By SCBIZ Staff

The state’s third Research, Agriculture, Industry, Nature Conference in January at the Clemson University’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence has helped the growth of a new state agricultural association and its mission of stimulating the S.C. farming industry and producing new products.

Previous conferences emphasized the growth of the nutraceuticals industry and the farming of produce for medicinal purposes, including the cultivation of muscadine grapes.

The most recent conference highlighted the expansion and development of the Carolina AgriSolutions Growers Association, a nonprofit cooperative formed in November 2006.

CASGA hopes to grow its membership and its connection with other associations, agencies and research institutions in the state to foster a unified, statewide approach to sustainable agriculture.

The group will continue to emphasize research in best management practices, product design, nutraceuticals and other non-traditional products as well as the marketing of S.C. agricultural products.

CASGA wants to expand niche agriculture businesses throughout the state, including the increasingly popular Muscadine Initiative , which educates farmers on the cultivation of muscadine grapes for nutraceuticals and other products.

Muscadines are hardy, disease-resistant grapes that have been used in neutraceuticals such as skin lotion. Some farmers are turning to muscadine farming as profits from other agricultural products, including tobacco, have begun to wane. An experimental muscadine vineyard has been planted at Clemson University’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence.

Greg Hyman, president of CASGA, is a fourth-generation Horry County farmer who is cultivating muscadine grapes on his farm along with other produce. Hyman and Myrtle Beach dermatologist Robert Bibb have partnered on the production of a high-end line of skin care products.

Participants at the recent RAIN Conference also heard presentations on agri-tourism and grant opportunities that could be available CASGA members for the development and sale of non-traditional products.