RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Ranchers and farmers across South Dakota met in Huron Wednesday and Thursday for the 109th annual South Dakota Farmer Union Convention.

Members of the state’s largest agricultural organization voted on policy, elected delegates and heard from national agricultural leaders.

“These conventions – like we’re having here with Farmers Union right now – people get to network, as we call it today, and talk to each other and find out what other individuals are doing, what other operations are doing that you may be able to take home and implement in your farm or ranch operation, or vice versa,” Oren Lesmeister, board member with SDFU, said.

An important topic discussed throughout the convention was conservation.

“Conservation is extremely important. I mean, we are the stewards of the land, we need to keep it going for the generations to come. If we don’t have land to produce our crops and our livestock, we can’t continue, we can’t feed the world,” Kaeloni Latham, an SDFU member, said.

Latham added farmers and ranchers need to take precautions to make sure everything they are doing will protect the land going forward. She said making changes doesn’t just benefit the livestock.

“Looking at getting water to most of our pastures benefits not only our livestock but the wildlife around us. It keeps the deer and the antelope and things of that sort with an available water source and making sure the grass is available and continuing to come back and not being overgrazed and just things of that sort. I mean, it’s important to keep all of that going so that our future generations, my kids, my future grandkids can enjoy the wonderful landscape that we get to enjoy every day,” Latham explained.

Conversations on tax reform, property rights and more were had as well. Many said it was important to have policy conversations each year.

“It’s not always like-minded individuals. There is a very diverse group of people here. We don’t just get one side of it, or even two sides of it, we might get five or six or seven sides to a policy, and I think that’s a great way to make policy,” Lesmeister said.

One thing everyone could agree on was the importance of family farms and ranches across the nation.

“Without family farms, where would your local communities be? I mean, our communities have been dying off. Not because people are just leaving, but because we are losing our family farms. They are the heartbeat, they are the soul of this country, especially of our state. Agriculture is number one, without family farming we all become serfs, and as consumers you’re depending on others to bring your food to you, and they don’t care. Corporations don’t care whether the food is good or whether it’s affordable to you. All they care about is the bottom line,” President of SDFU Doug Sombke said.

Sombke added if South Dakota wants to keep rural communities alive and thriving, they need to find ways to make family farming sustainable.

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