COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - 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.

Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers and others will break
ground on the new market Wednesday morning. The 174-acre site is
off U.S. 321 in Lexington County about two miles from the end of
Interstate 77.

Weathers says the new market will have a restaurant that serves
South Carolina-grown food and shops that sell stuff other than
produce. It also will have several measures to keep food from being
contaminated with things like salmonella and E. coli.

Weathers also was at a groundbreaking for a new State Farmers
Market in Richland County in June 2006, but the deal fell through.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)