SC’s McMaster signs farm preservation bill into law [Video]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — In an attempt to save family farms and reduce the amount of agricultural acreage now being lost to development, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ceremoniously signed into law on Tuesday, H.3951, the Working Agricultural Lands Preservation Act.

“Farmers are the backbone of our state, and as more businesses and people move here, we must find innovative ways to protect our state’s most valuable farmlands,” said McMaster. “This legislation provides farmers a cost-effective option to keep and pass down their families’ farms while ensuring that our state’s agriculture industry remains strong and our most precious natural resources aren’t lost forever to overdevelopment.”

In 2022, the American Farmland Trustreleased a report showing that South Carolina was at very high risk of loss of future farmland. According to the report, between 2001 and 2016, over 280,000 acres of farmland was lost to conversion — …