South Dakota

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

Published

7 days 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

Flooded farmland in southeastern South Dakota

Published

2 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

Flooded farmland in southeastern South Dakota

SOUTH DAKOTA, S.D. (KELO) – Flooded fields are a common sight all around southeastern South Dakota after this week’s rain.

Now farmers are dealing with the aftermath as even more storms are forecasted.

We found flooded farmland that now looks more like a river just outside of Davis in Turner County. The owners of the land say their pumpkin patch and sweet corn fields are all under water after more than eight inches of rain fell.

Some farmhouses in rural South Dakota are now completely surrounded by water with silos and barns on islands of their own near Viborg.

Over in Yankton County, you can hardly tell where the boundaries of the James River are in one field.

It’s not just flooded fields that some farmers are having to deal with, one farmer near Lesterville in Yankton County has had some issues because of a rising creek.

“Our creeks are full, you know,” farmer Daniel Kubal said. “We’re a little concerned with livestock out there, it did sweep away a baby calf yesterday for us and, you know, it can be devastating when you’re dealing with livestock in these high creeks and things like that.”

Kubal says the flooding he’s seeing isn’t as bad as farms to the north of him, but he’s made sure his cattle are moved up to higher ground to prepare for the next rounds of rain.

“Rain is good, it’s hard to turn away, you know,” Kubal said. “You just kind of got to go with it. We know what it’s like when we don’t have it. It’s a blessing when you do and sometimes you just get way more than you need. You just learn to deal with it.”

The farmer I spoke with in Davis, South Dakota, says it’s been about four years since they’ve seen rain this heavy.

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South Dakota

Flooding, train derailment impacting northwest Iowa

Published

10 hours ago

June 21, 2024

Press Room

Flooding, train derailment impacting northwest Iowa

ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa (Dakota News Now) – Flooding hasn’t been just an issue in South Dakota. In northwest Iowa, families and communities are bracing for rising river levels and flash flooding as the rain continues to fall.

The Island Park Campground in Rock Rapids is hardly recognizable. Brendon Leuthold had stopped by on his way home after work to look at the water from the Rock River, wondering if he would be able to make it home.

“Yep, it did go down a little bit, so it probably would’ve been okay, but it’s definitely something to think about,” Leuthold said. “It’s nice that this is unusual, but it’s not great. I feel bad for the farmers, there’s a lot of damage that’s going to happen from this.”

Lyon County officials weren’t just worried about the flood waters either. A BSNF Railway freight train derailed just south of Alvord, Iowa early Friday morning.

Lyon County Emergency Management told Dakota News Now that nine cars derailed. No hazmat crews were needed, and it’s unknown how long the railroad will be blocked.

Back in Rock Rapids, fearing that the flooding would get worse, a sandbagging station was set up. Many volunteers there had been at it since early Friday morning, waiting for truck after truck full of sand to stop by so they could get back to work.

Flooding is expected to continue in Lyon County and the surrounding area as more rain is expected to come from storms on Friday and Saturday. The Rock River is already in a major flood stage, and could only begin to crest sometime this weekend.

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South Dakota

Road closures in Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties: What we know so far

Published

17 hours ago

June 21, 2024

Press Room

Road closures in Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties: What we know so far

As sections of Sioux Falls and Minnehaha and Lincoln county are put under ongoing flash flood warnings, flood warnings and flood watches, roads in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area are closing.

A flood watch is in effect through 7 a.m. Saturday for all of southeastern South Dakota, and a flood warning is currently in effect for the following areas until 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls:

Portions of northwest Iowa, including the following counties, Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O`Brien, Osceola and Sioux
Southwest Minnesota, including the following county, Nobles
And southeast South Dakota, including the following counties, Lincoln, Turner and Union

“Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 4 inches are possible in the warned area over the next 24 hours,” the flood warning states. Heavier rain, with a risk of severe storms is expected after 5 p.m. Friday.

Locations that will experience flooding include: Sioux Falls, Sioux Center, Sheldon, Canton, Sibley, Rock Rapids, Beresford, Parker, Harrisburg, Tea, Rock Valley, Hull, Lennox, Sanborn, George, Centerville, Worthing, Larchwood, Inwood and Viborg.

Here’s what we know so far about area road closures.

Road Closures in Lincoln County:

The Lincoln County Highway Department says no travel is advised in Lincoln County due to flooding on roads.

Canton

The Canton Police Department says to avoid these roads. It’s working on compiling a full list of road closures.

North Cedar
4th Street
North Lincoln Street
3 to 4 miles north on North Dakota Street
North Bridge Street
Noid Road

Highway 18 has been opened back up, but the department says to proceed with caution.

Tea:

The Tea City Facebook says to avoid Gateway Boulevard when leaving or coming to Tea, as the road is down to one lane.

West of Canton and south of Worthing:

These roads are closed due to flooding until further notice, says South Dakota 511, the South Dakota Department of Transportation road conditions webpage:

South I-29 to SD-11 North
U.S 18 West Exit 59 to U.S 18 East Exit 62
0.25 miles north of SD-44 Exit 64 to US 18 West Exit 59

Road Closures in Minnehaha County:

The Minnehaha County Highway Department says multiple roads have begun to flood, and conditions are expected to become worse as the rain continues.

County Highway 121 (478th Avenue or Eros Road) is closed south of 252nd Street, according to the Minnehaha County Highway Department. NWS has reported standing water on I-29 south of Sioux Falls.

The Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office posted photos from the intersection of 478th Avenue and 252nd Street and Hartford Turtle Creek Park, where the roads have completely flooded.

Sioux Falls:

These roads are closed according to a post on X from the City of Sioux Falls:

12th Street is closed from Sertoma Avenue to LaMesa Avenue
Madison Street is closed at LaMesa Avenue
Charger Circle south of 69th Street
41st Street at Cliff Avenue near Interstate 229

Lennox:

Road closed barricades are being placed at Boynton Avenue and Cherry, West 1st and Cleveland, and West 4th and Cleveland. Please proceed with caution, says the City of Lennox Facebook.

What to do if you encounter closed roads:

“If there’s any barricades up because the road is closed, don’t go across those,” said Tim Masters, a hydro-meteorological technician with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls. “The water might be deeper than you think.”

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