Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

USDA invests $63.3M in 26 projects across SC

Molly Hulsey //February 7, 2022//

USDA invests $63.3M in 26 projects across SC

Molly Hulsey //February 7, 2022//

Listen to this article

Clemson University, the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce, a hemp-growing operation and several rural solar arrays are a few of 26 projects bolstered with recent loan guarantees and grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The $63.3 million in funding, distributed among business loan guarantees, included value-added producer grants, Rural Community Development Grants and Microentrepreneur Assistance Program Grants. The USDA selected enterprises in need of funding to hire more workers, reach new customers and overcome historic finance barriers, according to the agency.

“These projects will help boost South Carolina’s rural communities by creating good-paying jobs and improving the economy for people and businesses in rural areas,” Saundra Glover, USDA’s state director for South Carolina, said in a news release.  “When rural America succeeds, we all succeed.”

Projects include:

  • Clemson University received a $135,300 Rural Community Development Grant to help provide technical assistance to rural cooperatives and mutually owned businesses through the South Carolina for Cooperative and Enterprise Development
  • The Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce was awarded an $86,217 Microentrepreneur Assistance Program grant which will allow them to provide technical assistance to rural micro-entrepreneurs or microenterprises. These funds and matching funds to offset costs of workshops and meetings and to help potential clients with feasibility studies and business and marketing plans.
  • American Tool and Die Inc. was guaranteed a $2.5 million Business and Industry Loan for the purchase of a manufacturing facility in Swansea
  • Gunsight Solar LLC received a $25 million Business and Industry Loan Guarantee for the purchase and installation of a Lexington County solar array expected to have the capacity to power 17,310 homes in the county
  • Beulah Solar LLC accepted a $15.2 million loan guarantee for the purchase and installation of a Batesburg solar array expected to have the capacity to power 16,591 homes in the county
  • Gem Yield LLC received a $6.8 million Business and Industry Loan Guarantee to build an industrial hemp growing operation and greenhouse facility on 20 acres in Early Branch
  • Winyah Hotel Holdings plans to use its $10 million Business and Industry Loan Guarantee investment in the construction of a 56-room independent hotel and restaurant in Georgetown’s historical district

Recipients of Value-Added Producer Grants include:

  • Spade and Glover Gardens LLC
  • Marshview Farm
  • Seaside Grown LLC
  • CHI Design Indigo LLC
  • Hollow Creek Mushrooms LLC
  • Yon Family Farms Inc.
  • Happy Cow Creamery Inc.
  • Setzler Holdings LLC
  • Marvin’s Produce LLC
  • Cotton Hills Farm LLC
  • Bravo Steaks LLC
  • R&W Farms
  • Toms Creeks Family Farm LLC
  • Hickory Bluff LLC
  • Common Joy LLC
  • Kindlewood Farms LLC
  • Spear T Cattle LLC
  • Hoss Farms Hodge LLC
  • Microledon Farm.