SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A year that is on it’s way toward becoming the worst season in the 24-year history of the Sioux Falls Storm officially saw it’s faint playoff hopes extinguished by the team that entered the game with, ironically, the worst record in the Indoor Football League.

The Jacksonville Sharks scored nine points in the fourth quarter to upend the Storm 36-28 and officially eliminated them from IFL playoff contention on Saturday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

It might be the lowest point of the season for a Sioux Falls (3-10) who, having won May 18th 52-42 at Jacksonville (3-10), knew they needed a victory tonight against the Sharks at home to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, and instead join them with what now is the second-worst record in IFL (only Tucson and Duke City are worse in the Western Conference with 2-11 marks).

Things got off to a wild start even before kickoff when EVERY player on each team was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty due to a pregame altercation.

The start of the game would see the teams trading touchdowns with Sioux Falls starting a new quarterback for the first time in seven games. Louisiana-Monroe alum Jiya Wright replaced Lorenzo Brown and led the Storm to touchdowns on their first three drives to help them open up a 21-13 lead.

The Sharks proved just as efficient with touchdowns on their first three drives too and, when the Storm failed to convert a fourth and six, Jacksonville made it 4-4 on opening drives when Kaleb Barker hit DJ Stubbs with for an eight yard touchdown with 11 seconds to go in the second quarter to give the Sharks a 27-21 halftime lead.

Surprisingly the game would turn into a defensive battle in the second half thanks to several long, clock-eating drives. Sioux Falls started things by blocking a Jacksonville field goal following a 5:06 minute opening drive. Sioux Falls took advantage with a ten play, 45-yard drive that chewed up 5:30 of game time and was capped off with a Wright to Kentrez Bell four-yard touchdown pass that put the Storm in front 28-27.

Jacksonville’s next possession stretched between the end of the third quarter and into the fourth and would end when Kaleb Barker was sacked on fourth down at the Storm 15 by Dajon Emery and fumbled into the waiting arms of Logan Swanson.

The Storm failed to get any points, though, when Sarris missed a 31-yard field goal. The Sharks marched down field 45 yards in 5:50 and went back in front when, on 4th and 3, Barker connected with Jaedon Stoshak for an 18-yard touchdown. To make matters worse for the Storm on the ensuing kickoff Kevin DiDio-Weber was able to boot it through the uprights for a “deuce” (additional two points) which upped the Sharks lead to 34-28.

Starting at their own five Sioux Falls drove down to the Jacksonville four only to see Wright stuffed on a 4th down and 1 run. The Sharks took over and ran out the clock.

In his debut Wright went 12-18 passing for 146 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing 9 times for 22 yards and a score. Lorenzo Thompson hauled in five passes for 51 yards while Bell and Draysean Hudson each caught touchdowns.

The Storm visit Quad City next Saturday at 7:05 PM.

Click on the video viewer for tonight’s highlights.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.

A new law barring the production or sale of high-inducing, hemp-derived cannabis products will take effect Monday after a judge declined to block it.

Hemp Quarters 605, a Pierre-based shop that sells those products, filed a lawsuit earlier this month in U.S. District Court in South Dakota. The business claims the new law’s provisions are unconstitutional and in conflict with federal law.

The 2018 federal farm bill legalized the production and sale of industrial hemp and hemp-derived products, provided they contain less than 0.3% of the intoxicating compound delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, by dry weight. 

House Bill 1125, signed into law in March by Gov. Kristi Noem, targets five types of chemicals that appear at low levels in hemp plants. The chemicals can be synthesized and added in amounts large enough for hemp products to ape the intoxicating effects of the delta-9 THC found in marijuana. 

Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, even though it’s legal in some states and medical marijuana is legal in South Dakota. 

A violation of the new law will be a class 2 misdemeanor, the state’s lowest-level criminal offense. Like most laws adopted by the Legislature, its effective date is July 1.

Products like gummies, vape pens and smokable hemp containing the chemicals targeted by the new law are widely available across South Dakota. They’re sold in gas stations, grocery and liquor stores and in specialty smoke shops like Hemp Quarters 605.

The company had asked U.S. District Judge Eric Schulte to issue a preliminary injunction to block the law from taking effect as the case plays out in court. 

At a hearing on that injunction Thursday in Pierre, Hemp Quarters 605 representatives testified that hemp-derived products constitute more than two-thirds of their retail business. 

State Senate votes to back stricter version of ban on sale of ‘diet weed’

They argue the state is violating the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause by interfering with the sale of federally legal products across state lines. An injunction is appropriate, they said, because they will suffer irreparable harm – namely the potential closure of their business – when the law takes effect. 

To earn a preliminary injunction, plaintiffs must first prove they’re likely to “prevail on the merits,” according to an opinion that Judge Schulte filed electronically on Saturday. If the plaintiff – the hemp store in this case – is able to hit that mark, a judge must then find that the plaintiff would suffer irreparable harm without an injunction. The judge must also consider the wider implications of an injunction on other “interested parties” – in this case, the state and those affected by the new law.

A preliminary injunction denial does not settle the lawsuit or guarantee a win for the state, represented in the case by Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office.

Judge Schulte wrote that Hemp Quarters’ arguments weren’t enough to earn an injunction, even if the law might cause its business irreparable harm. 

The 2018 farm bill did not expressly prohibit states from enacting laws regulating the hemp trade. In fact, Schulte wrote, it did just the opposite, allowing states to impose “more stringent” regulations for hemp.

“The Legislature’s passage of HB 1125 falls squarely within the police powers traditionally reserved to states, as it is intended to promote the health and welfare of South Dakota’s citizens,” Schulte wrote.

Schulte cited a case challenging a Virginia law regulating hemp in which the judge came to a similar conclusion.

On the commerce clause question, Hemp Quarters had argued that a truck driver from Minnesota carrying federally legal hemp through South Dakota could be subject to state prosecution. 

Schulte disagreed. He wrote that the law wouldn’t apply in such a scenario, because it doesn’t criminalize the possession of hemp products. It only bans their production or distribution. 

The opinion also noted that the Hughes County state’s attorney has said it has no plans to immediately prosecute the owners of Hemp Quarters. The Attorney General’s Office has made no such promise, Schulte wrote, but lawyers for the state pointed out that “The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office does not typically prosecute misdemeanor offenses such as those contained within HB 1125.”

WAKONDA, S.D. (South Dakota News Watch) – South Dakota recently became the No. 1 producer of hemp fibers in the nation after being the third-to-last state to make it legal just three years ago.

“We’re the highest production and the highest in yield-per-acre, both of those,” said Bill Brehmer, board member of the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Association (SDIHA). “We are going to try to hold that for next year. This will be our first year to dominate that category.”

One of the people helping to do that is John Peterson, treasurer for SDIHA and a hemp farmer near Wakonda, about 50 miles southwest of Sioux Falls. He started Dakota Hemp LLC in 2021 when hemp was legalized, and it was the second farm in the state to grow the crop.

Peterson, a fifth-generation farmer, planted 40 acres of hemp the first year and has since expanded to 450 acres in the 2024 season.

He got started in hemp production after attending a meeting of people who already were growing the crop.

“Once hemp farming became legal with the 2018 Farm Bill, it came across my radar again as a reality and I saw the stories of farmers around the country growing CBD hemp but not much for the fiber or grain yet,” Peterson said. “I received a random postcard in the mail announcing an industrial hemp grower’s meeting in Hudson, S.D., in early spring of 2021. There were about eight farmers and 12 presenters.”

That was the start of Dakota Hemp.

“I remember calling one of the presenters on my way home from the meeting to further discuss grain and fiber hemp and get more information, as I really saw that being the better option for my farm. I decided to grow 40 acres of hemp on our farm in 2021, a dual purpose variety grown for the grain and fiber,” Peterson said.

After Peterson saw the results of that first crop, he added hemp into his rotation of corn and soybeans. The farm is now in its fourth year of planting hemp and plans to expand.

“I realized mid-season (in 2021) that this crop is going to thrive here in S.D. and fits very well into a crop rotation on a large-scale across the state,” he said. “I planted 130 acres of industrial hemp on my farm in 2022, nine varieties, including some of the first fiber variety trials in the Midwest, which did surprisingly well in the drought.”

The farm also plants 1,000 to 2,000 CBD plants for hemp products it produces, which include hemp oils, gels and creams.

Hemp legalized in US in 2018 and SD in 2021

Production of hemp became legal in the United State under the 2018 Farm Bill, which allowed the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) to start making rules and regulations for commercial hemp production starting in 2019 under the Agriculture Improvement Act.

South Dakota passed a bill through the Legislature to legalize the production of the crop, but Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed it, making it one of three states to outlaw the crop despite federal legalization. After the law was changed and improved in early 2020, the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Program began in 2021.

Since the legalization, the state has grown to more than 3,000 acres of hemp production, with around 40 farm across the state, and plans to continue growing in farms and acreage.

Hemp grows well in SD and helps other crops

South Dakota hemp growers bring in varieties of the plant from other countries, such as France and China, to grow the crop since it was illegal to grow in the U.S. between the 1930s and 2018.

“Well-developed hemp genetics of Canada and Europe work well in our latitude,” said Ken Meyer, board president of SDIHA. “Hemp is a photo sensitive plant. The long daylight hours that we experience in the summer are beneficial to growing hemp. Our lower summer temperatures compared to Southern climate zones are a big help. And we have enough average rainfall but not too much, which can cause — especially in warmer climates — more issues with bugs or diseases.”

Farmers who started hemp production, like Peterson, found the crop production in South Dakota had better results than neighboring states because of the soil and weather.

“We can really grow almost double the crop,” he said.

Growing hemp in fields also has a positive impact on the soil and how other crops grow. Peterson said there’s a clear difference in the organic matter that can be seen after planting a hemp crop.

“You do have good organic matter you’re putting back in the soil,” Peterson said. “Plus we’re giving our microbes a new food source. They have never eaten these hemp roots before. … That really activates good numbers on our soil.”

Materials South Dakota hemp is used for

Farmers grow three different varieties of hemp in South Dakota: CBD, fibers, and grain and seed. South Dakota reached No. 1 for grain and seed acres in 2022 and now reached No. 1 for fibers this year.

“We ended up getting enough farmers to plant over 2,500 acres into industrial hemp and launch S.D. to the No. 2 hemp-producing state in the U.S. in 2022, in just our second year of growing,” Peterson said.

CBD

CBD is a chemical found in hemp plants that can be used for different products. Some popular products CBD is used for:

• Tinctures, or liquid, extracted from the plant, like oil, used as herbal medicine
  
• Pills
  
• Capsules
  
• Food and beverages
  
• Creams and lotions
  
• Fibers
  

Grain and seed

The grain and seed is harvested from the top part of the hemp plant. Grain and seed is used for things such as:

• Fabrics
  
• Biofuel
  
• Food and oil
  

Fibers

Fibers are harvested from the stalk of the hemp plant. Hemp fiber make products that include:

• Animal bedding
  
• Textiles
  
• Paper
  
• Hempcrete
  

Top products from South Dakota

The hemp grown in South Dakota is used around the country for different materials, most of it for animal bedding and building materials like hempcrete.

Hemp animal bedding is made from the stalk of the hemp plant, also called the hurd. The compostable and absorbent material can hold 4 times its weight in moisture and clumps together when wet.

“The absorbency of the hurd is higher than most any other (material) out there. (People) like this because it quickly absorbs any moisture that is created,” Brehmer said.

Hempcrete is a bio-composite building material that is created by mixing and coating particles of hemp hurd that hardens into a natural material commonly used for insulation of walls, floors, roofs or windows.

“The hempcrete is the insulator and it is very mold resistant and termite resistant, allows the walls to breathe. So if any moisture gets in there, it dries up. That’s why they’re mold resistant,” Brehmer said.

The plant-based building material is slowly becoming more popular around the nation, and the industry will have to expand to keep up with the demand, he said.

“Eventually this is going to be what we will see in the future, is more and more homes could be built with hempcrete. Once we get it down to where it’s a fast process, (the demand) can go up quickly,” Brehmer said.

SD hemp industry’s value and plan to stay on top

The total value of South Dakota’s 2023 hemp crop was more than $23 million, Bremher said.

Nationally, hemp was nearly a $24 billion market in 2023, according to numbers documented by the USDA. That is expected to continue to climb in the coming years, reaching $30 billion by 2030, USDA said.

“2024 will kind of be a big year in developing and on the processing side,” Brehmer said.

As hemp becomes a more popular product, more farms across the United States have started to pop up, making it more of a challenge for South Dakota to stay No. 1 for production.

This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit news organization. Read more in-depth stories at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they’re published. Contact us at info@sdnewswatch.org.

Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.