South Carolina State Office

Coronavirus and USDA Service Centers

Some USDA Service Centers in South Carolina will begin allowing in-person office visits by appointment only. Our program delivery staff will be in the office and work with our producers in person, by phone, by email, or by using other online tools. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business should call ahead to confirm the office’s status and make an appointment before visiting. Visitors will be pre-screened based on health concerns or recent travel and must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors may also be required to wear a face covering during their appointment.

Pandemic Assistance for Producers

USDA is committed to delivering financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers who have been impacted by COVID-19 market disruptions through our new initiative – USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers. Stay updated on announcements under the USDA Pandemic Assistance to Producers initiative at farmers.gov.

Pandemic Response and Safety Grants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will soon publish Requests for Applications (RFAs) for the Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grants program to support agricultural stakeholders who haven’t yet received substantial federal financial assistance in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. This grant program will provide assistance to small businesses in certain commodity areas, including small scale specialty crop producers, food processors, manufacturers, distributors and farmers markets.

Eligible entities should visit the PRS grant portal at usda-prs.grantsolutions.gov for complete information on the program, including how to obtain a free of charge DUNS Number from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) before applying for this program. Entities can submit their grant applications through the portal beginning September 23.

USDA Seeks Applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)

For more information, please visit the SC RD website at www.rd.usda.gov/sc.

Farm Bill

The Farm Bill Fact Sheet is now “live” online at What’s New: FSA and the 2018 Farm Bill.

Sign Up For FSA Fence Post for Daily Updates

The Farm Service Agency Fence Post is an online newsletter that is updated on an almost daily basis. It contains articles of interest on the agency's programs and departments, as well as success stories from the field. To access Fence Post, visit http://fsa.blogs.govdelivery.com/. Producers can sign up for weekly Fence Post updates by putting an email address in the box that says "Get Email Updates".