The Future of Your Farm Program

September 12, 2023

Reid Miller

Area Livestock & Forages Agent

The future of your Farm Program attendees.

With help from the Greenwood Soil and Water Conservation District and the Upper Savannah Land Trust, our program titled “The Future of Your Farm” was held on April 20th, 2023, at the Connie Maxwell Oasis Farm in Greenwood, SC. This program was developed due to the current issues the agricultural community in South Carolina is facing. The number of farms has been decreasing and the average age of the farmer has been increasing for years. However, due to the current economic climate, housing developments and land prices have been increasing at a rapid pace in certain rural areas of the Piedmont Region consuming farmland in the process as heirs sell inherited land and assets from relatives who have passed on. The Future Of Your Farm had these goals in mind: informing farmers and landowners of the current climate in the real estate market, about land easements and other conservation programs, and about agricultural taxes and how to transition the land from one owner to the next. Our speakers Lonnie Gillespie (Greenwood Soil and Water Conservation District), Wade Harrison (Upper Savannah Land Trust), and Adam Kantrovich (Clemson Cooperative Extension) did a great job informing the audience of the current issues and how to protect their land and resources for future generations. We had a great turnout at our first meeting with twenty-eight people attending from five counties in South Carolina. Be on the lookout for the next meeting of this series coming later this year.