South Dakota
Schwan’s purchases Sioux Falls land for new food production facility • South Dakota Searchlight
![Schwan’s purchases Sioux Falls land for new food production facility • South Dakota Searchlight](https://southdakotasearchlight.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/foundation-park-e1717185861552.png)
Three years after it was first announced, Schwan’s Co. is taking the next step in its investment in South Dakota after closing on 142 acres of land in northwest Sioux Falls.
The company plans to construct a 700,000-square-foot Asian food production facility at Foundation Park, including a wastewater treatment facility on the manufacturing site. The wastewater treatment facility will allow the company to discharge water to the city “with the least amount of impact on the city’s operations,” according to a news release.
The company, based in Minnesota and a subsidiary of South Korea-based CJ foods, originally announced its plans in 2021. The project at that time would have cost about $500 million and created 600 jobs in South Dakota’s largest city. Gov. Kristi Noem called it “the largest project in the history of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development” at the time. A similar description has since been applied to a potential $1 billion sustainable aviation fuel facility in Lake Preston.
The newest Schwan’s announcement does not have an official estimate for the cost of the facility, though it’ll still employ 600 people.
Noem welcomed the news Friday in a press release, saying, “South Dakota just keeps growing. Our ‘Open for Business’ mindset is transforming our state into an economic powerhouse.”
South Dakota’s unemployment rate in April 2024 stood at 2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. South Dakota tied with North Dakota for the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at the time.
The new manufacturing facility will produce Asian-style foods, primarily for the Schwan’s bibigo brand, using automated production lines. The campus will also include a warehouse and distribution center, shipping and receiving docks, and office space.
The company also plans to open a regional office in downtown Sioux Falls “to support its continued expansion and operations at the new manufacturing facility,” according to a news release from the company. That office will employ another 50 people initially with potential to grow to 100 employees.
Schwan’s outgoing CEO Dimitrios P. Smyrnios said state and local officials helped the company “make great progress” on the project, which will increase production capacity for Schwan’s. The company’s bibigo brand is sold nationwide, including at Costco stores. The facility will join Asian food facilities for CJ Foods on the East and West coasts.
“I want to personally thank Governor Kristi Noem and her team for their leadership and commitment to our plans,” Smyrnios said in the news release. “Without her unwavering support, this project would not be possible. It’s clear to me that the ‘State of South Dakota is open for business.’”
State officials did not immediately respond to South Dakota Searchlight messages seeking information on any assistance offered to Schwan’s. The company directed questions about that topic to state officials.
Bob Mundt, president and CEO of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, told Searchlight the organization does not disclose incentives given to potential business partners unless the company does.
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South Dakota
South Dakota’s WIC Program implements new income guidelines July 1
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The South Dakota Department of Health has released new income guidelines for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program effective July 1, 2024.
WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provided at no cost to eligible moms, infants, and children. It aims to empower families through support with healthy eating, nutrition, and breastfeeding, as well as offering referrals to other essential services. WIC strives to help improve the overall health and well-being of families.
“WIC makes a profound difference in the lives of families, offering essential nutrition, heartfelt discussions, and unwavering support,” said Department of Health Secretary, Melissa Magstadt. “The mission is to empower moms, infants, and children with the knowledge and resources they need to thrive and live healthier, happier lives.”
If your family’s annual income does not exceed the following amounts for the size of your family, you could qualify for WIC:
Family Size |
185% of Federal Poverty Level | Family Size |
185% of Federal Poverty Level |
1 | $27,861 | 6 | $77,626 |
2 | $37,814 | 7 | $87,579 |
3 | $47,767 | 8 | $97,532 |
4 | $57,720 | 9 | $107,485 |
5 | $67,673 | 10 | $117,438 |
To find out if you or children in your household are eligible for the WIC Program and to apply online go to https://www.sd.gov/wic. Or you can call for an appointment at your local WIC office. Offices can be found under the county listings in your phone book or on the web at https://www.sd.gov/wic.
WIC is an equal opportunity provider. More information about the program is available at https://www.sd.gov/wic.
South Dakota
South Dakota high school grad receives full ride college livestock judging scholarship
REE HEIGHTS, S.D. — Agriculture has been a way of life for Payton Beare. She was raised on a farm near Ree Heights, started showing livestock at age 4, started 4-H when she was 8, started livestock judging when she was 10 and started FFA when she was in seventh grade.
It was her interest in animals that ultimately got her interested in livestock judging. Through that, she has gained a community.
“The whole FFA and 4-H community, whether it’s cattle, or goats, or sheep or pigs, we are all kind of a family,” she said. “It’s kind of a whole group thing that just kind of gets you involved in everything.”
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
Beare has been very successful in her ag activities, especially livestock judging. During her sophomore year of high school, she won the state FFA livestock judging contest. Her success in judging has earned her a full ride scholarship to Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas.
“It was a big weight lifted off my shoulders,” she said. “The scholarship will cover classes and books and everything else, and other scholarships will cover the food and the room and that kind of stuff. Then I got an additional scholarship that is for traveling and that additional stuff. So, it’s honestly amazing.”
Women in agriculture
Women always have played significant roles in agriculture. While the stereotypical farmer or rancher in recent centuries became male, women have continued to raise livestock, plant crops, feed crews, perform financial and bookkeeping tasks and more. The 2022 Census of Agriculture says 36% of producers are women, which may be an underrepresentation of women’s contributions to farms and ranches. In this series, we introduce some of the women in agriculture in our region.
Through livestock judging, she will be traveling a lot. Beare said the judging team last year traveled over 46,000 miles.
“I am most excited to travel,” she said. “We will come back to South Dakota, and we will judge at a few contests here. We will go all the way to Texas. We will go to all the big shows, Louisville, Kansas City, Denver, all the big ones. It’s honestly somebody’s dream to get to go to all of those and judge.”
Through livestock judging, Beare has been able to learn things that she can bring back and apply to her own operation.
“You kind of just learn to find functional animals,” she said. “If you are judging livestock, you are not going to look for animals that can’t walk or aren’t structurally sound or able to function, so when you are picking animals for your herd, you are going to look for the animals that are able to meet your standards like you would be when you are judging.”
One skill she has gained through judging is public speaking.
“I think it is really important so we have more people to stand up and speak out about the beef industry or even the livestock industry itself, so that we have leaders and we have people that will stand out for our problems and make a difference,” Beare said.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
She will be doing this all while working towards a degree in bovine embryology. Livestock genetics is something that has always interested her.
“We’ve been putting embryos in here for five to 10 years, and I always looked forward to staying home from school, helping with it,” Beare said of their cattle breeding procedure. “Last year, I was loading AI guns for the guy that AIs our cattle and I actually learned how to AI this year, so I will be AIing a bunch of our cattle and that stuff this year.”
She will also be working while in school, both for Reprologix and Competitive Edge Genetics. After her time at Fort Scott, she hopes to transfer to either Oklahoma State University or Kansas State University.
“I hope to then take that experience and hopefully someday own or operate my own genetic company,” she said.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
Beare encourages other young people who want to someday judge livestock in college to start learning now.
“The best thing I think that I have done is start going to livestock judging camps,” she said. “Livestock judging is a lot of confidence because you have to give reasons, which is everybody’s enemy. You have to be able to get out of your comfort zone … You have to be able to listen to everybody else’s opinion because not everybody else is going to think the same.”
South Dakota
Catastrophic flooding hits Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota
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