E-Seminar on Agriculture, Climate, and Environment
By Seminar Reporter Sarah Myers
After a brief recess following our busy winter seminars, Class XIII congregated virtually for our E-Seminar on Agriculture, Climate, and Environment. The session was focused on the complex relationship between agriculture, energy, and our air, land, and water.
The leadoff speaker, Heath Johnson, spoke about his experience implementing wind and solar projects on private land. His company, Dakota Plains Energy, works as the project developer between finding the landowners and a company to finance the project. He discussed many of the challenges in renewable energy development and how he analyzes where successful projects should be located. It was interesting to learn about wind and solar projects from his point of view and to learn how long the process can be to get a project online.
Next up, Ken Royse from the Missouri River Joint Water Board spoke extensively about the Missouri River. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the dams and how much the states fought amongst themselves over control of the river. He briefly touched on future water allocation and states that may want to use the Missouri River as a water source. It’s important for us to be aware of this as it could adversely affect things like tourism, hydroelectric power generation, and agriculture in South Dakota.
We then heard from Laura Edwards, the South Dakota State Climatologist. She spoke about our warming weather patterns and the potential effects on agriculture. One interesting point she brought up was the increase in large precipitation events, versus historically we had smaller, more widespread precipitation. Laura also highlighted tools that SDSU extension has developed regarding weather and agriculture that are available on Mesonet, like the Livestock Stress Indicator, Spray Tools, and Mesonet weather information. She also shared an upcoming drought management meetings that will be held on June 17th.
The USDA Farm Service Agency was next on the agenda, with Gail Gullickson speaking about FSA, its programs, and the importance of running for county committee. She had a lot of enthusiasm and was very encouraging about county committees. Roger Chase, FSA State Executive Director, spoke about the leadership experiences that led to his role, including FFA, post-secondary ag students, County Commissioner, and State House of Representatives. When speaking about his leadership journey, he also made it clear that family was important as he took time off from being a leader to be a dad. His best advice was to focus on public speaking, and that there was room for all of us to be active participants in community leadership roles.
Our last speaker of the day was Dr. Edson Costa-Filho from South Dakota Mines, who talked about sustainable water management and its relevance in South Dakota. He spoke a lot about our current water management systems and technology farmers can use to improve, like spatial data from drones layered with evapotranspiration maps to see water infiltration, drain tile systems to capture nitrogen runoff, and riparian buffers to increase water quality and decrease erosion. We need water for our livelihoods and water as a resource, so ensuring water quality is an important thing for us to think about.
Closing out the day was Seminar Team Leader Allie Arp. She moved everyone when she spoke about mental health awareness, highlighting her personal experiences. As we all know, farmers and ranchers are too often silent about their mental health struggles, which can have devastating outcomes. Allie’s story reinforced that we don’t always know what our friends are struggling with, and that even the happiest can look very different behind closed doors. The class reflected on the day’s conversations and got a preview of our next seminar, July 7-9, in Mitchell.
Special thanks to Seminar Team Leader Allie Arp
