While people from around the country think of South Dakota as the home of Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park and the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, we are at our core a state powered and defined by our farms and ranches. Agriculture is South Dakota’s top producing industry, generating almost $12 billion for the economy each year and supporting 1 in 5 jobs across the state.

Unfortunately, the climate conditions that agriculture requires to thrive are becoming less predictable and more extreme. From the Missouri River to the Black Hills and the grasslands in between, South Dakota will experience wetter springs and hotter and drier summers, in addition to heavier blizzards, followed by rapid snowmelt.