South Dakota

Latest 2024 farm income forecast shows overall decrease from 2023 • South Dakota Searchlight

Published

1 year ago

December 5, 2024

Latest 2024 farm income forecast shows overall decrease from 2023 • South Dakota Searchlight

Farm income is forecasted to have decreased in 2024 by 4% from 2023, largely because of a decrease in cash receipts, or the gross income, from the sale of commodity crops, according to the December update of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm income forecast.

Carrie Litkowski, the farm income team leader with USDA Economic Research Service, presented the latest update in a webinar Tuesday, and said the forecast was very similar to its previous September iteration.

“But somehow it feels a little more important, as we near the end of the year, to evaluate the current state of the farm economy as a starting point for considering what challenges and opportunities may lie ahead for U.S. agriculture,” Litkowski said.

Net cash farm income for 2024 is projected to be $158.8 billion, which in inflation-adjusted figures is 3.5% lower than net cash farm income in 2023. The forecast shows the 2024 figure, however, is 9.8% above the 20-year average for net cash farm income, and represents a less gradual decline than that of 2022 to 2023.

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Net cash farm income is the income minus expenses of the farm, including government payments, but excluding things like changes in inventories or economic depreciations, which are reflected in the “net farm income” figures.

The sale of agricultural commodities is projected to decrease by less than 1 percent overall as an over 8% increase in animal and animal product receipts nearly offsets the over 9% decrease in forecasted crop receipts.

Because of this, net cash income for all farm businesses specializing in crops is forecasted to be lower this year than last, but all farm businesses specializing in animal or animal products are expect to have higher net cash farm income than they did in 2023.

This could mean lower net cash income for the farming sector in South Dakota for 2024, as the first and third largest category of cash receipts on South Dakota farms in 2023 were corn and soybeans, which are projected to decrease, nationally, by 23% and 14% respectively in 2024.

The data used in the USDA ERS forecasts represents the entire farming sector of nearly 2 million farms and ranches. Litkowski said the reports are used to inform policy makers and lenders, and in determining the ag sector’s contributions to the U.S. economy.

It’s forecasted that farmers in 2024 will have a decreased need of supplemental and disaster assistance, as well as lower dairy margin payments. That will result in a forecasted $1.7 billion decrease from 2023 in direct government payments to farmers.

Litkowski said natural disasters like hurricanes Helene and Milton have not yet shown up in the data, because much of the harvesting in the affected regions had already been completed at the time of the hurricanes, and payments have not yet been issued.

“Natural disasters have the potential to affect farm income, and historically, they have,” Litkowski said. “Sometimes it just takes time to know the impacts.”

USDA also forecasts overall lower input costs, primarily in feed fertilizers and pesticides for farmers in 2024. Other inputs, however, like labor, interest rates and livestock and poultry purchases are forecasted to have increased.

Median farm income for 2024 is expected to increase to $100,634, which is almost 3% higher, without adjusting for inflation, from 2023. Off-farm income, which represents the biggest share of income for most on-farm families, is projected to increase in 2024, after decreasing slightly over the past three years.

Litkowski clarified that “half of all farms are residential farms” where the owner’s primary occupation is not farming, which typically leads the median on farm income to appear as a negative amount.

The forecast will be updated again Feb. 6 when the department will release its first projections for 2025.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.

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South Dakota

South Dakota medical marijuana cards are going digital

Published

1 hour ago

February 19, 2026

Press Room

South Dakota medical marijuana cards are going digital

John Hult
| South Dakota Searchlight

South Dakota is transitioning to a primarily digital system for medical marijuana cards.
The state’s Department of Health will begin issuing digital cards after selecting a vendor this summer.
Patients will still have the option to request a physical plastic card.

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota medical marijuana cards will soon be primarily digital.

The cannabis card news came Tuesday at the Capitol during a meeting of the House of Representatives’ Health and Human Services Committee.

Rep. Josephine Garcia, R-Watertown, had planned to testify on her bill to create digital cards, but instead sat down before the committee and asked its members to table it.

Garcia is the chairwoman of the state’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee, which had discussed legislation to require the Department of Health to provide digital cards.

On Tuesday, Garcia announced that the Department of Health had agreed to pursue digital cards without legislation.

The department is looking for vendors now and will select one during the summer, Garcia said, reading from a letter to the committee from Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt. The vendor will build the digital card system in the fall. Once the system is ready, the department will begin issuing digital cards to anyone who doesn’t ask for a plastic card. No implementation date was offered.

The shift to digital cards will “enhance convenience for patients and caregivers,” the letter said.

Magstadt was in the room for the hearing and thanked Garcia for reading the letter. The committee voted 13-0 to table Garcia’s bill.

Patients with a medical recommendation for marijuana pay initial and annual fees for plastic, driver’s license-sized cards, which let them legally purchase marijuana products at dispensaries around the state. Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in South Dakota.

Digital cards would be accessible on patients’ smartphones.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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South Dakota

South Dakota mental health nonprofit shuts down over financial problems

Published

14 hours ago

February 18, 2026

Press Room

South Dakota mental health nonprofit shuts down over financial problems

NAMI South Dakota, a nonprofit that provides free mental health support to residents across the state, has announced that its Board of Directors made the “difficult decision to dissolve the organization.”

NAMI South Dakota’s phone went unanswered as of Feb. 13. Its website is mostly inactive, with a brief message about support group meetings being canceled, but it offers online resources on the general NAMI website.

The most recent post on its Facebook page was on Feb. 5.

In an email statement to employees and supporters, NAMI South Dakota stated the directive does not “reflect the importance of our mission,” but rather a response to the “significant and ongoing financial challenges facing the nonprofit sector nationwide.”

Those challenges included reduced funding, rising operational costs and increasing financial uncertainty.

“We are incredibly proud of the work NAMI South Dakota has accomplished over the years,” the organization stated. “… we have been able to raise awareness, reduce stigma and provide hope and resources to countless individuals and families impacted by mental illness.”

About NAMI South Dakota

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) maintains itself as the “nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization,” with more than 650 state organizations and affiliates.

There were eight affiliates in South Dakota in addition to classes, programs and wellness activities offered in Sioux Falls, Sisseton and Milbank via the NAMI South Dakota Consumer Council.

NAMI South Dakota has provided more than 1,500 phone referrals and served 80 individuals at its annual conference. More than 4,700 people were reached by signature programs and 2,000 more by community events, according to the organization.

Staff members were informed of NAMI South Dakota being dissolved and that they were no longer employed with the organization by email Feb. 4.

The Argus Leader reached out to multiple NAMI South Dakota board members but had not received a response. Executive Director Sheri Nelson issued the same response previously given to employees.

Program Director, Brooke Hoffman of Sioux Falls, traveled throughout the state of South Dakota, speaking with K-12 students at various schools.

“I gave presentations about mental health, why it’s important, how to take care of it, warning signs, trusted adults. Suicide prevention to older kids,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman was the only program coordinator with the organization for the entire state of South Dakota, serving since September 2025.

Hoffman also had regular appointments with the Juvenile Detention Center in Sioux Falls and was scheduled to conduct crisis intervention trainings (CIT) with law enforcement at the Minnehaha County Jail and Public Safety Center in Sioux Falls.

“I was also invited to speak at the South Dakota HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) event in previous years,” Hoffman said. ‘A lot of kids attend that.”

HOSA lists NAMI as one of its many partners for the organization.

Hoffman was staying in Watertown while working with the Hamlin School District, one of five schools she worked with and more were in the process of being scheduled when she got the Feb. 4 phone call from Nelson telling her the organization had been dissolved and to stop all services.

“She then sent me the email to send to the schools I was working with,” Hoffman said, estimating the impact to be about 750 students.

Hoffman had been working under a Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) grant provided by SAMHSA that was awarded to South Dakota Behavioral Health, part of the South Dakota Department of Social Services. The grant was set to expire in September.

“It’s been a really hard blow for me personally,” Hoffman said. “I’m struggling a bit with my own mental health over it but trying to look forward too.”

Mental health in Sioux Falls

Beginning in 1988, Sioux Falls had a more localized NAMI affiliate, NAMI Sioux Falls, an independent nonprofit that offered classes and support services to local families.

In February 2020, NAMI Sioux Falls merged with the NAMI South Dakota office, a decision made by the national NAMI office, according to previous Argus Leader reporting.

“They have moved ahead with terminating the NAMI Sioux Falls Affiliate and have asked the NAMI South Dakota State Organization to step in to provide all programming for the Sioux Falls area,” NAMI South Dakota said in a statement.

In Sioux Falls, 16.8% of adults have been reported to have been diagnosed with depression and adolescent mental health ranked second in the city’s top three health priorities, according to the 2025 City of Sioux Falls Community Health Assessment.

Mental health in South Dakota

According to NAMI South Dakota data from May 2025, 166,000 state residents have a mental health condition, with more than 650,000 who live in communities without sufficient mental health care. More than 10,000 adolescents aged 12-17 have anxiety and depression in South Dakota, with 11,000 having serious thoughts of suicide per year.

Among six community health priorities, improving mental and behavioral health ranked 3rd in a 2023 South Dakota Department of Health Assessment on overall health.

Moving forward

Additional mental health resources, some of which are free, in Sioux Falls and throughout the state of South Dakota are listed on the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, staffed in Sioux Falls by the Helpline Center.

As for Hoffman, the connections she made during her time with NAMI South Dakota have helped provide leads to new opportunities, while also working part time for Emily’s Hope.

“I have a few connections from being out in the community from volunteering with them and from working at NAMI,” she said. I’m just using what resources I have to get leads on a new role. Hopefully something similar to what I got to do for NAMI.”

“While NAMI South Dakota will be dissolving, the need for mental health support remains vital,” the Board of Directors said in a statement. “We encourage our community members to continue seeking and supporting mental health resources and organizations serving South Dakotans.”

Vanessa Carlson Bender is the real estate and development reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Reach her at vbender@gannett.com.

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South Dakota

South Dakota Mines launches fourth annual ‘Raising for Rockers’ give-a-thon

Published

1 day ago

February 18, 2026

Press Room

South Dakota Mines launches fourth annual ‘Raising for Rockers’ give-a-thon

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – South Dakota Mines is aiming to raise $250,000 during its fourth annual Raising for Rockers give-a-thon, a 24-hour fundraising event supporting academic departments, student programs and hands-on learning initiatives.

The event runs noon Feb. 18 to noon Feb. 19, bringing together alumni, faculty, staff and supporters to contribute to 20 different initiatives that enhance the overall student experience.

Bailey Ellis, director of annual giving for the Center for Alumni Relations and Advancement, said the fundraiser is an opportunity for the Hardrocker community to make a direct impact on student success.

“This is a great opportunity for the Hardrocker community to come together and support academic departments and other initiatives that enhance the educational experience for our students,” Ellis said.

This year, donors have an added challenge: CARA will unlock a $6,250 nationwide match if donations are received from all 50 states.

Funds raised support a wide range of priorities, including student professional development, upgraded learning environments and opportunities for hands-on experiences across campus.

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