The South Carolina Grower provides current fruit, vegetable, and other specialty crop news from around South Carolina. Visit regularly for field updates, pest alerts, meeting announcements, and more. 

Clemson Extension employs Extension Agents who work closely with state extension specialists and researchers located on campus and at research and education centers across the state. Your local Extension Agents provide expertise in Agronomic Crops, Economic & Community Development, Food Safety & Nutrition, 4-H, Horticulture, Livestock & Forages, and Forestry and Natural Resources. For more information, visit the Clemson Extension Homepage.

Extension Fruit and Vegetable Agents

Coastal Region

Zack Snipes is the commercial horticulture agent for the coastal region, based out of Charleston. The major crops in his region include tomatoes, watermelons, blueberries, and there are many highly diversified farms that supply the booming Charleston and Savannah restaurant industries. Zack organizes several on-farm trials and field days each year, helping growers improve their diverse operations. He is also active in the Schoolyard Gardens for SC Educators Program. He can be reached at zbsnipe@clemson.edu.

Midlands

Rob Last joined Clemson Extension in 2020 and is based out of Lexington County. He is the Fruit and Vegetable Agent for the Midlands area. Rob works with commercial horticulture growers on a range of field vegetables and fruit crops. He is also part of the urban horticulture team assisting homeowners with their gardening questions. Rob’s specialty is soil fertility and plant nutrition. He can be reached at rlast@clemson.edu.

Phillip Carnley joined Clemson Extension in 2021 and is based out of Orangeburg County. He is the Commercial Horticulture Agent for Orangeburg and Calhoun Counties. Phillip works with commercial horticulture growers on a range of field vegetables and fruit crops. Major crops there include cabbage, peaches, cucumbers, strawberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, and sweet potato. He is also involved with on-farm trials looking to improve insect and disease control practices. He can be reached at pcarnle@clemson.edu.

Sarah Scott is the commercial horticulture agent for Edgefield and Aiken Counties. She works with produce growers in these counties and surrounding areas on several crops, including peaches, bell peppers, broccoli, strawberries, squash, potatoes, greens, and asparagus. Sarah conducts on-farm trials, hands-on workshops, and pesticide classes for this area. She is also a member of Clemson’s Peach Team. She can be reached at oswald@clemson.edu.

Pee Dee

Brittney King started with Clemson Extension in 2023 and is based in Florence County. She is the Commercial Horticulture agent for Williamsburg, Darlington, Chesterfield, and Florence counties. She works with a variety of vegetable and fruit crops in the area including tomatoes, cucurbits, okra, cabbage, peaches, and strawberries. Brittney is also a member of Clemson’s Peach Team. She can be reached at bking@clemson.edu

Upstate

Briana Naumuk started with Clemson Extension in 2023 and is based out of Oconee County. She is the Area Horticulture Agent for Oconee, Anderson, and Pickens counties. She works with a variety of fruit and vegetable crops in the area. She is also a part of the Urban Horticulture team, helping homeowners troubleshoot lawn and garden issues. Briana can be reached at bnaumuk@clemson.edu.

Andy Rollins is the commercial horticulture agent serving the upstate and is based out of Spartanburg. He has over two decades of experience with fruit and vegetable crops and spends a considerable amount of time working with peach, strawberry, and blackberry producers. Andy conducts numerous on-farm research trials each year and regularly teaches education classes for commercial fruit and vegetable producers. He can be reached at prollin@clemson.edu.

Statewide

Justin Ballew has been with Clemson Extension since 2015. He is the Extension Fruit and Vegetable Research Associate stationed at the Sandhill Research and Education Center in Columbia. He conducts research in fruit, vegetable, and nut crops to study pesticide efficacy, varietal differences, and the effects of different management techniques. He most commonly works with brassicas, cucurbits, strawberries, and pecans. He can be reached at ballew3@clemson.edu.

Lacy Barnette joined Clemson Extension in July 2023. She is the Leafy Greens Extension Associate for the Climate-Smart Grown in SC project. She is located at the Sandhills Research and Education Center in Columbia. Her work focuses on soil health, particularly the use of cover crops, reduced tillage, and mulching in vegetable production. As part of the Climate-Smart Grown in SC project, she works primarily with collards, kale, turnips, and mustards. She can be contacted at lmbarne@clemson.edu.

Tom Bilbo joined Clemson in December 2021 as an assistant professor of vegetable & strawberry entomology. He is located at the Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston. His research and Extension activities focus on developing biological control strategies for key pests of vegetables and strawberries, which includes habitat management, improving insecticide use, and managing insecticide resistance. He most commonly works with fruiting vegetables, leafy greens, and strawberries. He can be contacted at tbilbo@clemson.edu.

Kevin Burkett has been with Clemson Extension since 2020. Working as an Extension Associate for the Clemson Agribusiness team, he provides farm management programming for horticulture producers. This includes marketing, business records, financial analysis, enterprise budgeting and tax education. He also runs a monthly SC Ag Disruptors webinar series with colleague Scott Mickey. He can be reached at kburke5@clemson.edu.

Matthew Cutulle joined Clemson University in the fall of 2016. Dr. Cutulle is an assistant professor of weed science located at the Clemson Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston. His research and extension interests include herbicide evaluations in vegetable crops, anaerobic soil disinfestation, robotic weed control, and ecology of weed crop competition in stressed environments. He can be contacted at mcutull@clemson.edu.

Anthony (Tony) Keinath has been with Clemson Extension since 1991. He is the state vegetable disease specialist and a professor of plant pathology stationed at the Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston. He conducts research on vegetable crops to study fungicide efficacy, host plant resistance, and the effects of cultural practices on disease development, crop yield, and pathogen survival in soil. He most commonly works with cucurbits (focusing on watermelon), leafy brassica greens, and fruiting vegetables. He can be reached at tknth@clemson.edu.

Cory Tanner is Clemson Extension’s Horticulture Program Team Leader and provides statewide programmatic leadership to extension agents working in horticultural food crops (commercial fruit and vegetable production) and urban horticulture (school & community gardening, consumer horticulture, and the ornamental nursery and landscape industry). He delivers educational programs and consultation services and shares home gardening advice, teaches Master Gardener lessons, and writes horticultural columns and fact sheets. He can be reached at shannt@clemson.edu.