Aug 08 2012
Argus Leader: Thanking farmers with food at Sioux Empire Fair
Annual event brings ag people together
By Mark Walker
Thousands of area farmers came out to the 73rd Sioux Empire Fair on Wednesday for a free meal and a brief breath of fresh air away from their drought-related woes.
The 29th annual Agriculture Appreciation Day, sponsored by Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, paid tribute to farmers and ranchers across the state.
“The Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and other area business would like to recognize what farmers and ranchers do,” said Cindy Christenson, agriculture business division manager for the chamber. “They produce the food we all eat on a daily basis.”
This time, however, the chamber was the one providing food and free fair access to farmers and ranchers as a small token of appreciation.
Christenson said each year, more than 7,000 admission tickets are distributed and more than 4,000 people are expected to attend the event.
“I’m guessing there are about 4,000 people here, the stands are pretty full,” she said. “We typically only see about 60 percent of the people who receive tickets actually attend the event.”
More than 260 volunteers and 200 businesses helped sponsor, cook and serve grilled pork loin sandwiches to all those attending.
“It’s a great day for the broader community to say thanks to those who are working in agriculture and keeping our economy going,” said U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Agriculture is South Dakota’s number one industry, with a $20.9 billion economic impact, according to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture.
The state’s top crops produced are corn, soybeans, wheat and hay.
Roughly 40 percent of the corn produced goes toward the production of ethanol. The state has 15 ethanol plants that produce almost 1 billion gallons per year, which accounts for 10 percent of the nation’s ethanol supply, according to the Agriculture Department.
South Dakota has the nation’s highest number of farmer-owned plants and is fourth in total ethanol production.
“Our economy, though we would like to think it has become more diversified, which it has, still strongly depends on agriculture,” Thune said.
Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether said he hoped by the end of Ag Appreciation Day, farmers across the state would know how important they are to the city.
“(In) the city of Sioux Falls, our foundation is agriculture,” he said. “When farmers of South Dakota do well, the city of Sioux Falls does extremely well.”
The drought has made it difficult for farmers to produce large amounts of corn and soybeans. However, wheat farmers say the crop has been thriving during this dry spell, which has some wishing they would have invested in the crop.
“Corns and beans haven’t been doing so well this season, but wheat has. Now I wish we would have planted some,” said Delores Benson of Hurley.
Once the festivities come to an end, farmers will direct their attention to the farm bill.
U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., said the nation’s drought has been tragic for those in agriculture and not having a farm bill could be detrimental to our country.
“Agriculture is so important to our state,” she said. “We are working to get a farm bill done; essentially, the bill is five years long, and it needs to be reauthorized once it expires in September.”
Twenty percent of the bill outlines farm programs such as crop insurance and livestock disaster programs. The other 80 percent would focus on nutrition programs such as foods stamps and school lunch programs.
The bipartisan bill has experienced a hold up during its journey through Congress, but Huether said regardless of what issues are holding the reauthorization of the bill up, it needs to get passed before farmer and families suffer.
“No more … let’s get some stuff done in D.C. for these farmers and families out here.”