South Carolina breaks ground for a farmers market

COLUMBIA — South Carolina agriculture officials say the new State Farmers Market should be finished by the time the tomatoes and peaches ripen in late spring 2010.

Ground was broken on the new market Wednesday for the second time in two years. But Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers said the decade of wrangling over where to build the site should be over.

Workers have begun clearing land at the 174-acre site for the market on U.S. 321 in Lexington County about two miles from the end of Interstate 77. When it's done, farmers from across the state can sell their produce there.

Weathers said if all goes as planned, the market should open before the tomatoes, peaches and watermelons ripen at the end of spring 2010. The state is paying $22.5 million, with private companies and the county picking up any additional cost.

Weathers has grabbed a ceremonial shovel before. The state broke ground on a site in Richland County for the market in June 2006, but private vendors never got behind the plans and Weathers decided on the current location — in Columbia, across the street from Williams-Brice Stadium — more than a year later.

The dispute between the state and Richland County is now in court. The county sued because it wants back the land it gave the state for the site. The state wants the county to pay for $2.5 million of work done before the deal went bust.

The county has refused to pay, citing changes the state made, like building a pond on the property and lessening access to a rail line, making it harder to develop the land for a manufacturer or other industry, Richland County Councilman Mike Montgomery said.

"The 'improvements' they did are not worth anything if you don't put in a farmers market," Montgomery said.

The farmers market will have shopping other than just produce and a restaurant. The agriculture department also plans to move some of its offices and labs to the site. The new market will also include safety measures to avoid outbreaks of illness like salmonella and E. coli, Weathers said.

Weathers said he is confident there will be no snags with the Lexington County site and laughed when he was asked if there was any chance there might be a third groundbreaking.

"It's just exciting to finally see the fruits of our labor," Weathers said.

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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A farm labor contractor that employed a pregnant teenager who died of heat stroke while pruning grapes has given up its license to operate for three years.

Officials with California's Department of Industrial Relations announced Wednesday that Merced Farm Labor had surrendered its license Monday, three days before proceedings to revoke its license were to begin.

The state suspects the Atwater-based contractor failed to provide 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez proper access to shade and water before she collapsed May 14 near Stockton.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement saying California would enforce heat illness regulations strictly. The company's attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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