Danny Ford II pictured on his family's farm in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. (Courtesy of Danny Ford II's campaign)
Danny Ford II, son of Clemson University’s first national championship football coach, says a crisis at his family farm fueled his bid to lead South Carolina’s Department of Agriculture.
Ford, 40, launched his campaign Monday at Upstate Livestock Exchange in Williamston, a livestock auction house in Anderson County. The announcement makes him the fourth Republican vying to replace retiring Commissioner Hugh Weathers.
The Ford family has raised cattle in Central since his father, legendary coach Danny Ford, acquired the Pickens County farm in 1982.
Last year, they lost about a quarter of their cattle due to blue-green algae, which can quickly sicken and kill livestock that swallow the toxins that bloom in water. The younger Ford said he came closer than ever to quitting the job he’s done all his life.
Friends helped the family survive the rough year. But Ford said he felt that if a crisis like that could threaten his farm’s survival, other farmers need help too.
“There’s nothing like you’re having a problem on a farm and somebody pulls through that gate to help you,” he told the SC Daily Gazette. “That’s what I want to do for other people.”
Ford, 40, said he felt God telling him after that crisis to make his first run for elected office. The timing seemed right, he said, with the departure of Weathers, who’s not seeking re-election after almost 22 years at the agency’s helm.
In addition to raising cattle in Central, Ford has a 180,000-square-foot greenhouse on the family farm in Travelers Rest, north of Greenville, where he grows plants including hemp, a cousin of marijuana.
The elder Ford was among the first 20 farmers statewide selected to grow hemp on a maximum 20 acres each in the state’s pilot program.
Under that 2017 state law, the program doubled in 2019 to 40 permits farming 40 acres each. But in the wake of the 2018 federal farm bill that legalized the crop nationwide, the Legislature passed another law in March 2019 that deleted the constraints and allowed the state Department of Agriculture to issue licenses to any farmer who met the legal criteria.
Ford said hemp is a crop that can get young people excited about farming at a time when the industry is struggling to recruit the next generation. He touted his first-hand understanding of the plant, saying his experience as a hemp grower makes him more qualified to lead the department that licenses hemp farmers.
Hemp was supposed to benefit SC farmers. Many have ditched the crop.
Legislators envisioned hemp as a year-round money-maker for a variety of uses, including clothing, rope, textiles and even paper. What they didn’t foresee is an industry of hemp products infused with THC, the compound in cannabis that gets people high, to make intoxicating beverages and other consumables.
That industry has largely bypassed South Carolina farmers. Many have ditched the crop.
Proposals to regulate or ban intoxicating hemp products are being debated in both the House and Senate this year.
In his race for commissioner, Ford said he hopes to help South Carolina’s farmers in the same way that his dad helped elevate the state’s reputation in college football.
On Jan. 1, 1982, the elder Danny Ford, then just 33, led the Clemson Tigers to their first-ever national championship victory. He resigned in January 1990.
Danny Ford II joins three other Republicans in the race.
Last year, Weathers endorsed Fred West of Batesburg-Leesville, an agency marketing director and former executive at the poultry processing company Amick Farm.
Last month, Clarendon County farmer Jeremy Cannon launched his bid for the job. Then last week, Cody Simpson announced his bid. He’s endorsed by his former bosses, Gov. Henry McMaster and President Donald Trump. Simpson was appointed by the Trump administration last May as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s executive director for South Carolina.
Ford said he decided to run for commissioner before Simpson jumped in. Trump’s backing of a competitor didn’t deter him, he said.
He’s running as an outsider.
“I’m not tied in,” he said. “I don’t answer to anybody on that system.”
After Simpson entered the race, West posted to Facebook on Thursday that he was challenging Simpson “and any other candidates” to a series of debates.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
