Newberry farm benefits from agribusiness program.

Newberry County native Alicia Holbrook thought when she graduated from the University of South Carolina she would be wearing dresses and heels to work, not jeans and mud boots. But she turned a late-night idea into a family agribusiness.

Holbrook's farm, Carolina Pride Pastures, raises alpacas and llamas and sells products made from their wool. The farm is open for visitors for special events, and Holbrook plans to offer yurt camping soon. Yurts, portable round tents used by nomadic tribes in Asia for centuries, have now become trendy for camping.

Holbrook got the idea to raise alpacas on the family land while watching a television program on the animals when she was awake late one night with her infant daughter. Holbrook and her husband decided to give it a go.

While in business for the past few years, Holbrook has been expanding Carolina Pride Pastures with help from the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

She participated in a program for business innovators offered through the Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship and Clemson Extension Service, offered for the first time last year. Holbrook said the agribusiness program helped her scrap her original business plan and refocus it by offering more farm events, field trip educational programs and online product sales, which she said led to a dramatic increase in her business.

"If I had not gone through the program, I never would have seen the numbers on paper and realized there's a better way to do things," she said."When we first started the business, field trips were not part of our plan. We quickly learned that agritourism could be a huge revenue stream."

Holbrook partnered with another local farm, Lever Farms, on a field trip program. The businesses hosted 50 students in...