South Carolina

South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and 23rd most populous U.S. state. Its GDP as of 2013 was $183.6 billion, with an annual growth rate of 3.13%.[6] South Carolina is composed of 46 counties. The capital is Columbia with a 2016 population of 134,309; while its largest city is Charleston with a 2016 population of 134,385. The Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin metropolitan area is the largest in the state, with a 2016 population estimate of 884,975. State Department of Agriculture Agriculture has been the base of South Carolina’s economy since the settlement of the American colonies. The native Americans grew beans, pumpkins, onions, melons, and maize, and British colonists brought indigo, cotton, tobacco, ginger root, cattle and hogs.South Carolina’s top ten commodities are: broilers, turkeys, greenhouse nurseries, cotton, corn, cattle, soybeans, peanuts, eggs, and wheat. The state has about 25,000 farms, which encompass 4.9 million acres. Forests cover two-thirds of the land in the state. South Carolina agriculture is worth $3 billion annually, between crops and livestock. www.agriculture.sc.gov