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Clemson Creating “Lab for the Future” of Agribusiness

While we frequently talk about the various growth industries in our state such as automotive, aerospace, and healthcare, agriculture remains an important part of South Carolina’s economy. An Upstate university, in fact, is working hard to develop, test, and help implement new technologies for increasing productivity and decreasing costs in the agribusiness sector. Mike Switzer interviews Mallory Douglass with the Clemson University Center for Agricultural Technology, known as CU-CAT.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.