According to the S.C. Department of Agriculture and the University of South Carolina, the “Certified SC grown” marketing campaign “could” create as many as 10,000 jobs and “could” have an economic impact of as much as $265 million on the Palmetto state’s economy.
Of course that’s assuming people are willing to listen to a bunch of talking vegetables insisting they purchase only South Carolina-grown food.
Not surprisingly, this “study” was paid for with your tax dollars. In fact, the S.C. Department of Agriculture spent $50,000 on it, which is no doubt why it reached the conclusions it did.
Seriously … when was the last time you recall a government study recommending there be less government?
Frankly, we’re surprised Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers felt compelled to incur this expense – particularly after his agency’s multimillion-dollar marketing campaign received a dedicated, recurring source of taxpayer funding ($2.7 million a year, to be precise) via the state’s recent cigarette tax hike.
Perhaps Weathers wants some good press so that his department can continue justifying its own existence (and his $92,000 a year salary) … which let’s face it is par for the course when it comes to South Carolina’s growing network of useless bureaucracies.
As we’ve mentioned on several occasions, the S.C. Department of Agriculture has no business existing, let alone running a PR campaign that primarily benefits one of the Palmetto State’s most liberal PR firms. In fact, along with Clemson University’s ridiculous “Public Service Activities” and South Carolina’s unfair farm subsidies program, taxpayers are shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars each year to “support” the agriculture industry.
Which leads us to our point …
Even if this study’s rosy projections were true, it is simply not government’s job to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. If farmers want to get together and market their products as “SC grown,” fine – just don’t ask us to pick up the tab.
Weathers, incidentally, is an appointee of “fiscally-conservative” S.C. governor Mark Sanford.
By @PerezHiltonSays September 7, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Fruity Men in spandex… Yahugh
By eb September 7, 2010 at 2:39 pm
“…assuming people are willing to listen to a bunch of talking vegetables…”
There for a second, I thought you were talking about our elected officials.
Ted “Cabbage Head” Vick is my elected Representative.
By fitsnews September 7, 2010 at 2:54 pm
eb,
Actually the talking vegetables make more sense … that’s what’s so sad …
-FITS
By MOHANNA September 7, 2010 at 4:04 pm
IF THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT IS SO EFFECTIVE, WHY CAN’T I BUY SOUTH CAROLINA GROWN TOMATOES FROM PIGGLY WIGGLY? They’re grown in Canada.
By Groundball September 7, 2010 at 5:50 pm
That’s one tomato who looks like he likes to get “stuffed”. Where in the world do idiots come from dressing like this? No wonder we have no legitimate choices for public office in this state.
By @PerezHiltonSays September 7, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Mohanna,
Let me be perfectly clear ok, Piggly Wiggly SUCKS, just like K-Mart
By fastmouth September 7, 2010 at 9:34 pm
The SCDA is as useless as it gets, just look at their market reporting program. They used to publish commodity prices in “The State” and other papers and now it’s only online. Those salaries need to be stopped. Let the producers do price discovery on their own, by going out to the local market, (livestock, produce, etc.) The market reporting system is biased and they know it.
By Tummy the Giraffe September 7, 2010 at 9:45 pm
The Dept. of Agri has several regulatory functions including the inspection of poultry products (eggs and meat), vegetables, and the calibration of gas pumps just to name a few. But their functions that ensure your food is safe to eat or that you actually get the amount of gas you pay for, is probably just useless regulation in some eyes.
By General Washington September 7, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Take away federal subsidies for wasteful agriculture, energy, and infrastructure programs. Free market my ass.
By Silence Dogood September 8, 2010 at 11:31 am
Whether a tomato is technically a fruit or a vegetable can be up for debate, but the guy at the microphone is definitely a fruit.
By How long.... October 1, 2010 at 5:12 pm
I wonder how long Mr. Giraffe thinks a farm(or grocery store) that sold unsafe food would stay in business….
I love how great a job is done to “protect us”…I seem to remember a person dying from food poisoning in a restaurant in blythewood a few years back and learning the restaurant went out of business a couple of months later….
Looks like the market solved that problem…certainly it wasn’t the gov’t.
I’ve lived off of vegetables in my garden(uninspected!) during the summer for years now and I can’t ever remember any of them making me sick…huh….I guess I’m just lucky or maybe we really don’t need “inspectors” for something that would be resolved on its own if it were a problem to begin with….