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South Dakota universities receive national grant for soil science

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South Dakota universities receive national grant for soil science


The National Science Foundation awarded $4 million dollars to several state colleges for a new collaborative research partnership.

Its goal – developing cheaper and more environmentally friendly fertilizers.

The Center for Climate-Conscious Agricultural Technologies is a research partnership between SDSU, the School of Mines, Sitting Bull College, and North Dakota State University.

SDSU is leading the partnership.

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The center will research sustainable agriculture technologies. Researchers will focus on developing microbial biofertilizers. These could provide benefits over traditional synthetic fertilizers.

Synthetic fertilizers have been found to have negative human and environmental impacts and have become expensive. The center hopes to develop a cheaper, sustainable, purpose driven biofertilizer by adding microbes aimed at South Dakota’s prevailing crop, corn.

Prasoon Diwakar is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota Mines and a Co-Principal Investigator on the project. He said it takes a large collaboration of scientists to get this research done.

“So we have a group of about 20 scientists from different fields, who are working on making this project a success. So, we have biologists, we have chemical and biological engineers. We have precision agriculturalist, soil scientists, sensor development scientists, mechanical engineers, private modeling scientists, technoeconomic analyst, socioeconomic scientists to accomplish all of this that we achieve,” said Diwakar.

Tanvi Govil is an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at South Dakota mines. She said a focus on microbes in soil is important for climate change mitigation.

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“When they are thriving that is a vey good time for them to mitigate the emissions of nitroxide gases into the atmosphere. They can mitigate the emissions of butane gases. Even some microbes have the enzymes to sequester the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” said Govil.

Another potential breakthrough – using biopolymer beads to hold the fertilizer. They’re made with naturally occurring cells instead of conventional plastic, making them safer for the environment.

The grant is part of a larger project by the National Science Foundation to build new and adaptive research across the country.





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South Dakota

State Sen. Anthony Kern making his way back to Phoenix after icy crash in South Dakota

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State Sen. Anthony Kern making his way back to Phoenix after icy crash in South Dakota


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State Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, announced on the social media platform X on Sunday that he had left the hospital, about a week after breaking bones and suffering other injuries in a single-car crash in South Dakota.

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Kern, who was visiting family, was riding with a friend through a snowstorm when the car hit ice and the driver lost control.

He posted that he was out of the critical stage and making his way back to Phoenix, but he couldn’t fly due to a collapsed lung.

Kern is finishing his first state Senate term after three terms in the state House. This fall, he opted to run for a congressional seat rather than seek a return to the state Capitol but lost the GOP race for Congressional District 8 to Abe Hamadeh.



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South Dakota

South Dakota comedy performer dies

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South Dakota comedy performer dies


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A local South Dakota comedy legend has died Saturday. Terry Ree, of the comedy duo Williams and Ree, died Saturday morning. Williams and Ree performed for over fifty years together, performing with names such as Garth Brooks, the Oak Ridge Boys and Tim McGraw.



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South Dakota

Sunday will be warm and breezy

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Sunday will be warm and breezy


RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Partly cloudy skies are expected. A stray shower or two will be possible, but chances aren’t great. Highs will be in the 40s and 50s for much of KOTA Territory.

Wind gusts could range from 30 to 40 mph at times – especially across western South Dakota.

We’ll remain mild all Christmas week with highs in the 40s to near 50°. Mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies will be likely all week long. It could get a little breezy on Christmas Day, but nothing too crazy.

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