Certified Harris Farms opens market

Joe Perry / The Item Harris Farms is approved by the state Department of Agriculture as Certified SC Grown.

By JOE PERRY
Item Staff Writer
jperry@theitem.com

DALZELL — Sumter County’s newest farmer’s market opened Friday, and this market is right next to the farm.

Janie and Larry Harris of Harris Farms on Cotton Acres Road are proud of their state Department of Agriculture Certified S.C. Grown stamp of approval, a recent achievement for a duo that’s farmed for 15 years, with the last four seeing them branching out to produce. Janie Harris said a documentary about growing vegetables with untreated water spurred her to grow food she feels is healthier and more nutritious.

“I’ll grow as much of my own as I can,” she said. “Just because it’s fresh doesn’t mean it’s good for you.”

Harris said she’s spent the last four years trying to educate folks about the benefits of buying local vegetables, and realized she and her husband had a built in clientele all around them, foregoing the need to participate in the market near the Exhibition Center.

“Why haul it 13 miles when I can capture my neighbor’s right here,” she said on Friday behind a table overflowing with tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, eggplant, sweet corn, squash and bookended with crates of watermelons on one side and cantaloupes and honeydew on the other.

Friday’s turnout saw eager customers snapping up fruits and vegetables, and Harris said they sent out invitations to local churches to get the word out. Harris, a Clarendon County native, said she and her husband started farming two acres their first year and increased by two each year. Now they’re up to 18 acres. Both sing the praise of Lee County Clemson Extension Service Agent Randy Cubbage, as his expertise and experience have been invaluable.

Larry Harris said what’s he learned about farming in South Carolina was to expect hot and dry weather in June, which tends to parch and kill crops. The Clemson Extension Service recommended a drip irrigation system, he said, which has worked so well they are now demonstrators.

“It’s been a marked improvement,” he said. “It’s very effective. It’s the best thing I’ve done.”

Harris also built the market stand itself, which is really a small barn and holds a walk-in cooler. He’s seen big gains in their yields, he said, explaining that when he first started farming, he had no idea he could grow large watermelons. Sitting not five feet away from a display of healthy and heavy watermelons, he said “they came out really nice” this year.

“I didn’t know I could grow something like that,” he said, smiling.

Harris hopes the convenience concept catches on, and he thinks it will.

“It’s much easier to get it fresh off the farm,” he said, smiling again.



Contact Staff Writer Joe Perry at jperry@theitem.com or (803) 774-1272.



Harris Farms is located at 5160 Cotton Acres Road.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday

Phone: (803) 968-1370