Food

Bison graze on a snow covered pasture in Corson County. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)

Federal pilot project will buy local bison meat for tribal food aid

BY: - October 12, 2023

A federal pilot project to put more locally raised bison on the plates of Native American people is starting with meat produced in South Dakota. The U.S. Department of Agriculture made the announcement Thursday in Rapid City. The department has awarded contracts to four producers — totaling nearly $500,000 — with connections to tribal reservations […]

Workers at Dakota Butcher in Clark process beef on Aug. 15, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Making meat local: $32 million flows to South Dakota processors since ’21

BY: - September 29, 2023

CLARK — Drive any direction in South Dakota, and it won’t take long to find cattle. The same can’t always be said for South Dakota-raised beef products, but that’s changing. After the COVID-19 pandemic exposed problems with large meatpacking monopolies, entrepreneurs are capitalizing on government grants to put more local links in South Dakota’s meat […]

COMMENTARY
South Dakota natives Hubert Humphrey, left, and George McGovern at the Democratic National Convention on July 13, 1972, at Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida. (Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

How two dead South Dakotans continue to feed the world

BY: - September 28, 2023

There are politicians who spend their entire careers pursuing power and fame. There are others who set aside those ambitions long enough to make a lasting difference. A reminder of that truism arrived recently in the form of a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The release said the department is awarding a […]

Fall peppers and chili at Bloomingdale Farmers Market on Nov. 9, 2014, in Washington, D.C. The market accepted Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program benefits coupons. (USDA Photo by Lance Cheung)

Food benefits for low income families at risk in a government shutdown, White House says

BY: - September 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — As Congress barrels toward a partial government shutdown, the White House Monday warned that a program that helps millions of low income families afford healthy food could see substantial cuts. The White House released a state-by-state breakdown, estimating that nearly 7 million people who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, […]

Pieces of Good Meat's cultivated chicken are shown at the Eat Just office in Alameda, Calif., June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Was that chicken cutlet grown in a lab? These states (including SD) want you to know.

BY: - August 31, 2023

Select U.S. restaurants have begun serving laboratory-grown chicken, spurring long wait times for reservations by diners curious to taste it. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave final approval for a few California-based companies to begin selling lab-produced chicken across the country. While it may be years before lab-grown meat is available at grocery […]

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaks during a roundtable at Landus Cooperative’s headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 29, 2023. (Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

SD receives share of millions to help small meat processors

BY: and - July 3, 2023

A new round of federal grants to help smaller meat and poultry processors fight industry consolidation includes $15 million for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and $834,000 for a five-state region including South Dakota. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide $115 million in total grants, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced recently. Vilsack held a […]

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, questions witnesses in a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, in the Cannon House Office Building on Feb. 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

South Dakota congressman advocates expansion of work requirements for federal food aid

BY: - March 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at expanding work requirements for federal nutrition aid, reigniting a perennial conflict over how Congress navigates both the farm bill and federal spending.  “Work is the best pathway out of poverty,” Johnson, who in his home state has talked about growing up […]

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons. Nov. 29, 2022. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

Albertsons-Kroger mega-deal raises questions from lawmakers about higher food prices

BY: - November 30, 2022

WASHINGTON —  Members of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee panel raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing that a proposed merger between two of the largest U.S. supermarket chains could mean a monopoly on groceries and lead to higher food prices for Americans. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Subcommittee on Competition […]