Saturday morning
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HURON – South Dakota is already leading the nation with its precision agriculture degree programs, and now with the help of private industries it is poised to build a state-of-the-art facility to house them at South Dakota State University, a District 22 legislator said.
Raven Industries is donating $5 million and other companies are stepping up and pledging to contribute as well, Rep. Roger Chase, R-Huron, said Saturday.
Agriculture practices have changed tremendously since he said he began farming 30 years ago.
SDSU offers a four-year degree and two minors in precision agriculture, the first land-grant university to do so, and now it will have a facility to replace a 60-year-old building.
Whether the rest of the funding can be identified by legislators this year, or this year and in 2019, Sen. Jim White, R-Huron, said he’s confident it will be done.
Legislators spoke on issues affecting Huron and the rest of the state at Saturday’s final Coffee with the Legislators forum of the session.
As he opened his remarks, Chase told the large audience that two of the 70 members of the House haven’t been in Pierre this winter.
Both are preachers and both are battling cancer, he said.
They are from both sides of the aisle and from each end of the state.
Rep. Karen Soli, D-Sioux Falls, and Rep. Sean McPherson, R-Rapid City, are on the minds and in the prayers of their fellow legislators each day, Chase said.
“It begins to be a little reflection on what’s important,” he said.
Roger Larsen/plainsman
A standing room only audience defied the heavy snow Saturday morning to attend the Coffee with the Legislators at Huron’s City Hall. Huron resident Mark Smith speaks during Saturday’s Coffee with the Legislators.