planting next spring. I have also assisted with a nematode survey of all the upstate peach farms in conjunction with Churimani Kanal, Ph.D., and his graduate student and will continue this work next year.

As the principal investigator in a trial looking at a frost freeze protection product from Washington State University. It is a cellulose nano-crystal product intended to protect the fruit from freezing temperatures. It has been shown to protect cherry trees from temperatures of 10⁰F to 13⁰F, which could be revolutionary if the technology can be adapted to peach production here in the upstate.

An annual regional blackberry meeting was held in Savannah, Georgia, with over 50 participants and a peach meeting was held on January 22, 2022 that successfully attracted over 50 participants.  Also, my annual strawberry meeting will be on February 24, 2022, and the annual vegetable meeting will be held on March 24, 2022. I have also co-organized a statewide peach meeting held online on March 10, 2022. I am very thankful for all the farms in the upstate counties I serve.

Andy Rollins, Upstate Commercial Fruit & Vegetable Agent

I’ve been busy helping several new small-sized farms across the upstate get established and prepare for planting next spring. I also assisted with a nematode survey of all the upstate peach farms in conjunction with Churimani Kanal, Ph.D., and his graduate student. This work will continue next year.

As the principal investigator in a trial looking at a frost freeze protection product from Washington State University. It is a cellulose nano-crystal product intended to protect the fruit from freezing temperatures. It has been shown to protect cherry trees from temperatures of 10⁰F to 13⁰F, which could be revolutionary if the technology can be adapted to peach production here in the upstate.

An annual regional blackberry meeting was held in Savannah, Georgia, with over 50 participants and a peach meeting was held on January 22, 2022 that successfully attracted over 50 participants. Also, my annual strawberry meeting will be on February 24, 2022, and the annual vegetable meeting will be held on March 24, 2022. I have also co-organized a statewide peach meeting held online on March 10, 2022. I am very thankful for all the farms in the upstate counties I serve.

The Water Resources Team continues to provide a variety of resources for SC residents. While questions about ponds may slow down over the winter, maintenance continues to be important. For example, aeration can protect fish by helping prevent your pond’s surface from completely freezing over (see picture). During the last few months, we also expanded our series of Land Grant Press articles related to ponds: Ponds in South Carolina, Recreational Ponds in SC, An Introduction to Stormwater Ponds in SC, and Pond Weeds: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment Options. Dates for the 2022 Upstate Healthy Pond Series should be announced soon, please keep an eye on the Clemson Extension Events Calendar for more information.

The Water Team also developed several programs to inform and empower residents throughout the state. If you rely on a septic tank to manage your household’s wastewater, the Be Septic Safe website offers a wide range of information on maintenance and repairs. For agricultural water users, the Center Pivot Irrigation Test (CPIT) program offers cost-effective evaluation of the irrigation uniformity to help safe money, maximize crop yield, and efficiently utilize natural resources.

 Upcoming events include the official launch of the CPIT program at the Irrigation Workshop and Tradeshows (Free! 2/14 @8:30am in Blackville, SC; and 2/22 @ 8:30am in Florence, SC) and a Stream Restoration Workshop and Training ($20, April 19-20 in Columbia area). Our free Adopt-A-Stream volunteer water quality monitoring training is available on various dates. Registration for the Spring 2022 Post-Construction BMP Inspector certification and re-certification will be announced soon.

Summertime for a livestock agent means early morning farm visits under shade trees and retreating to the air-conditioned office during the hot afternoon. Working on publications for the Land Grant Press and our blogs was an excellent way to escape the oppressive summer heat. The much-appreciated office time also allowed me to develop several rental kits to promote better use of resources for livestock and forage producers. I put together a rotational grazing toolbox containing all the necessary but uncommon components to begin better grazing methods. These kits have served as a gateway for farmers “on the fence” about using temporary electric fencing in a rotational grazing system. Other kits include a small legume spreader to promote the establishment of clovers, a GPS guidance system to promote the more accurate application of fertilizer, herbicides, seeds, and pesticides, and a plot sprayer for small, new farmers. Aside from providing a piece of equipment, the most significant benefit is developing a relationship with clients and a foothold for adding another improved practice to their farm. The necessity of these tools became apparent with the “zoom boom” or the influx of people moving into the area to escape the cities and try their hand at farming. Many of the necessary farming tools are cost-prohibitive for small or beginning farmers, and this was an excellent opportunity to meet their needs and offer an educational opportunity.

While I’m excited to see the summer heat fade away to fall, I’m even more excited about our upcoming livestock and forage programs. I look forward to seeing everyone at the Cattlemen Association meetings and anticipate good attendance for our hands-on fencing workshops. In addition, I’m offering a hay marketing workshop and a fescue fertility workshop. I’ve been working with other agents for several months to put together a course that outlines the fundamentals of beef cattle production. This course targeted beginners and those that have had cattle for a while. This is a direct response to requests from our new farmers, but I know many veteran cattle producers will find it helpful to evaluate some of the foundations of our beef industry.

Thank you so much for being so supportive, and please reach out to me with any feedback so that we can continue to develop a program to serve our county better.

Chris LeMaster, Cherokee-Spartanburg-York Counties Livestock & Forage Agent

Andy Rollins is the commercial fruit and vegetable Agent serving five counties in the upstate: Cherokee, Greenville, Spartanburg, Union, and York. He has also assisted growers from across multiple states this past year.  He has several research projects that he has been helping with or has been leading:

He’s involved with conducting on-farm research trials of sun-protectant materials for peaches. Bacterial canker is the disease he has been concerned about with this study and is learning what factors affect the infection.  Grant money was provided by the SC Peach Council last year, and he continued some aspects of it this growing season.

• Hehe Wang established a bacterial spot survey across the entire state. Rollins assisted with one of these surveys on a commercial farm, on which we installed a weather station. Leaf and disease samples were also regularly collected as part of the study.
• He established a trial looking at bloom and fruit thinning products used on the farm with Dr. Juan Carlos-Melgar. The trial was repeated with different equipment and times during the day, allowing him to learn the differences between the two different varieties.  We are planning to repeat this trial in the coming growing season.
• He assisted Dr. Churamani Kanal and one of his students with a nematode survey of a few farms in the upstate area. We still have many farms to finish taking that data from as he wants to survey as many growers as possible.
• He assisted with establishing and rating two different herbicide trials in partnership with Dr. Wayne Mitchem of North Carolina State University and Chris Holmberg. In one of those cases, a cooperating grower will be changing his use of herbicides based on those results as the new product did show superior ratings to the grower standard.

Rollins has the responsibility of conducting commercial production meetings for commercial fruit and vegetable producers in the upstate.  He also helped with a commercial strawberry program from another state, held an online zoom meeting for small fruit producers, and held a commercial peach production meeting this past winter.  There were many other online meetings that he assisted with and advertised to growers of other crops.  At these meetings, we shared research learned over the past year and any pertinent industry information.

The 2022 commercial peach production meeting will be Thursday, January 20^th, the commercial strawberry production meeting on the 3rd or 4th week of February, and the commercial vegetable production meeting on the 3^rd or 4^th week of March.  Once dates are confirmed, growers will be notified via the respective mailing lists.  If you are interested in being added to this distribution list, please contact Kim Dillard at (864) 596-2993 or kdllrd@clemson.edu.

An essential part of his duties is to address grower-specific production problems conducted via on-site visits. He made every effort to keep himself and others safe by abiding by Clemson University’s COVID-19 guidelines.  He is so thankful for his job and the opportunity to serve upstate fruit and vegetable producers.  He appreciates everyone for supporting Clemson University Cooperative Extension.

Andy Rollins, Upstate Commercial Fruit & Vegetable Agent