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Farmers cultivate crops for pharma industry |
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Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2  (Photos/Courtesy Pee Dee Research and Education Center) Dr. Robert Bibb
By Kathleen Dayton
CONWAY -- When Greg Hyman looks over his field of muscadine grapes, he sees blended drinks, fiber-rich foods and skin lotion.
Hyman is a fourth-generation farmer who lives south of Conway in Horry County, and has planted eight acres of the grapes after teaming up with Myrtle Beach dermatologist Dr. Robert Bibb in 1998, when Bibb approached him about growing produce for medicinal purposes.
Bibb had started a company called Dermacon, which produces a line of high-end skin care products called Ellage. Dermacon subsequently partnered with a marketing firm, Botanical Solutions, which began selling the skin care line DermEllage. The products are partly derived from raspberries, which have antioxidant compounds known to slow cancer cell growth.
“What we quickly discovered is that every plant has its medicinal value,” Hyman said. “Like Mama always said, ‘Eat your fruits and vegetables.’ So, we started researching the medicinal value of other plants that might be grown here.”
State agriculture experts say the variety of products that can be made from grapes and other fruits and vegetables has the potential to stimulate the farming industry and boost profits for farmers, including those who have suffered because of the tobacco market decline.
Val Dunham, a retired Coastal Carolina University plant biochemist, is a research consultant for Hyman and spends a couple of days a week on Hyman’s farm. Their focus has turned to muscadine grapes, which possess some of the same antioxidant compounds found in raspberries.
“Research at numerous universities has shown that the muscadine grape has these same compounds in higher concentration,” Dunham said. “Muscadines, as you know, are grown in the Southeast United States and they’re a very hardy grape. They’re very resistant to disease.”
Hyman was awarded a $275,000 United States Department of Agriculture Value-Added Grant to produce nutraceuticals—plant compounds with medicinal or dietary uses—from the grapes. Hyman Vineyards is expected to produce its first products within the year.
“We need to fill a niche that fits the middle-American consumer,” Hyman said.
He said he hopes to produce an affordable, grape-based skin lotion among other products, including four or five juice blends that would use grape juices and also leftover juices from some of the excess peach production in the state.
Hyman also foresees processing new products from other fruits and vegetables.
“The grape is the easiest to start with because it’s indigenous here and it has an established market with wine and juice,” he said. “People are aware of it.”
Jody Martin, a Clemson University Extension agent in Florence County, suggested that farmers could make more money if they became involved with the processing of products made from their crops.
“There’s more money made in agriculture commodities after they leave the farm,” Martin said. “We want to let growers buy into a processing facility in the future and have some branding, such as Welch’s grape juice and Florida orange juice. These are all successful cooperatives. This way, the grower can capitalize more by being a part of the processing and marketing arm of the operation. If the grower does not have the chance to buy into the processing facilities, his profits are limited.”
Martin hopes bigger profits will help stimulate the state’s farming industry. The state’s farmers are growing older, he said, and fewer young people are following in their footsteps.
“If we don’t do something to bring youth back into agriculture, we’re going to be in trouble,” Martin said. “The way to do that is to develop more profit for people in agriculture and to be more innovative in what we’re doing. We don’t want to be in a situation, as we are with oil and fuel, where we’re dependent on foreign countries.”
Martin and Hyman serve on the board of the Carolina Agri-Solutions Growers Association, a new cooperative that was formed in November. The statewide association has held several meetings at Clemson’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence and has drawn speakers from throughout the country.
Dunham, the plant biologist, said the small fruits and vegetables co-op is not limited to those interested in supplementing their crops with muscadine grapes.
“We’re hoping that farmers will be able to ensure markets for their crops via the association and will be able to say how everything is run,” Dunham said. “There are a lot of crops right now that we would call transition crops and obviously we’re hoping muscadines are a transition crop for the tobacco farmer.”
South Carolina farmers planted 75,000 acres of tobacco in 1976, compared with 22,000 acres planted in 2006, said Becky Walton of the state Department of Agriculture.
Some of the factors that have affected tobacco farmers include anti-smoking initiatives, competition from foreign growers and rising taxes.
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