Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

New Farmers Market gets official start today

South Carolina’s agriculture chief plans to break ground for the new State Farmers Market at 10 a.m. today.

Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said a decade of wrangling over where to build the market at which farmers from across the state can sell their produce should be over.

Workers are clearing land for the new market on a 174-acre site along U.S. 321 about two miles south of Cayce.

If all goes as planned, the market should open before tomatoes, peaches and watermelons ripen in spring 2010, Weathers said. The state is paying $22.5 million, with private companies and Lexington County picking up any additional cost.

The current State Farmers Market stands across from Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.