Dakotafest Annual Opportunity to Bring All Ag Groups Together
By U.S. Senator Mike Rounds

For more than two decades, Dakotafest has been an annual event that brings together ag leaders and producers from across the state together into one place. With nearly 500 agribusinesses on-site to showcase their latest products, it is one of the premier ag events of the Northern Plains. I was grateful for the opportunity to join Sen. John Thune, Rep. Kristi Noem and area producers for Dakotafest’s annual farm policy forum again this year. Hearing firsthand from South Dakota producers is critically important as we work toward smarter, better policies for farmers and ranchers.

With the farm economy struggling and drought conditions affecting this year’s crop across the state, this year’s forum focused on the upcoming farm bill and how we can strengthen programs to help producers get through tough seasons. Maintaining and strengthening safety net provisions of the farm bill such as the crop insurance program remains my top priority in farm bill discussions. I also support raising the enrollment cap of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which was reduced from 32 million acres in the 2008 farm bill to 24 million acres by the end of the 2014 farm bill.

During the forum, I also heard concerns about conservation easements, particularly perpetual easements which are often agreements made by previous generations and may no longer serve their purpose for current farmers or ranchers who tend the land. That’s because perpetual easements are forever. I believe shorter-term easements would allow each generation to decide how they want to manage their land. During the last Congress, I introduced legislation that would make sure landowners know they have options for shorter-term easements when they enter into an easement agreement with the federal government. I will continue working to give our landowners greater optionality when it comes to perpetual conservation easements.

Farmers and ranchers are also concerned about having access to capital, particularly during tough times like this in order to keep their operations above water. As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, I have been looking closely at proposals to provide additional capital to ag lenders who provide both commercial and residential loans to producers. We have heard from producers that increasing the cap on the Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan guarantee limit will open up much-needed capital for farmers and ranchers.

With the current farm bill expiring in just over a year, it is important to begin discussions now about changes that need to be made in the next farm bill. Hearing firsthand from farmers and ranchers about their experiences with federal ag programs is crucial. We must make certain that federal policies work with – rather than against – our producers as they work to feed a growing global population.

I thank those who took time out of their day to visit with us at Dakotafest this year and I encourage all those involved in agriculture to remain engaged in the coming year as we continue to shape the next farm bill in Congress.

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Thoughts from Dakotafest
By Rep. Kristi Noem

Farming is one of the only businesses where you take out massive loans at the beginning of the year, bury that money in the ground in the form of seed and fertilizer, then hope and pray there’s something to harvest in the fall. Despite the risk, it’s important we grow our own food, and that understanding has made the Farm Bill a bipartisan priority for decades. But as cities grow and families get further from America’s agricultural roots, it’s increasingly challenging to build support.

In 2014, I had to fight members of my own party to get the Farm Bill done, and I was proud the final legislation included a strong safety net for producers and a meaningful livestock disaster program. With the 2014 Farm Bill expiring in a little over a year, we’re beginning debate on what the next Farm Bill will look like, hopefully building in enough time to educate non-rural policymakers about why agriculture safety nets are necessary.

At Dakotafest this year, I had the opportunity to hear from producers about what they’d like to get out of the upcoming Farm Bill debates: what’s working, what isn’t, and what can be done about it.

Josh, a rancher near Wall, talked about the drought, its impact on his operation, and areas where disaster programs could be better. Many ranchers had to downsize their herds because they couldn’t access good feed, given the drought. Meanwhile, in other parts of the state, farmers were forced to destroy good hay that was harvested as part of certain CRP management practices. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what current policy requires.

Earlier this summer, I introduced the DRY Act, which would allow farmers to donate this hay to ranchers suffering from bad droughts or fires. It’s commonsense, and I’d like to see it included in the next Farm Bill.

I also heard from Mike, whose homestead near Hecla is older than South Dakota itself. As Mike put it, he’s always “two weeks from a drought and one night from a flood,” so even though it’s been a dry year, he had some serious concerns about the wetland determinations process.

Wetlands are protected for conservation purposes. If property is determined to be a wetland, certain changes – such as laying drain tile in a field – are not allowed without a landowner losing the ability to participate in federal Farm Bill programs and crop insurance. The determinations process has a history of backlogs, and in some cases, it can take years to get everything straightened out. That doesn’t work, which is why I wrote the Wetland Determinations Efficiency and Transparency Act. This legislation, which I’m hopeful will be in the next Farm Bill, aims to better ensure producers get timely determinations.

I also had a lot of discussions about various aspects of CRP. Many young farmers, for instance, are concerned that the ag economy can change significantly from year-to-year, and if CRP rates aren’t updated quickly enough, they can distort local rental markets, making it difficult to access productive farmland. Earlier this month, I introduced the Fair CRP Payment Act to better ensure CRP rates accurately reflect the current cost of renting farmland.

These legislative proposals are only the beginning. We’re working on a number of other bills as well, but I want to keep hearing from you about what more is needed. If I missed you at Dakotafest, catch me at another event. Call my office. Send an email. Now is the time to start setting the parameters for the next Farm Bill.

With each Farm Bill, fewer and fewer policymakers have a connection to agriculture. I like to remind them that while not everyone farms, everyone eats. Even still, it’s a tough climb. But I’ll keep fighting.

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There’s Something For Everyone At The State Fair
A column by Gov. Dennis Daugaard:

Before the season turns and the kids are fully immersed in school activities, there’s one more summer event you will want to experience. South Dakota’s great get-together, the State Fair, runs from Thursday, Aug. 31, to Monday, Sept. 4, in Huron. This year marks the 132^nd State Fair, and it’s an event you don’t want to miss.

For the last 10 years, the State Fair has charted a consistent trend of success, with year-over-year increases in virtually all areas. Since 2007, attendance has increased an incredible 40 percent, from 151,000 to more than 210,000, and with good weather, we may set another all-time record in 2017.

For a few days each year, the fairgrounds become a community unto itself. Be sure to stop at the FFA Ag Adventure Center and ask a state officer how their year of service is going. Take a walk through the exhibition halls and chat with 4-H’ers about their projects. Visit with the vendors. Stroll over for some cotton candy or go on a carnival ride. Test your skill in the arm wrestling competition, the jitterbugging contest or the pork and chili cook-offs.

You can experience a taste of the Old West at the bull riding and cowboy mounted shooting events. Sample a South Dakota beverage at the wine pavilion, or reminisce with an old friend on a trolley ride around the grounds. There really is something for everyone.

The State Fair is a celebration of agriculture and the history of the industry which dates back prior to statehood. On the morning of Thursday, Aug. 31, at 10 a.m. at the Dakotaland Stage, we will celebrate South Dakota farms and ranches that have reached their 100-, 125- and 150-year anniversaries. If you plan to be in town I hope you can join me for that and for the Salute to Veterans ceremony which follows at 10:30 a.m. at the Northwestern Energy Freedom Stage. The ceremony is a chance to honor our veterans and their families for the sacrifices they have made.

I am proud of our State Fair. It’s a one-of-a-kind celebration of agriculture and community. Consider marking the dates on your calendar and making plans to come out for at least one day. I hope to see you there.

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Team Jackley was also in Yankton today, and participated in the Riverboat days parade.

The Kristi Noem for Governor crew is at the Riverboat Days parade in Yankton this morning, including a large chunk of the Noem family, as well as State Representative Larry Rhoden (he’s the one in the cowboy hat).

Remember how the terrorist movement ISIS has been on a years long crusade to erase the history of other cultures it objects to in the Middle East?

THE beheadings, this time, were performed with hammer and drill, not sword or knife—for the victims were made of stone, not flesh. The destruction of ancient statues (some replicas) at the Mosul museum in Iraq, a video of which was released on February 26th, is far from the most heinous crime committed by Islamic State (IS). The jihadists have killed thousands of people, often in grisly fashion. But the group’s sacking of holy sites and libraries are elements of a broader attack, perpetrated in the name of Islam, on the Middle East’s rich cultural and religious heritage.

Read that here.

What does it say when a newspaper advocates for a similar erasure of history, as the Argus Leader does in an editorial this weekend:

We believe there is a difference between learning from history and paying unexamined reverence to a whitewashed version of the past. The removal of Confederate statues and monuments from public lands is appropriate.

Read it here.

“The removal of Confederate statues and monuments from public lands is appropriate.” Wow. Calls for censorship coming from a newspaper are nothing less than shocking.   As opposed to “comforting the afflicted, and the afflicting the comfortable,” the Argus Leader’s editorial board is choosing to lead by joining the groupthink mob. 

I can’t help but ask in opposition to their call for hiding away all the things we disagree with, who is paying “unexamined reverence” to any work of public art? 

Isn’t the point of art to make us think? To make us contemplate?

I would not give a statue of a Confederate soldier any more undue ‘reverence’ than I would a bronze statue of a president on the corner in Rapid City.  They don’t place statues with the ability to control our minds. They are there to make us remember our nation’s history in our own context. Warts and all.

Right now, context matters little to the mobs. The zealots are going so far to damage civil war peace memorials, because they think they somehow glorify the Confederacy. In another case, people were damaging trees at a civil war museum with baseball bats. Seriously, trees now too?

It’s hard to contemplate anything when mobs of ideological zealots are destroying anything they don’t like. And it’s even worse when they’re joined by those who claim to be our local opinion leaders, such as the Argus.

Nationally, calls for censorship have gotten so bad lately that the people who run the Gettysburg Battlefield made a statement about confederate monuments at that location:

Katie Lawhon, a senior adviser for the National Park Service’s Gettysburg office, told the Reading Eagle that the monuments dedicated to Confederacy will remain in place. They’re an important part of the cultural landscape, she said.

The National Park Service owns and maintains the Gettysburg site. It includes over 1,300 statues, markers and other monuments, which help tell the story of the battle.

Thirty of the monuments are dedicated to Confederate states that sent troops to the battle, Confederate military units or individuals like Robert E. Lee.

“The National Park Service is committed to safeguarding these unique and site-specific memorials in perpetuity, while simultaneously interpreting historically and objectively the actions, motivations and causes of the soldiers and states they commemorate,” she wrote in an email, the Eagle said.

Read that here.

The staff at the Gettysburg Battlefield national memorial actually felt they had to make a statement about safeguarding our nation’s heritage.  What does that say about how far some people are willing to go? 

We should be collectively shocked there are those who want to erase any mention that a nation took up arms against itself – including families fighting on opposite sides of the conflict. Are we not supposed to remember a conflict that shook our nation to its core?

Stating the intent to keep the monuments at Gettysburg National Battlefield would appear to be contrary to the Argus’ Editorial board’s demand that “The removal of Confederate statues and monuments from public lands is appropriate.”   You might say “well, that’s an extreme example,” but, isn’t it what they said should happen?  Those are public lands. And that’s where their path of censorship inevitably leads.

More than ever we need to recall the terrible price we paid as the nation was divided, and we fought amongst ourselves. Even as self-appointed thought leaders call for all reminders to be hidden.

Flyover country loves Trump. pic.twitter.com/ojmfBdsV2H

— Brown County GOP-SD (@BrownCountyGOPS) August 16, 2017

We loved having @SenJohnThune here at @TheBCFair. pic.twitter.com/FyvKPXyG9K

— Brown County GOP-SD (@BrownCountyGOPS) August 18, 2017

WOW. @martyjackley and @shantelkrebs hanging out at our booth today. @TheBCFair pic.twitter.com/jpQ1U0JnyD

— Brown County GOP-SD (@BrownCountyGOPS) August 18, 2017

Mark Mickelson announced this week that he is no longer going to pursue a third ballot measure this election, choosing to drop pursuit of a disclosure measure for groups:

Noem Looks to Break Cycle of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Trafficking 

Sioux Falls, S.D. – Rep. Kristi Noem today met with local advocates and law enforcement officials at the Compass Center in Sioux Falls to discuss strategies to help break the cycle of violence and trafficking in South Dakota.Noem was joined by advocates from the Compass Center, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Department, South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, New Colossus, and the Sioux Falls Police Department.

“Around one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, and as the mom of two daughters, that’s a cycle I’m committed to breaking,” said Noem. “Whether a woman faces violence at home, on a college campus, or as the result of a human trafficker, I want to ensure organizations like the Compass Center have the resources and flexibility necessary to provide a way out and a hope for the future. Alongside their efforts, we must make sure survivors are supported. Because women who experience violence are more likely to fall into poverty, our anti-poverty programs must be effective in giving them a path to upward mobility.”

“Sexual and domestic violence are hard topics to discuss, especially as a community. The facts are that South Dakota ranks second in the United States for number of forcible rapes per capita,” said the Compass Center Executive Director, Michelle Markgraf. “The Compass Center appreciates having Rep. Kristi Noem on our campus and hosting a forum to discuss these issues. Her willingness to bring attention to these tough issues is vital to increasing awareness and finding solutions.”

Among other areas, the group discussed the importance of collaboration between law enforcement and advocacy groups, which many noted South Dakota does better than other states. The need to better support mental health and rehabilitation services – particularly in rural communities – was also a main topic of discussion.

Additionally, Noem highlighted proposed investments into the Office of Violence Against Women, which provides much of the federal grant funding for domestic violence shelters, including those attending today’s roundtable. Under the current House proposal and President Trump’s proposal, support for the Office would increase by  $20-$70 million over FY2017 levels, even though overall government spending would decrease.

The Compass Center provides crisis intervention, advocacy, counseling, and prevention education service to those impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

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I am a District 9 state senator, the chair of the legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee, and a certified public accountant.  In those roles, I get a lot of questions about the GEAR UP Grant and Mid-Central Education Coop. With all the news coverage and the claims being made, it is confusing and would I’d like to set the record straight with a few facts as I know them:

1. The heart of this matter is an embezzlement scandal involving Mid Central Coop’s former business manager, Scott Westerhuis. Mid Central Coop was created by a group of small school districts, and it is controlled by a board made up of representatives from those districts. Auditors have found that $1.4 million from Mid Central’s bank account is not accounted for.
2. That missing $1.4 million was not GEAR UP money. GEAR UP is a federal program to help at-risk high school students go to college, and in South Dakota it is used to help Native Americans. Mid Central administered the program for the State of South Dakota. The federal funds went to the state Department of Education (SD DOE). Mid Central would submit receipts to SD DOE, and if the expenses were related to the federal program, Mid Central would be reimbursed. Although some GEAR UP dollars may not have been spent effectively, the audit did not find that any GEAR UP money was missing and no money was stolen from the State.
3. Secretary of Education Melody Schopp has been accused of illegal and unethical conduct which has been based on hearsay and rhetoric not facts. What hasn’t been stated correctly is because of the SD DOE oversight of the federal grant; GEAR UP had fewer problems than the other direct federal programs that Mid Central administered without state oversight. Audit Reports show the other direct federal grants (not GEAR UP) administered by Mid Central had a myriad of issues.
4. In fact, although some people like to talk about “Pierre insiders” or “establishment Republicans,” that is exactly who found and exposed the Mid Central wrongdoing.
   1. Going back to 2012, concerns by SD DOE staff led to increased oversight of and reporting by Mid Central. The Department of Legislative Audit, which answers to the Republican-controlled legislature, found compliance and oversight problems that SD DOE attempted to require Mid Central to fix.
   2. And in 2015 when Mid Central failed to improve, Secretary Schopp terminated Mid Central’s contract. Even before the Westerhuis tragedy attracted press attention, our Republican-controlled Government Operations and Audit Committee held public hearings on this very issue, at which the SD DOE staff and Mid Central staff offered testimony.
   3. And it was Attorney General Jackley who investigated the embezzlement scandal and is pursuing criminal charges against those involved.

5. South Dakota state officials have taken many steps to learn from this situation and to enhance procedures and improve operations.
   1. In 2016, Governor Daugaard and Lt. Governor Michels proposed a new Board of Internal Controls and adopted by the Legislature, which created strict and detailed new policies for entities receiving grants and contracts, to prevent another Mid Central-like situation from happening.
   2. In, 2017, Attorney General Jackley proposed legislation and adopted by the legislature that strengthened prosecutors’ ability to pursue public corruption and conflict-of-interest cases.
   3. In 2016 and 2017, Speaker Mickelson and myself led the efforts to create tough new laws on conflicts of interests by state employees, school officials and public board members.
   4. And in 2017, State Rep. Karen Soli, a Democrat, sponsored legislation to create a new Government Accountability Board, made up of non-political retired judges, to investigate and respond to ethical complaints.
   5. Every one of these steps have been received with broad bipartisan support.
   6. In 2018 Government Operations and Audit Committee will have additional proposals to shut down even more loopholes presented during the current hearings in process.

This is a big topic and I can’t cover everything in one op-ed. But I want people to know these facts. There are always those who grandstand or use a tragedy for their own political purposes. My priority for the Government Operations and Audit Committee is to understand the FACTS about what exactly happened, and to make tangible improvements to our processes to ensure nothing like this tragedy happens again.