Session 9

Aberdeen, SD
January 6-8, 2002
Agriculture Foreign Policy 

Session Nine, the last traditional seminar format was January 6-8, 2002.  Dacotah Bank on Main street graciously hosted SDARL. Nathan Sparks, ag lender was instrumental in facility, noon meal and program arrangements. AmericInn housed participants. 

After a welcome from general session manager, Pam Geppert and SDARL director, Dan Gee, session nine started Sunday afternoon, January 6. Guest Paul Symens, state senator from District 1, joined us for parts of the seminar. 

Premier program speaker was Federal Judge Charles B. Kornmann. He is the thirteenth federal judge in South Dakota history and was confined to Eighth Circuit, March 1995. His pay is the same as a U.S. Congressman at $150,000/year plus the cost of living. Pay is universal from state to state and continues through the judge's life. He handles both civil and criminal cases. He deals with civil cases over $75,000 and feels that many of the cases should instead be heard at the state level. Common criminal cases involve deadbeat parents and drunk driving on reservations. Because reservations fall under federal jurisdiction, Native Americans generally receive three or four times greater punishment that similar cases in a state court. "I see terrible injustices," states Kornmann, "there's no such thing as mercy in the federal court system. " He noted that federal sentencing guidelines that have been in effect since 1988 will probably not change, due to the current policy of being 'tough on crime.' He shared a sentencing table that determined months of imprisonment. The Bureau of Prisons, not the judge, determine where individuals are sentenced. The only federal prison in South Dakota is at Yankton and is for only the male population. 

Revealing his heavy case load, he recently sentenced 33 criminal defendants in four days. Kornmann ruled on the South Dakota Price Reporting case; recently presided over Amendment E issue and will hear the legalities of the beef check-off starting January 14. 

After a short break, the class resumed and elected the first alumni association officers. They are: President, Bill Hansen; Vice President, Nate Franzen; Secretary, Bonnie Halvorson; and Treasurer, Susan Wismer. 

New Zealand and Australia report topics were presented before and after the evening meal at the Barn and Silo restaurant. Topics varied from government, 00 culture, to geography, to farm policy. Susan even provided a metric worksheet, helping students bone up on conversions to hectares, Celsius, and kilometers.

Monday, January 7, 2002 

Rod Fouberg, chair and CEO of Dacotah Banks and Dick Westra, president and CEO of the Aberdeen branch made a team presentation on the banking systems rules and regulations. The Federal Reserve bank is the nation's central bank and is overseen by the Board of Governors, which is appointed by the president. The board influences interest rate and combats inflation. They determine required bank reserves and currently smaller banks must reserve three percent of the demand deposit.

According to the S. D. Bankers Association, the state has 75 state charters, 23 national and 5 thrifts. Bank franchise tax totals over $43 million yearly, shared by state and local entities. 

Second speaker of the day was Jack Hieb, a Delmont native and current Aberdeen attorney involved in a class action suit representing landowners in Day county that own submerged lands. This land had been previously pasture, hay and cropland. Now it was a haven for fish and waterfowl, an outdoor sportsman's delight. The dilemma is a policy fight on "What is Public?".  The Game, Fish and Parks officials believe that the water column that sits above the land base is public. The landowners, who pay taxes on this land, feel it's an invasion of personal property. 

Following was Peter Carrels, an Aberdeen native and graduate of St. Thomas University at St. Paul, Mi1U1esota. He defined himself as a "writer, photographer and activist of the environment".  He currently works for American Rivers, an environmental group headquartered out of Washington, D.C.. Carrels explained the campaign of the American Rivers organization for the Missouri River. It is their hope to restore a string of natural areas along the Missouri, as well as, reform dam operations that sustain fish and wildlife and boat recreation and tourism opportunities. Their proposal would have damns let out more water in the Spring to replicate Spring rise and encourage habitat queues for reproduction purposes. The water release would be turned down in the summer months to protect reservoirs and prevent barge and cargo travel. 

Todd asked if "Environmentalism should be science or ideology driven?" Carrels replied that "the science of environmentalists is increasingly under fire. The science, however, is becoming more accurate all the time." 

Carrels authored the book Uphill Against Water, a chronicle of the proposed irrigation plan for north-central South Dakota in the 1950's, known as the Oahe project. 

After lunch and a walking tour of the bank, Amy Gales, director of the Value-Added Development Center presented 'Making Value-Added Agriculture Happen.'  The mission of the center is to educate and help start new value-added projects, providing a chain that connects the producer and the consumer. Statistics show that average return on interest (ROI) for production agriculture is between 1.5% to 3%, before government payments. In contrast, food processors ROI is between 15% to 17%. Some current projects include the Lake Norden cheese plant; requiring 65,000 head of cows; Dakota Beef, a source identified finished beef product; and ethanol plants. 

Next Jim Barringer, director of the Aberdeen Development Corporation, explained their economic development philosophy and funding support. Aberdeen' s people (like the remainder of the state ) has a commendable work ethic. The trouble is "South Dakota is just a long distance from anywhere," stated Barringer, referring to metropolitan areas in New York or California, that might appreciate such a competent workforce. 

The final afternoon presentation was by Ducks Unlimited. Blake VanderVorst and Joe Satrom, both from the Bismarck, N.D. office, spoke on current wetland issues. Ducks Unlimited was established in the dust bowl days of the 1930's and today are considered global leaders of the wetlands and waterfowl conservation. The project 'Grasslands for Tomorrow' better known as the 'Prairie Potholes' cover 100,000 square miles. It restores previous drainage ditches and increases nesting success with crop enhancement, such as CRP lands. DU encourages the planting of winter wheat in areas where there's little chance of converting cropland back into grassland. Select counties are offered a $7/acre incentive for planting winter wheat and work closely with Dakota Lakes Research. In North Dakota they have purchased conservation easements along the Missouri Coteau region. Landowners agree to never plow, and delay haying until July 15 of each growing season.

A 6:30 p.m. dinner at the Flame Restaurant was provided by classmates Bonnie, Susan, , Roger, Kirk and Todd. Guests included advisory board members, Dacotah personnel, and program speakers. After dinner speaker, Kelly Shockman, LaMoure, N.D., spoke about his recent travel experiences to Australia. 

Tuesday, January 8, 2002 

Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge biologist John Koerner kicked off the morning session. Sand Lake Refuge located 30 miles NE of Aberdeen was established in 1935 and covers a 21,451 acre expanse. Three years ago the refuge was recognized as a 'Wetland of International Importance.' It is one of only 16 in the U.S. and the only one in the upper Plains region. It hosts a million snow geese annually. Koerner's slide presentation featured franklin gall, white faced ibis, black ernes, pelicans, and other resident waterfowl. Eagle Day is the last Sunday of March where upwards of a thousand attend. He explained funding and special projects of the North American Wetland Conservation Act (NAWCA). 

The final speaker before the seminar wrap-up was 'Hot Issues in Ethanol Business' by Trevor Guthmiller, director of American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE). The most common blend is a 10% ethanol/90% gasoline blend for motor vehicles. A higher blend is often used in aviation, race cars, and water craft fuels. Ethanol serves as an environmentally friendly oxygenate. Cities with serious air-quality problems require an oxygenate to combat their quandary. Denver, Milwaukee, and Chicago use ethanol. California cities previously chose to use MTB, which cleaned up the air, but consequently negatively effected their ground water. California is suppose to switch from MTB use to another alternate oxygenate by January 2003. Governor Grey may delay this switch. 

Currently, 1.8 billion gallons of ethanol are sold annually in the U.S. This figure represents 1.4% of all gas. One bushel of corn produces 2.7 gallons of gasoline. Ethanol appears to be a creative approach of keeping production agriculture alive. There are active ethanol plants in South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Classmate Doug Van Duyn is one of the founders of the Wentworth plant. Most plants are farmer owned. At the present 3300 farm families have invested in current plants, with projections of 4000 farm families when proposed plants are completed. It moves the farmer from a passive role to an active one. In 1995, the average price for corn was $3.23/ bu. Whereas, in 2000, the price plummeted to $1.60/bu. In order to make ethanol more economically competitive, the remaining corn by-products of dried distillers grain (DDG), corn sweeteners and captured CO₂ are encouraged. 

Senator Tom Daschle introduced a comprehensive energy bill in the U.S. Senate in December that includes a substantial renewable fuels requirement that would pave the way to a 5 billion gallon ethanol market by 2012. 

After assigning alumni committees and lunch, the classmates dismissed around 12:30 p.m. 

Karla Pazour, reporter

Date last modified:  February 28, 2005