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Center of the Nation Wool navigates a struggling market
BBY ARIANA SCHUMACHER Agweek
ELLE FOURCHE, S.D. — Nestled in the town of Belle Fourche lies the Center of the Nation Wool Warehouse.
This regional company supports wool producers in South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.
“Anywhere that there’s quality wool, we have a footprint,” said Larry Prager, CEO of Center of the Nation Wool.
The business was incorporated in 1984 by a group of local shepherds with a goal to market their wool together in hopes of gaining more traction in the marketplace. They have around 100 stockholders.
Center of the Nation Wool mostly sells the commodity for the producers, with the occasional order buying if the markets are active.
“Just generally, the wools come in on what we call consignment, and they might remain here for at least 30 days,” Prager said. “In some cases, they are going to store here for a while, if the market is inactive or if they choose to store their wool away for a better opportunity.”
In 2024, the company will have moved around 5 million pounds of wool through the facility. That accounts for about 20% of the United States wool supply.
Prager said that the wool market is largely overseas.
“We are clearly an export commodity,” he said. “If the machinery in the United States was running full bore at full capacity, we only have processing capacity for about half of the wool that we shear each spring and so the other half has to be exported.”
NatioN Wool: J5
ariana Schumacher / agweek
Larry Prager, CEO of Center of the Nation Wool in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, stands in front of the wool bales in the warehouse.
NatioN Wool
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Markets are driven by textiles, fashion and economics.
Export wool markets are difficult when the United States has a strong dollar, or when political and economic events hit the marketplace, Prager said.
“Wool market, it’s been tough, and it’s been tough for a while,” he said.
The United States only produces about 1% to 2% of the world’s wool. He said ever since the pandemic, the textile markets, specifically wool, have struggled.
“Processing for wool, for all textiles really, the machinery is located in China primarily, a little bit in India,” Prager said. “So worldwide, our wools have to compete with wools from Australia, New Zealand, South America, South Africa, and that’s sometimes the difficult part.”
At Center of the Nation Wool, the wool is marketed to processors. Most of their wool ships to Chargeurs in Jamestown, South Carolina.
“They are a top maker, but they are also the key part of the supply chain where wools get processed that go into the U.S. military dress uniform fabrics,” Prager said. “As long as I’ve been around the industry here in western South Dakota, the military
“ANYWHERE THAT THERE’S QUALITY WOOL, WE HAVE A FOOTPRINT”
LARRY PRAGER, CEO OF CENTER OF THE NATION WOOL
cloth order has been the backbone of everything that goes on here. We are going to supply about half of the wool for that particular order.”
For wool markets bounce back, Prager said higher consumer demand for wool products will be needed.
“When COVID came along, we can’t blame everything on COVID forever, we just can’t do that, but realistically people stopped going to the office, shoppers stopped shopping and that all happened at once,” he explained.
“The sheep never stopped growing wool.”
Certain types of wool are struggling more than others.
Larry Prager shows what the wool inside the bales looks like.
USDA invests $5 million to support tribal students
BY ARIANA SCHUMACHER Agweek
BROOKINGS, S.D. — On Nov. 15, the USDA announced an investment of $5 million to support tribal students at 15 different land-grant colleges and universities across the country.
One of the schools chosen for the New Beginning for Tribal Students grant was South Dakota State University. The university has received the grant from the USDA in the past.
“It’s called the Igluwiyeya program, which means to prepare oneself. So, it’s just a continuation essentially of the work that we’ve already been doing,” Keely Eagleshield, program coordinator for the Wokini Initiative at South Dakota State University.
The Igluwiyeya program is used to enhance student success, both at SDSU and other partnering tribal colleges and universities.
One thing they do is hire college access liaisons that are essentially outreach coordinators in tribal communities.
“What they do is help student understand how to apply for college, what programs are a good fit for them and then get them connected with SDSU,” Eagleshield said.
They also put some funding toward summer programming.
“Which is something that we have tried to explore in the past,” Eagleshield said. “This time around we’re really looking forward to enhancing summer programming for visiting students, for high school students and then we are also using the fund for supporting existing students.”
The difference between this new grant and the previous funding is that now it will be used to support high school students and current students looking to achieve higher degrees.
“Before it wasn’t really looking at high degrees, it was just looking at students trying to graduate. But now that we’ve increased our numbers, we’re really trying to see what we can do to support our students that want to pursue a higher degree,” Eagleshield said. “A lot of the Wokini scholars that we have now are looking at doing Ph.D. programs, master’s degrees, so we want to really support that endeavor for them.”
Although this grant is awarded by the USDA, it reaches more degree paths than just students studying agriculture.
“That is a misconception that I think a lot of people do have about the USDA grant opportunities; it isn’t just agriculture in the way that many people think of it. Even though it is agriculturally based, they do support an umbrella of degrees and pathways,” Eagleshield said.
Eagleshield says that while many people think that Native American students struggle with completing higher education degrees because of financial issues, that is just a small part of it.
“The overall issues that students have when they come to college is feeling like they don’t belong, so they lack that sense of belonging,” she said. “So, with this type of grant opportunity, we can support students programming so that they feel more comfortable on campus and then can succeed in that way. Then the financial backing is a small portion that again, every student
faces that issue, so we are just making the students a little more comfortable culturally here on campus.”
Eagleshield hopes that with this new funding, they are able to prepare students to reach higher education goals and be able to prepare students to leave a lasting impact on their communities.
“A lot of them want to go back to their communities, they want to help the reservations grow, but they just don’t know how to do that,” she said. “So, with this new granting opportunity, a huge piece of it, I really hope to see what programming and what opportunities the students can build and help Wokini Initiative build with those tribal communities and create partnerships and more long-lasting opportunities for those communities.”
Other area schools that received this funding include Montana State University, Salish Kootenai College and University of Wyoming.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
South Dakota State University was one of 15 schools chosen to receive the New Beginning for Tribal Students grant.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
Keely Eagleshield, program coordinator for the Wokini Initiative at South Dakota State University.
SDSU student-athlete turns family tragedy into farm safety mission
BY KENNEDY TESCH Agweek
For South Dakota State University senior Jaiden Boomsma, tragedy struck when her younger brother, Jaxon, died in a farm incident. But in the years since, Jaiden and her family have transformed that pain into purpose, becoming advocates for farm safety and working to keep her brother's memory alive.
Jaxon, just 7 years old at the time of the incident, was riding on a tractor without a cab when he fell off while visiting their grandparents’ farm in Wessington, South Dakota. The Boomsmas, who live in Yankton, South Dakota, have a long tradition of spending holidays at the farm, and the tragic event happened in April 2017, just before the Easter holiday weekend.
“Jaxon loved to help with the chores on the farm, he liked to help my grandpa feed in the mornings. He also liked the sandbox that my grandma and grandpa had,” Jaiden said. “Other than that, it was really just about family time when we were there.”
Together, the Boomsmas have channeled their grief into spreading awareness about the dangers that can happen on a farm, focusing on issues like tractor and grain bin safety. Jaiden's aunt, Mary, and her father, Troy, wrote and published a book designed to teach children how to stay safe on the farm. Jaiden was able to help write and review some of the pages and pictures included in the book along with her siblings, Callie and Carter.
The book emphasizes the dangers of farm equipment, such as the importance of tractors having safety cabs and proper seats for children.
safety: J9
Kennedy tesch / agweek
Jaiden Boomsma holding her family's book, written in memory of her younger brother who died in a farm related incident in 2017. The book promotes farm safety for children and uses pictures based on their grandparents' farm near Wessington, South Dakota.
The book also touches on grain bin safety, animal handling, and appropriate clothing for farm work.
The Boomsma family made sure the book was as personal as possible; many of the animals and settings are based on their own experiences at their grandparents’ farm, where Jaxon spent so many happy hours riding four-wheelers, helping with chores, and playing with animals.
“He was one of the most bubbly people you'd ever meet. He had a smile that lit up any room that you'd go into, which is why our mission is to keep his smile alive,” Jaiden said. “Many of the pictures in the book are based directly off of our grandparents' farm. So, the whole entire book is very personal for us.”
In addition to writing the book, the Boomsmas have also been involved in farm safety outreach, visiting schools around South Dakota to present safety lessons to students.
After watching her father work through his grief by becoming an advocate for farm safety, Jaiden knew she wanted to get involved, too. Her goal is to educate young people about the hazards on farms, something she feels many kids don’t understand fully, even in farming communities.
“Living in the Midwest, obviously, farming is a huge deal for everybody. There's so many people that grew up on farms, or their grandparents live on farms, and not many kids understand the importance of farm safety,” Jaiden said. “So for us, spreading the awareness of farm safety and promoting it to children is so important because it's personal for us.”
Jaiden, who is also a track and field athlete at SDSU competing in sprinting and long jump, is studying business economics with a minor in marketing. With her interest in marketing, she has taken the message online through social media where she shares her personal story and advocates for farm
safety. Her posts share the emotional toll of losing a sibling and offer support to others who are grieving, especially those who have experienced similar losses.
“I wanted to post my personal story and how I've been affected, so I can not only promote farm safety, but be an outlet for other siblings who have grieved,” Jaiden said. “And I've noticed that's been a really big thing for me — being an outlet for sibling grief. I've noticed a lot of people go through that, and they don't talk about it enough.”
Through her social media presence, Jaiden has helped spread awareness of farm safety as well as the family’s book, leading to book orders from across the country.
“We've really been able to expand our reach for the amount of people that have seen our book, and it's pretty exciting to see that,” she said. “Social media has been a blessing for us, we've been able to reach a great audience across the United States. We've had people from various states order a book, and I thought that was pretty cool, being able to reach so many.”
Despite the personal pain behind their mission, Jaiden and her family have found strength in their efforts to honor Jaxon. For Jaiden, her journey is focused on turning her pain into a purpose.
“Knowing that we've been able to help other people through farm safety, but also helping people share their stories of stuff that they've been through. I think that's been very beneficial for me, knowing that we've been able to be a source of happiness for some people. A lot of people have gone through farm accidents, they've gone through accidents in general. Knowing that you're not alone — it was really nice to know that we're an outlet for some people.”
Those interested in learning more about farm safety or supporting the Boomsma family’s mission can visit their social media pages: Instagram (@keephissmilealive), TikTok (@jaidenboomer), and Facebook (Jaxon L. Boomsma Keep His Smile Alive Memorial). While they are working on a website, book orders can currently be placed through direct messages on these platforms.
Jaxon Boomsma
POET awards over $629,000 in community grants
BY ARIANA SCHUMACHER Agweek
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — This year, POET, the world's largest biofuel producer, donated around 150 grants totaling nearly $630,000 in funding through its 2024 Community Impact Grant Program.
“Giving back has always been a huge part of the culture here at POET,” said Miranda Broin, Director of Executive Communications at POET. “We’ve always been very involved both here in Sioux Falls and in all the communities where our plants exist.”
The program, which includes the POET headquarters in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, all 34 POET bioprocessing locations and its Savannah, Georgia, terminal received nearly 1,400 applications for the grant.
“We are really excited to set a record with this year’s grant program,” Broin said. “So that just goes to show how generous the team members here at POET are and how excited they are for the opportunity to give back to their friends and neighbors and causes in their local communities.”
The grant program was formalized two years ago. Organizations are able to apply for grants of up to $4,000. The program is based on three core pillars of causes: the earth, communities and the next generation.
“Then it comes down to the team members to select the ones that they would like to give back to and that was a wide variety of causes,” Broin said. “Some were local first responders, schools, 4-H and FFA programs, churches, other environmental groups, some were individuals who had important causes going on.”
Giving back to the community is an important part of POET’s business, according to Broin.
“At POET, we like to say that our mission is to change the world. But we know that changing the world starts at home,” Broin said. “We are really proud to be a part of these communities. They have been so good to us over the last 35-plus years, and so it’s important for us to be a good neighbor to all the folks that live in our communities as well.”
2025 will be the third year of this grant program and the company is hoping to see it continue to grow.
“We hope to see more and more applications come in. We hope to be able to give more back,” Broin said. “We are excited to see it grow and to see what it can do for all of our communities.”
Qualified individuals and organizations operating in POET-occupied communities can begin applying for the 2025 grants in April.
Corning, Iowa, POET staff present grant to Main Street Foundation.
Happy Holidays!
As we welcome another holiday season, we’d like to share our best wishes with all of the friends, neighbors and customers who make our community a home. We greatly appreciate your trust in us, and we look forward to serving you again soon in the New Year!
Howard FFA Chapter gives back by building community garden shed
HBY KENNEDY TESCH Agweek
OWARD, S.D. — The Howard FFA Chapter is putting the FFA motto, "Living to Serve," into action by building a shed for the community garden, providing a much-needed space for storage while teaching students valuable skills in construction, teamwork and leadership.
The community garden has been a staple in the Howard, South Dakota, community for a number of years, offering residents the chance to grow their own produce. However, tools and equipment for the garden had previously been left exposed to the elements, which prompted the idea for a storage shed.
With the help of a $500 grant from the South Dakota FFA Foundation, the students were able to begin construction on the shed to securely store garden tools and supplies, providing convenience and accessibility to local gardeners.
The grant from the South Dakota FFA Foundation is part of a special initiative to support service projects in local communities. The Foundation provides funding to FFA chapters across the state to encourage students to take on service-learning projects that benefit their communities.
Charlene Weber, an agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor at Howard School District, said this project allows her advanced ag structures class to apply the skills they are learning in the traditional classroom into a real life project.
"You're utilizing geometry, using math, you're using all kinds of different programs and stuff like that, that allows them to get that hands-on experience and learn how to build and be able to do that for themselves in the future,” Weber said.
Weber said the project provides a real impact on the community.
“More people have the opportunity to have plots in that community garden and have a place to store these or have an area where they can utilize tools they don't have, and they can share those tools,” she said. “The community garden really allows them to grow, you know, with such high, rising food prices, they can grow their own produce and have some of their own experience of growing a garden and production.”
While the shed project allows students to put into practice the technical skills they are learning in school, Weber believes it also
provides an opportunity for them to learn the importance of community.
“We ask them to support the FFA program, or support multiple different programs in the school, and hopefully, they (students) come back to support their community just as much as the community supports them,” Weber said.
Calvin Halverson, a senior Howard FFA member, said they are hoping to have the shed finished within the next few weeks and after construction is completed the project will collaborate with the school’s art program to have art students paint a community mural on the side of the shed.
“Right now, we're getting the siding on — we're just about done,” Halverson said. “We just have to finish one more wall of the siding, and we have to put the tin on for the roof yet.”
Tate Miller is also a senior Howard FFA member and said the shed project has shown him that when working on a project, it’s important to do your best as mistakes can have a real impact.
“The most challenging thing, I think, to me, though, is it's not our money that we're spending here,” Miller. “So if we mess something up, you lose boards, you lose money there. We have to do our best and not lose any material.”
Mason Jacobson, a senior Howard FFA member and chapter president, was recently a member of Howard FFA’s ag mechanics team where they placed 13th at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, in October and where he received an individual silver ranking.
He said being involved in the organization has helped him decide what he wants to do in the future as he plans to attend Mitchell Technical College in Mitchell, South Dakota, to study electrical construction and maintenance after graduation.
“FFA has helped me decide that, because that's where I started my electrical practice, pretty much because I did ag mechanics for a CDE (career and leadership development event),” Jacobson said.
For Jacobson, FFA is also an outlet for him to give back to his community through service projects like the shed.
“It makes me feel really good about what we're doing and I'm glad to give back to the community that's already given us so much,” he said.
Kennedy Tesch / Agweek
The Howard FFA Chapter in Howard, South Dakota, is utilizing a grant to construct a shed for the school's community garden.
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CONTINUED FROM J5
“Reality is today a lot of the shorter types, some of the coarser types, wools that are poorly prepared perhaps, they are almost impossible to turn them into cash,” Prager said.
Sheep numbers have also gone down. Prager has been selling wool for about 30 years and he estimates numbers have fallen by at least half. That’s why the company started exploring opportunities for growth in other states.
“In order for us to maintain our volume, our customer support, we have expanded it into other areas that 30 years ago we just never did,” he said.
“REALITY IS TODAY A LOT OF THE SHORTER TYPES, SOME OF THE COARSER TYPES, WOOLS THAT ARE POORLY PREPARED PERHAPS, THEY ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO TURN THEM INTO CASH.”
LARRY PRAGER, CEO OF CENTER OF THE NATION WOOL
The number of processors has also declined.
“So every year, we become more and more dependent on export opportunities, which is not a bad thing really , but it’s not as easy as making a phone call to a friend that we can sell wool to here in the states,” Prager said.
However, Prager said in his company’s area, they are blessed to have strong genetics, a great environment and sheep owners that take pride producing quality wool.
“That’s the third part of this that’s so important because it makes a big difference where we can sell them, whether we can offer them internationally and compete with the best in the world or whether, you know, they are going to sit on the sidelines here and have a quality issue that we can’t overcome,” Prager said.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek
The wool in this warehouse comes from multiple states.
Ariana Schumacher / Agweek Wool is stored in this warehouse before it is marketed to processors.
Farmers eye winter prep and 2025 growing season
BY ERIK KAUFMAN Mitchell Republic
MITCHELL — The holiday season is both a busy and relaxing time for residents of South Dakota. But even though the 2024 corn and soybean harvest season is officially in the rearview mirror, farmers still have plenty on their plates as the year comes to a close.
There are always chores to perform, equipment to maintain and repair and planning to do for the upcoming spring.
For farmers in the Davison County region, winter wheat is in the ground with a harvest target of July and August. David Klingberg, executive director for the Farm Service Agency office in Mitchell, said the crop is a less prominent field crop than some others in South Dakota, but provides a cold-weather rotation option.
“We are definitely corn and beans country, but there are a handful, maybe more than a handful, of guys that do like to have a rotation of some small grains in there once in a while to help with the erosion control and for the nutrient management side of things,” Klingberg told the Mitchell Republic. “So it can be a profitable crop to raise, it just takes a little bit of a different management than our corn and beans.”
Winter wheat can withstand freezing temperatures for extended periods of time during the early vegetative state and requires exposure to freezing or near-freezing temperatures to trigger its reproductive stage.
It’s a useful if less common crop than corn and soybeans. According to the 2023 South Dakota state agriculture overview from the United States Department of Agriculture, corn and soybeans are king in the state with 854,240,000 bushels and 223,080,000 bushels produced that year respectively.
Winter wheat comes in well below that, with 31,490,000 bushels produced that same year.
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service indicates that the 2024 winter wheat planted area, at 33.8 million acres, is down 8% from last year and down 1% from the previous estimate. Of this total, about 24.1 million acres are Hard Red Winter, 6.14 million acres are Soft Red Winter and 3.59 million acres are White Winter.
As hardy as winter wheat is, it is as sensitive as any crop to environmental changes.
The last USDA crop progress and condition report of the 2024 season shows winter wheat conditions at 3% very poor, 29% poor, 44% fair, 21% good and 3% excellent. The report also indicates that winter wheat was 86% emerged, which is behind the 99% at this time last year and the 98% five-year average.
Klingberg said those numbers jibed with what he has heard from area farmers.
“I agree with that wholeheartedly, just because guys were putting wheat seed in the ground when it was so dry, and it just sat there for a while and did not germinate, so it didn’t grow like it should have,” Klingberg said. “I think that the ground was warm enough when we did get some moisture and that many of the guys’ wheat seeds did germinate, and I have heard some reports of it coming up, so that’s a good thing.”
Winter wheat planting generally comes between September and October, during what was considered a relatively dry fall in the area this year. The latest USDA crop progress and condition report indicates that topsoil moisture supplies as of Nov. 25 were rated at 26% very short, 46% short, 28% adequate and 0% surplus.
It was similar for subsoil moisture, which came in rated at 27% very short, 46% short, 27% adequate and 0% surplus.
Winter Wheat CONTINUED FROM J14
It will be a wait-and-see process going forward, Klingberg said. Winter wheat goes dormant in the winter before awakening again in the spring. Every crop has its challenges, but moisture is one that affects all types of crops, and that will be the biggest thing to watch this year, as well.
“There are always challenges when it comes to winter wheat, but this year I would say the main challenge was to get enough moisture for it to start germinating and take off on them,” Klingberg said.
As farmers wait to see how their winter wheat does, there are other tasks to tackle.
Klingberg said the cleanup process after corn and soybean harvest can go on for an extended period. Repair and maintenance work on combines and grain carts is a must, and with 2024 coming to a close, many are starting to look forward to next year’s financials.
Those with livestock also don’t get much of a break when the snow flies, and when the snow does eventually come down, snow removal around the yard will be needed.
“They’re starting to look at their financial picture for the year and their taxes, doing some pre-tax planning so that they know
if they need to buy or sell something,” Klingberg said. “Guys are getting into feeding cattle, and there are still cattle out on the stocks right now.”
Klingberg said the weather outlook for the winter suggests a colder and wetter winter than normal, which can be a double-edged sword. Moisture is good, but when the ground is still frozen it isn’t as efficient at absorbing that moisture.
Moisture from snow is helpful, but even deep snow melting results in less moisture than a heavy rain.
“Obviously we need the moisture, but winter moisture doesn’t do real great for the soil. It piles up in the form of snow, and then when it melts, it’s good. But a lot of times it runs off when the ground is frozen and doesn’t sink in,” Klingberg said. “Winter moisture is not usually appreciated by everybody, but it can be a necessary part of what we need to replenish.”
It will be a few months before farmers climb back on the tractor to start corn and soybean planting, but farming is a year-round endeavor, even when planters and combines aren’t running around the clock. There is always something to be done, to be repaired or to be planned for, and the leadup to 2025 should be no different, Klingberg said.
“Chores are never, never done,” Klingberg said.
driveways
all aspects of life on the
Mitchell
Republic File Photo
Just keeping
open can be a challenge for many farmers in the area, when deep snow impacts nearly
farm.
Mitchell Republic File Photo
A farmer harvests a winter wheat crop near Reliance.
