Gov. Noem Announces Plan to Keep Farmers Farming
PIERRE, SD – This week in her State of the State Address, Governor Kristi Noem announced a plan to keep farmers farming in South Dakota. This plan features an agreement between the State of South Dakota, the South Dakota Ag Foundation, and First Dakota National Bank to transfer First Dakota’s Keep Farmers Farming program to the South Dakota Ag Foundation. The partnership provides additional resources to the program and makes critical estate and transition planning assistance available to South Dakota ag producers.
“We need a robust, diverse food supply, and our family farms are one of the most crucial parts of that,” said Governor Kristi Noem in her State of the State Address. “Family farms and ranches have a special connection to the land that has been in their family for generations. The partnership works with farm and ranch families on estate and transition planning. It helps our producers pass along their land and legacy to their kids and grandkids. It’s about transferring not just assets – but experience, work ethic, morals, and history to the next generation.”
As part of the agreement, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) will provide the South Dakota Ag Foundation with a one-year $200,000 grant to administer, market, and grow the program. First Dakota’s Legacy Consultant Alan Hojer, along with his existing clientele, will transfer to the Ag Foundation. There will be no loss of service for existing program participants.
“First Dakota is proud of the Keep Farmers Farming program and the success it has had helping South Dakota producers,” said Nate Franzén, President of First Dakota’s Ag Banking Division. “As we approach the largest transfer of wealth in American history, now is the time to position the Keep Farmers Farming program for long-term success.”
The South Dakota Ag Foundation was formed in 2015 as an independent, industry-led nonprofit comprised of South Dakota leaders dedicated to enriching agriculture for generations to come.
“The Ag Foundation is excited about the opportunity to manage the Keep Farmers Farming Program,” said Kyle Holt, South Dakota Ag Foundation CEO. “We appreciate the state’s support as we work build on First Dakota’s success.”
The partnership is a result of the work of an informal emerging farmer workgroup led by Governor Noem to brainstorm ideas on how the state and the ag industry can more actively support the next generation of ag producers. The group, which included young producers, ag industry representatives, state and federal agencies, ag lenders, and ag educators, met twice of over the last year. During the meetings, one need continued to rise to the surface: access to estate and transition planning technical assistance.
“Far too often, I see family farms sold due to lack of proper estate and transition planning,” said Tyrel Eisenbraun, emerging farmer workgroup member. “Those planning decisions are complicated, and our producers need help navigating them. I look forward to the additional support the State of South Dakota will be able to provide to the Keep Farmers Farming program as it will continue to help our producers for years to come.”
The Future is Bright!
Nate Franzen
The SD Ag Foundation is going places.
As Chairman of the Board, I’d like to share some updates. The Foundation has much to be proud of with our short history. We are still a very new Foundation accepting endowments for the benefit of South Dakota’s number one industry, agriculture. To date, we have built an endowment in excess of $3 million. This makes us viable for the long term. We thank all our investors and early supporters for helping make this happen. We also thank Chris Maxwell and the Maxwell Strategies team for helping us along the way.
In June, we announced the appointment of Kyle Holt as our first Chief Executive Officer. Kyle’s extensive background in agriculture, leadership, and advocacy makes him uniquely suited to lead the Foundation into a new era of growth and impact. Throughout his career, he has held key leadership positions, including Deputy Secretary at the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, Director at the South Dakota Secretary of State's office, and Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner of School and Public Lands. His roles have involved managing operations, fostering partnerships to advance the goals of the organizations, and coordinating legislative efforts for the organizations he has served.
The Board of Directors also took time to go through a comprehensive strategic planning process. This was time well spent! We have a much clearer plan and path for the future.
First, we refined our mission and vision which will help us more clearly communicate our activity this day forward. Our new mission is: Enriching Agriculture for generations to come. Our new vision statement is: To be the South Dakota Ag community’s trusted philanthropic partner.
We expanded the size of the Board and established several committees to help the Foundation make the most of our efforts and resources. These committees include the Asset Development Committee (fundraising), Asset Management Committee (fiduciary to assure proper investment of our funds), and Asset Distribution Committee (grant making). I’m excited about the new talent that has joined our Board to further leverage our strong existing Board member group.
Finally, we set a new goal for our endowment. We want to reach $6 million by the end of 2026 (6 by 26).
The Ag Foundation Board and staff have a new level of excitement as we move to our next phase. I’ve never been more confident we will reach new heights and be a growing asset to South Dakota’s Ag community. The future is definitely bright!
Opportunities and Challenges
Kyle Holt
If you’re from South Dakota, agriculture has always had a unique impact on your life. Maybe you grew up on a family farm, just as I did, and understood that family vacations would be planned around planting season and harvest. Maybe it meant that Saturday was only a day off if it was raining. Even if you didn’t grow up directly involved with agriculture, you knew that slow moving farm equipment on the highway would regularly test your parents’ patience when they were already running late. That’s part of living in our wonderful state. While we have grown used to those consistencies, agriculture is changing, right before our very eyes.
Advancements in technology have made agriculture look much different than what previous generations could have imagined. Autosteer and the use of drones are now commonplace on the farm. It’s just as important for an operator to be part tech support as it is to be part mechanic. These advancements have led to great opportunities in agriculture for the next generation. Families are finding ways to diversify their operations to ensure opportunities for one child, or possibly two or three, to be supported by the family farm or ranch. Much like advancements in technology, the trend of seeing operations transition from one generation to the next isn’t going to slow down in the coming years. Over the next decade, a significant number of farms and ranches, along with billions of dollars in assets, will change hands.
Although change brings new opportunities, it also brings new challenges. These challenges mean growing pains for farms and ranches. The next generation will be tasked with taking advantage of new opportunities while navigating through a very different world than the one their parents and grandparents operated in. As the ag community’s trusted philanthropic partner in our state, the South Dakota Ag Foundation is committed to changing and evolving right along with the industry. Since forming in 2015, we’ve awarded over 100 grants totaling more than $165,000. With more than $3 million in endowed funds, we are looking to build on our momentum and expand our impact.
As agriculture continues to evolve in our state, so will the South Dakota Ag Foundation through renewed partnerships and creative initiatives. We are excited to find new ways to make a difference, helping to preserve the way of life we all know and love, while ensuring success for generations to come.
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