Column: Infrastructure law connects rural S.C. to new opportunities

No matter where we live, every one of us benefits from successful farmers and a strong rural economy. We all know farms put food on our tables. Farmers, livestock producers, private lands foresters and the communities to which they belong and support also contribute to our wellbeing in ways you might not think of immediately - from enhancing tourism to increasing national security.

Across rural South Carolina, we now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make dramatic gains in safety, health, education and the economy through President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Expanding our ability to export local farm products, repairing roads and bridges and extending high-speed internet to rural South Carolinians are some of the ways this historic $1.2 trillion investment in America will benefit our rural communities, and ultimately all of South Carolina.

Increasing the ability to export farm products is a valuable piece of the infrastructure bill. Timber products, the agribusiness that generates the highest annual revenue in our state, is already the No. 1 export by volume out of the Port of Charleston. Other agricultural products, such as soybeans and poultry, make up significant exports by volume out of the Port of Charleston. With a deep-water port in Charleston, we're in a prime position to meet the global demand for food and the need for humanitarian assistance, a need that could increase because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

To take advantage of export opportunities and provide the food and resources the U.S. and the world need, producers also require a transportation network of trains, trucks and inland distribution centers. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides funding that will increase our ability to move South Carolina farm products across the country and around the world.

Adequately funding work on roads and bridges has, for decades, been an issue in South Carolina. Though South Carolina is making progress, with the fourth-largest state-maintained road network in the nation, there's a significant amount of work left to do.

Good roads are an economic development concern, of course, because farm-to-market roads have always been important for delivering products to customers. But that's not just a concern for the farmers shipping out their harvest; potholes and unsafe bridges are also hazards for every school bus, car or truck that travels these roads.

South Carolina's rural roads were found to have the highest rate of rural traffic fatalities and significant rural road and bridge deficiencies by TRIP, a national safety transportation research nonprofit. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will deliver much-needed funds for road and bridge construction that will make us all safer.

As the state executive director of the Farm Service Agency in South Carolina, I travel the state and talk to agricultural producers. In these meetings, the need for internet access is always a hot topic. The lack of high-speed connectivity has long been a challenge in rural areas, making it hard to operate a business. During the pandemic, this digital gap was further highlighted as children living in rural areas of our state struggled to attend school online.

The infrastructure bill makes specific provisions to bring high-speed internet to homes and businesses in rural South Carolina - and to make it more affordable. What a difference it will make for residents of rural communities to be able to stay connected to their jobs, use the technology they need to run farms and businesses and have reliable access to telemedicine and distance learning!

As a member of a farm family, I know farming is hard work and full of risk even in the best of times. It's also essential. As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it is FSA's mission to help agricultural producers expand their businesses by providing access to much-needed capital through our direct and guaranteed loan programs and help them stay in business with coverage for non-insurable crops and disaster recovery assistance.

FSA takes pride in our work assisting the nation's farmers. President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is making investments that bring important opportunities to rural South Carolina, building new pathways to prosperity. When farmers and rural communities unlock opportunities for a better future, all of us are the better for it.

Laurie Funderburk is the state executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency in South Carolina. A resident of Kershaw County, she served in the South Caroline House of Representatives from 2004 to 2020.