South Dakota VOLUME CII, NO. 3
HURON, SD
APRIL 2017
UNION FARMER A PUBLICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION
Leadership Training
Legislative Scorecard
Oren Lesmeister Reflects on Legislature
Page 9
Page 16
Page 18
Members Help Pass E30 Resolution During 2017 National Farmers Union Convention
S.D. Farmers Union Celebrates the Mendel Farm Family of Doland
S.D. Farmers Union President Doug Sombke speaks up for E30 policy. Sombke and the South Dakota delegation helped pass E30 resolution and worked to reinstate COOL during the 2017 National Farmers Union Convention. For the rest of the story, turn to page 5.
S
outh Dakota Farmers Union members stepped up to voice their support for Premium E30 during the 2017 National Farmers Union Convention held March 5-8 in San Diego, Calif.
NFU Wrapup Continued on Page 5
WANTED Everyday Heroes! Who makes a difference in your rural community? We want to honor them. South Dakota Farmers Union is taking nominations for the 2017 Rural Dakota Pride Awards. Contact Karla Hofhenke for more information. Karla@sdfu.org or www.sdfufoundation.org.
South Dakota Farmers Union has served South Dakota farm and ranch families for more than a century. Throughout the year, we share their stories in order to highlight the families who make up our state’s No. 1 industry and help feed the world. This month we highlight the Mendel farm family of Doland. Pictured here left to right: Dave, Judy, Don, Lavonne, Grace, Miles, Jill, Merrit, Shem, 4, and Leon Brondsema.
D
on Mendel was 9 when his dad first let him drive the gray Ford Ferguson tractor across the field. He wasn’t unsupervised. His dad, Joe, was beside him pulling a twobottom plow with a team of five-work horses. “Dad liked horses and kept them around longer than lots of the neighbors,” explains the 83-year-old Doland farmer. “He put me on that Ford tractor and would let me drive as fast as he was going with those horses. We would plow together and thought we were turning over a lot of ground.” Retired since 2000, Don can still be found driving machinery across the fields that his twin sons, Merrit and Miles, 45, now manage with the help of his grandsons and four employees. “Farming is in our blood,” Don says. His brother, Dave, agrees.
Mendel Family Continued on Page 2