South Dakota

Hot topics in agriculture discussed at South Dakota Governor’s Agricultural Summit

Published

2 years ago

June 15, 2024

Hot topics in agriculture discussed at South Dakota Governor’s Agricultural Summit

HURON, S.D. — The South Dakota Governor’s Agricultural Summit was held June 12 and 13 at the South Dakota State Fairgrounds in Huron, South Dakota. Industry and business leaders from across the state came together to discuss pressing issues within agriculture and shed some light on the state’s No. 1 industry.

“We do (agriculture) better than anybody else in the world and we do it better in South Dakota than anybody else in the country. We have, in South Dakota, more cows per people than any other state. So that’s a good thing to maintain,” South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem told the audience. “We like that about 95% of our South Dakota farms are still family owned and family operated, which is something I’m very proud of. And ag contributes over $32 billion to our economy in our state. About 30% of our economic output comes from the agriculture industry. When ag prospers, all of South Dakota prospers.”

Noem made an appearance to present the 2024 Governor’s Ag Ambassador award to this year’s recipient and longtime WNAX radio newsman, Jerry Oster, from Yankton, South Dakota. Noem also highlighted the importance of the work that goes into agricultural policy and how that affects the state’s farmers and ranchers.

“I’ve been working on policy for over 30 years and for me, it’s been a very different type of discussion than I think some people have when they look at ag policy. From my time first serving on committees and working on commissions in Washington, D.C., in my twenties, it’s been a national security issue,” Noem said. “One of the things I would hope that when we leave here, we remember the bigger goal is that it’s about how we feed the world and that’s important. We also have our policies, our programs, farm bills, in place to keep a safety net out there so that we have a lot of farmers and ranchers that can be successful and keep our No. 1 industry strong and safe.”

Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian and executive secretary of the South Dakota Animal Industry Board, presented an update on the highly pathogenic avian influenza, highlighting the impact on both poultry and dairy farms.

Beth Thompson, South Dakota’s state veterinarian and executive secretary of the South Dakota Animal Industry Board, updated attendees on the status of avian influenza in the state and how she predicts it will come to affect mammals, specifically the dairy industry.

Kennedy Tesch / Agweek

“In South Dakota, it’s been some months since we’ve seen highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry, which is good because we just made it through the spring migratory season,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, we are seeing avian influenza in dairy and we’ve had five sites here in the state of South Dakota. The animal industry board is working very closely with those dairy farmers and their veterinarians and hopefully, we’ll be at the end of the cases and move forward into the summer.”

Thompson said in mitigating spreading of the virus, biosecurity becomes king.

“Biosecurity is important because you want to keep whatever disease you may have on your site, on your site and not share it with your neighbors,” she said. “But you also want to keep anything off your site, too. So things like watching your visitors, making sure that nobody’s coming on your site unless you know about it, making sure that you’re watching your animals and working with your veterinarian very closely in case you see anything going on with your herd or flock.”

ForeignAgTradePanel — The discussion panel on foreign ag trade was led by Luke Lindberg, left, president and CEO of South Dakota Trade, with Cesar Garcia Arevalo, export sales and marketing manager for Advanced Sunflower, Dennis Harstad, general manager of Houdek and Jerry Schmitz, executive director of South Dakota Soybean.

The impacts of trade on South Dakota’s economy fueled a panel discussion led by Luke Lindberg, president and CEO of South Dakota Trade, with Jerry Schmitz, executive director of South Dakota Soybean, Dennis Harstad, general manager of Houdek, and Cesar Garcia Arevalo, export sales and marketing manager for Advanced Sunflower, participating.

“South Dakota is a prolific exporter of agricultural products. It’s $5 billion a year, roughly speaking, and our state only exports about $7 billion of goods and services. So agriculture is definitely our No. 1 export product. When we look at it in comparison to states all across the country, we’re actually the second highest per capita ag exporter,” Lindberg said. “A lot of those markets are overseas, 96% of the world’s population lives outside the United States, 4% live in the United States. So those are the markets we’re trying to position them for and find ways to sell their products.”

While businesses and organizations work to secure new markets for agricultural products, Elaine Kub, a market economist based in South Dakota, said that going into 2024 and 2025, the outlook is “looking a little less sunny this year than it has in some of the previous years.”

While Kub pointed out that the frustrating part about markets is that producers really have no control over the prices, she mentioned some steps they can take to get through this period of low markets.

“They have to make decisions for their own costs of production, and we can try and bring that down. Land prices are a big piece of that and interest rates, how much interest you’re paying for land or any other input is a big piece of that. Of course, we don’t have any control over interest rates, but we have control over spending patterns or borrowing patterns, she said. “Operational decisions like that can make a difference and also marketing — you can be kind of smart about marketing grain ahead of time and seasons of the year that tend to typically have higher seasonal prices than those harvest time prices.”

Despite the low commodity prices, Hunter Roberts, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, remains optimistic.

“We have plenty of challenges like every state, every industry, but agriculture itself is in a great spot,” Roberts said. “We need to continue to move forward. Commodity price wise, we’re down a little bit but moisture wise, we’re looking pretty good. We have a good crop in the ground, so I’m very optimistic about the future of agriculture. I think things are looking up.”

The Governor’s Ag Summit continued on June 13 for day two with presentations on the history of the South Dakota State Fair, touring a nearby Spink Hutterite colony and Kasemeister Creamery and a concert in the DEX building on the fairgrounds featuring country music artist, Thomas Rhett.

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South Dakota

DOE selects nine school districts for 2026 South Dakota Perkins Reserve grant

Published

7 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

DOE selects nine school districts for 2026 South Dakota Perkins Reserve grant

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Nine school districts have been selected as recipients of the 2026 Perkins Reserve Grant by the South Dakota Department of Education.

The grant provides major equipment upgrades for Career and Technical Education programs, helping to equip students with the skills and experiences needed for post-secondary education and the workforce.

“CTE programs are constantly evolving to match the pace of workforce needs,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Joseph Graves.

“The South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant aids schools in equipping students with current technologies, resources, and tools, offering students a realistic, hands-on learning experience that will strengthen their marketability to colleges or employers once they leave the K-12 education system.”

The following school districts have been named as the 2026 recipients:

Aberdeen School District:
- Awarded $30,233 for new precision machine equipment for the manufacturing program.
De Smet School District:
- Awarded $15,898 for modernizing metal fabrication within agriculture programs.
Lake Preston School District:
- Awarded $43,160 for expansion of program offers in multiple career clusters to strengthen industrial alignment.
McLaughlin School District:
- Awarded $11,997 to purchase equipment to offer a new culinary arts program.
Menno School District:
- Awarded $32,844 to purchase small engines and attend professional development opportunities to enhance the agricultural mechanics program.
Mitchell School District:
- Awarded $38,663 for the modernization of the automotive technology lab.
Timber Lake School District:
- Awarded $42,400 for the expansion of agriculture course offerings to strengthen industry alignment.
Wakpala School District:
- Awarded $40,145 to purchase a skid steer simulator to enhance the agriculture and construction program.
Wolsey-Wessington School District:
- Awarded $26,201 to purchase industry-aligned equipment to enhance the agriculture and construction program.

You can learn more about the South Dakota Perkins Reserve Grant at doe.sd.gov.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lotto America winning numbers for March 4, 2026

Published

19 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 4, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from March 4 drawing

07-14-42-47-56, Powerball: 06, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from March 4 drawing

33-38-39-47-51, Star Ball: 07, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Dakota Cash numbers from March 4 drawing

02-18-22-30-32

Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 4 drawing

12-13-36-39-58, Bonus: 03

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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South Dakota

South Dakota lawmakers push bill criminalizing deepfakes nearer to governor’s desk

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

South Dakota lawmakers push bill criminalizing deepfakes nearer to governor’s desk

John Hult
| South Dakota Searchlight

PIERRE — A bill from South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley to criminalize the creation or sharing of deepfakes was amended this week to more clearly define what constitutes nudity before it reaches Gov. Larry Rhoden’s desk.

The amendment, added on the floor of the House of Representatives, came in response to concerns about unintended consequences.

Senate Bill 41 creates a class of felony crime for the creation or distribution of images digitally altered to depict a person in a state of nudity or involved in a sexually explicit act, commonly referred to as deepfakes.

In testimony in the House Judiciary Committee on Monday in Pierre, Jackley pointed to the case of Mark Rathbun, a former Division of Motor Vehicles employee who is accused of taking images of women and girls from state databases and creating sexual images.“This is real, and it’s something that we unfortunately are seeing happen in our state,” Jackley said.

The judiciary committee voted 8-3 to send the bill to the House floor but not before a discussion on its potential to criminalize political memes.

The bill’s definition of nudity originally encompassed a partial state of nudity. Fort Pierre Republican Rep. Will Mortenson asked Jackley if that would include a fabricated topless photo. Jackley said yes. Then Mortenson asked if a fabricated image of Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker without a shirt, if shared by President Donald Trump on social media, would put the president in line for felony charges.

Jackley said a Pritzker image wouldn’t qualify because Pritzker is male, but Mortenson pushed back.

He noted that partially nude fabrications would be a felony if done with the intent to “self-gratify or alarm, annoy, embarrass, harass, invade the privacy of, threaten, or cause emotional, financial, physical, psychological, or reputational harm to that individual.”

Nothing in the bill specified that a person in a digitally fabricated topless image must be female.

“We just said that half-nude is a state of nudity, and so now he’s shirtless, and the point of this is to embarrass this guy,” Mortenson said of his topless Pritzker meme scenario.

Mortenson voted against the bill in committee but brought an amendment Tuesday to define nudity as inclusive of male or female genitalia, buttocks or the female nipple.

The amendment passed, but it did not address every concern about the bill.

Democratic Rep. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls asked Jackley during the bill’s committee hearing why he didn’t use it to enhance penalties for people who film others in states of undress or participating in sexual activity against their will.

That behavior is a felony if it involves the recording of a minor, or if it happens repeatedly. The new penalties for deepfakes would be added to the same chapter of South Dakota law.

“Why is the first time hidden recording a misdemeanor generally, but a digitally fabricated image would automatically be a classified felony,” said Wittman.

Jackley said he feels that the creation of digitally manipulated sexual images, even if they aren’t shared, signals “significant criminal intent.” He told South Dakota Searchlight after the committee meeting that he’s open to addressing that issue, but that SB 41’s primary purpose was to target deepfakes.

On the House floor, Wittman was one of two representatives to say the bill’s felony penalties could be unnecessarily harsh in instances where young people make “a stupid decision” and create a deepfake.

“I feel like, in a lot of situations, this bill covers behavior that could be covered by a lower level of offense,” Wittman said.

Supporters countered that the creation of fake nudes can do real psychological damage to real people, and that the state needs to clearly signal that doing so is a serious crime.

“It’s only fun and games until it happens to you,” said Rep. Mary Fitzgerald, R-St. Onge.

The bill passed the House 60-6. It now moves to the state Senate, which passed the bill 32-0 on Jan. 16. The Senate would need to approve the amended version of the bill before it could be delivered to Gov. Larry Rhoden to sign or veto.

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