By admin 
If South Carolinians cast their vote for governor June 23, they’ll also be able to vote for the state’s next agriculture commissioner on their Republican ballot.
Read more Lexington police locates body with clothing consistent with missing woman
It’s the first change in leadership of the state’s Department of Agriculture in more than two decades. Hugh Weathers, who announced his retirement last year, has overseen the state’s largest industry sector since 2004.
Danny Lee Ford II and Cody Simpson easily secured the first and second finishes in the four-candidate Republican primary. About one percentage point separated the two-top vote-getters, setting up a competitive runoff election June 23.
The winner will compete with Democratic nominee DeShawn Blanding in November.
Here’s more about the two candidates running for the Republican nomination.
What is their experience?
Simpson grew up on his family century farm in Clarendon County, growing row crops. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Francis Marion University.
He later worked in Gov. Henry McMaster’s office as an executive assistant and was appointed as the state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in May 2025 by the Trump administration.
“I’m just being called home now, and I want to give back to my state, and I think my mantra has always been, when I left my family farm to go to college, what I had to reason with myself is how can I bring the resources back to the family farm, and every decision I’ve ever made in my life … I always thought about that,” Simpson said.
Simpson is also the owner Home Branch Properties, according to a campaign finance disclosure report.
Ford is a cattle and hemp farmer in the Upstate, he told The State in a February interview. His father, a former national championship winning Clemson football coach, was one of the first 20 industrial hemp farmers in the state in 2017.
Ford said “100%” of his pay comes from agriculture. His only source of personal income listed was from Northside Greenhouse, according to a campaign finance disclosure report.
“What I make and put in my pocket is what I make off this land,” Ford said.
Ford also said he worked for a veterinarian for 15 years and has insight into livestock health concerns, like screwworm infections in Texas.
Who endorsed them?
President Donald Trump endorsed Simpson before he announced his candidacy, posting “RUN, CODY, RUN!” on TruthSocial in February. McMaster also backed Simpson and donated to his campaign.
Ford said he had the support of his family and was running a “grassroots” campaign. Fred West, who came in fourth in the GOP primary, also endorsed Ford in the runoff.
Where do they stand on issues?
In interviews with The State, both candidates brought up supporting small farms, reducing regulation and finding new avenues for farmers to sell their products as top issues facing agriculture.
“Fuel prices are so high, fertilizer prices are so high, the list just goes on and on,” Ford said. “Whenever I get started on it, I feel bad, because by the end of the conversation, I know I left someone out.”
Preserving farm land
As more people move into South Carolina, preserving the culture of rural areas is important, Simpson said. Overdevelopment and preserving farmland for future generations is an issue both candidates addressed.
“I realize the next generation is in trouble, and I would not have been prepared to take this step in my life until I had a one and a four-year-old, and I was seeing what we’re leaving to these kids, with the data centers and the solar and the overdevelopment,” Ford said. “These kids that are coming up in farming have way different adversaries than I did coming up in farming, and I don’t know that I could have beat them.”
Simpson said he opposed China owning land in the state.
“Food security is national security”
Simpson and Ford echoed the same phrase in separate interviews with The State: Food security is national security.
“A part of our culture in South Carolina has everything to do with food and how it’s grown, and I think it’s very important that we protect it because our food security is a matter of national security,” Simpson said.
As both candidates see it, South Carolina should do a better job of connecting local farmers to consumers. More food eaten in South Carolina should be grown in the state, they said.
Read more Texas company won’t build data center in SC community. Here’s why:
“We have to saturate South Carolina with South Carolina grown food and have a little bit of sustainability for the next generation, because if there’s a problem in China, with Indonesia and Canada and Mexico, that’s going to directly affect our food security, and our food security is national security,” Ford said.
Ford said he thinks the state should run an app or digital list of producers in the state, so people know where to buy local. Simpson also said farmers need more places to sell their products.
“I want to see our state have a little bit bigger of a hand in that, and I would like for the app that they have to list every roadside stand in market,” Ford said. “I’d like for it to list a live inventory for producers.”
Both Ford and Simpson also said South Carolina schools should serve milk produced in the state. They were concerned about the shrinking number of dairy farms in the state, only 18.
“I want to work to bring milk back to those schools,” Simpson said. “I don’t want it shipped in or railed in or on some boat. I want it to come from South Carolina farms.”
Focus on small farms
Small farms in South Carolina dominated the attention of both Simpson and Ford’s campaign.
“Our food supply is getting even more consolidated,” Simpson said. “Our small producers are being really left out of that equation in many facets, in many cases.”
Ford said big agriculture businesses have hurt small farmers in South Carolina. Recruiting in the state should focus on more small agriculturists, like mobile processors, he said during a May 5 South Carolina Farm Bureau debate.
“We have got to stop letting big business come in and take over our farms,” Ford said during the debate. “It’s out of hand.”
Restoring farm infrastructure
Simpson said dwindling infrastructure is the largest issue facing farmers in South Carolina today. For example, the state’s last soybean crushing plant closed last year. Simpson’s family farm grows soybeans and other row crops.
Simpson said the department can help farmers leverage new technology, like drones, to cut costs.
Ford also said there is a need for more affordable infrastructure for farmers, like local beef processing facilities.
Cut or help farmers navigate regulation
Ford and Simpson both said they want to look at eliminating regulations he deems unnecessary or overly burdensome and help farmers navigate federal or essential requirements.
“I say often, if you eat or drink it, they regulate it, so we’ve got to get in that mindset: instead of being a regulator, how can we be more of an advocate?” Simpson said.
Ford said there is a fine line in regulations that keep customers safe and rules that just harm farmers.
“If it’s something that is hurting the farmer and not affecting the consumer, I don’t see that that needs to be in place,” Ford said.
Both candidates said burdensome regulations can deter people from farming or expanding their business.
“If I’m planting anything, I have to go through an inspection, and if people are hit with regulatory every time they turn around, they’re just going to choose not to do it, and that’s what’s happened,” Ford said.
Read more State agency, Richland County OK more than $13 million to expand riverfront preserve