A Letter From Your SDCUC President: Jim Ketelhut (Spring 2024)

We are in the process of putting Old Man Winter behind us for another year. An important season for us in agriculture, it has given us time to slow down, recharge our batteries and reflect on the past year. Many of us use this as a chance to evaluate our operations and reflect on what worked and what we maybe want to put behind us.

The financial challenges and tight margins are ever present in agriculture and we are always conscious of the dollars we spend, and how to best use those dollars. Some of these capital expenditures have a quick turnover rate, such as fertilizer, seed and chemicals. For example, some take a longer amount of time to justify their expense including machinery and land. This is precisely what we do on the SDCUC, we are ever mindful of the importance of the checkoff dollars and the impact they can have.

This past year we helped support Feeding South Dakota, which helps to combat hunger in the state. Our advertising campaign supports the ethanol market and we have been engaged with research in-state as well as multi-state projects to determine consumer sentiment which helps mold our message. We continually support organizations such as the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Meat Export Federation as they work to maintain and expand overseas markets. These examples are just a few of the many worthy projects and long-standing relationships we as the Council invest in.

Just as in production agriculture, it is always a challenging decision as to where to place checkoff dollars. Some have faster payback such as participating in a Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) while a research project we fund today might not have an impact for 5 to 10 years. Rest assured that the SDCUC board and I take this responsibility seriously.