PIERRE, S.D. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) – Six thousand five hundred new housing units worth $1.4 billion were built in South Dakota last year, a state economic development official said Wednesday, helping alleviate rising home costs.
“Our building permits are notably concentrated on multi-family housing, with an average of 1.8 units per building,” Joe Fiala with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development told members of the South Dakota Board of Economic Development. “That’s the sixth highest ratio in the nation.”
In April, Dakota Institute Chief Executive Officer and economist Jared McEntaffer said communities should speed up the construction of multifamily housing units to mitigate the state’s “unheard of” rise in home values.
The median home price in South Dakota rose by an inflation-adjusted 26% from Q2 2020 to Q1 2024, compared to a national average of 11%. Prices increased by $75,000, reaching $375,000 in February 2023.
The rise especially impacts first-time homebuyers. A 3% down payment on a median-priced home in 2017 would result in a $1,270 monthly mortgage. By 2023, this increased to $2,325. A buyer who earns South Dakota’s median income would spend about 43% of their pre-tax income on an average house after a 3% down payment.
On Wednesday, Fiala pointed to what he described as positive signs. He noted that South Dakota’s median price per square foot of housing is $215, which he said is 8% more affordable than the national average, and a slowdown in price increases for homes on the market.
“Additionally, our listing prices are very stable,” he said. “With 77% of the listings showing no price change from the previous month.”
Fiala also pointed the board to the Business Conditions Index for South Dakota, which factors in data like production, sales, logistics, inventories, and employment. In April, the index surged to its third consecutive high, reaching 61.4, surpassing March’s 60.8. Any number above 50 implies economic expansion.
“Our state’s index is highest in our region,” Fiala said.
He said the state budget looks good too. With a month left in the fiscal year, he said, the state is seeing about $120 million more in revenue than it had at this time last year.
“So, good news on that front,” Fiala said.
The biggest budgetary boost came through an uptick in lost financial assets – usually held by banks – turned over to the state as unclaimed property.
Fiala said the state’s unemployment rate remains “historically low” at 2%, and South Dakota has the nation’s sixth-highest percentage of working-age people participating in the workforce.
DES MOINES, IA – Three more cases of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza have been detected and identified in dairy herds in northwest Iowa.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and the USDA are reporting that two cases of bird flu were confirmed on Friday in Plymouth County, plus a third case was found in Sioux County, then on Saturday officials detected another infected dairy herd in Sioux County.
The Avian Influenza is a viral disease that affects wild and domestic bird populations and, as of the past month, dairy cattle as well.
The disease travels via the wild bird population, but often those birds do not appear to be sick. At the same time once a domestic flock is infected it is often fatal to chickens and turkeys. Plus, once affected the normal course of action is to destroy the flock in an attempt to keep the disease from spreading.
Infections in dairy cattle can be addressed with supportive care and it appears that dairy cattle recover with little to no mortality tied to the disease outbreaks.
If a dairy producer suspects a case of the HPAI they are directed to contact their herd veterinarian immediately along with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship at (515) 281-5305.
CLEAR LAKE, S.D. (Kathleen Shannon / Greater Dakota News Service) – The U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote this summer on a version of the Farm Bill, which passed through the committee process last month.
Some farmers and ranchers are concerned about cuts to climate-smart programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, which distributed more than $31 million to South Dakotans last year. The program and three others have been funded by Inflation Reduction Act dollars since 2022, when President Joe Biden approved nearly $12 billion for the national programs over four years.
It could change under the House version of the Farm Bill, which instead proposes increased subsidies for large-scale operations.
Tanya Svec, a member of Dakota Rural Action who helps run her in-laws’ small cattle farm in Deuel County, which received a grant this year, said it is appropriate the program provides opportunities for small-scale farms to get grants, rather than just the large-scale operations policy tends to favor.
“That’s really helpful for those small economies and keeping things local and building some resiliency into the farming communities,” Svec explained.
Svec pointed out the business is currently finalizing a grant to fund a water system to help the operation with rotational grazing, a practice benefiting landscapes by letting some pastures rest while others are in use. It allows native plants to grow and protects watersheds. Demand for the program exceeded supply in 2023. Of the nearly 1,500 South Dakota applicants, only 27% were accepted, according to a report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Svec observed more people sought out her farm’s beef during and since the pandemic, which exposed supply-chain issues. She sidesteps big industrial distribution by marketing directly to customers.
“We like to raise cattle in a particular way,” Svec stressed. “It’s hard to be rewarded for going the extra mile for not using antibiotics, for grass-fed grass-finished beef if you remain in the standard agricultural system.”
GREENFIELD, IA (Mark Moran / Iowa News Service) – Family farm advocates are calling for cuts in federal subsidies to large animal feeding operations – technically known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations – in the Farm Bill being debated in Congress.
Iowa family farmers want more support for conservation programs that benefit smaller agriculture operations.
Right now, CAFOs can qualify for as much as $100 million every year to reduce some of the environmental damage they can cause.
That’s taxpayer money that Barb Kalbach – a fourth-generation family farmer in Adair County, Iowa – said could be put to much better use by small family farmers on their land.
“Things like filter strips along streams and rivers,” said Kalbach, “which helps with erosion, and it also helps with nitrates and other pollutants entering the water.”
CAFO operators contend they use the federal money to defend against environmental damage and that they’re always looking for cleaner, safer ways to raise high-quality meats while responding to increased consumer demand.
As a board member for the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Kalbach said she is calling for more support of conservation programs that would help family farmers. But she said she is just as adamant that the long-standing rules governing CAFOs are changed.
“Industrial-scale factory farms, even though they are industrial scale, they do not have to go by industrial standards,” said Kalbach. “They go by ag standards. And that’s why we have the problem with pollution that we have. That should be addressed in the Farm Bill.”
The Farm Bill saw its first action in the House Agriculture Committee May 23.
The House version of the measure also proposes $30 billion in cuts to SNAP benefits over the next decade, including $170 million in Iowa.
LINCOLN, NE (Deborah Van Fleet / Nebraska News Connection) – Nebraska physicians and their patients have been dealing with the state’s 12-week abortion ban since it went into effect just over a year ago.
It replaced the 2010 law which prohibited abortions past the 20th week of pregnancy and was considered one of the country’s most extreme abortion laws at the time.
Dr. Emily Patel, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, said many things can go wrong after the first trimester.
“We are really punishing women who end up having pregnancy complications or fetal anomalies or genetic conditions that are discovered after 12 weeks,” Patel contended. “Saying to them, ‘Well, I’m sorry, you don’t have access to the same care you could have gotten if you were within that first trimester, or if you were out of our state receiving your prenatal care there.'”
When it comes to potential complications, Patel pointed out the first diagnostic test cannot be done until the 10th through the 12th week of pregnancy, and definitive genetic testing on the fetus itself cannot be done until the 16th week, well into the second trimester.
Patel noted the 12-week ban has already had short-term effects, including requiring Nebraska women to go out of state to receive their care and she fully expects it will have long-term effects as well.
“I think it’s really important that people understand that this has reduced access to care in our state,” Patel asserted. “It’s going to continue to further reduce access to care, especially in smaller communities, just due to the simple fact that it’s going to be really hard to recruit providers.”
In 2022, a March of Dimes study labeled nearly 52% of Nebraska counties “maternity care deserts,” compared with around 31% of counties nationwide.
Patel admitted the current political atmosphere can make her role challenging but she is glad she is still able to discuss patients’ options with them. Some states now prohibit doctors from doing so. She emphasized the best thing she can hope for as a provider is for voters to really consider what is at stake and vote to protect the rights of patients and the doctors who care for them in November.
She stressed the current 12-week ban has implications for every woman living in Nebraska who becomes pregnant.
“Until somebody is faced with that decision, they wouldn’t know that they would need access to it, or maybe even be thinking about it,” Patel explained. “In a way, this can affect really anybody at any time, and we just want to be able to offer the same level of care to every patient.”
Nebraska voters may have up to four abortion-related initiatives to choose from in November. Only one of them, the “Nebraska Right to Abortion Initiative,” backed by the Protect Our Rights coalition, would allow abortions past the first trimester.
ST. CLOUD, MN (Mike Moen / Minnesota News Connection) – On average, nearly 40% of traffic-fatality victims in Minnesota are 55 and older.
A law change soon goes into effect to help more of these drivers protect themselves behind the wheel, along with other motorists.
The Minnesota Legislature has approved cutting in half the driver-safety class hours Minnesota seniors are required to take to get an auto insurance discount.
Supporters note that class participation is lagging, with only 30% of those eligible signing up.
Joe Biernat – an instructor with the Minnesota Highway Safety and Research Center at St. Cloud State University – said with an aging population, more older drivers will likely be on the roads, but not enough are up to speed on evolving traffic trends and rules.
“Minnesota spends so much money on infrastructure every year, but we spend very little on the driver that uses that infrastructure,” said Biernat. “This change will entice more people to participate, it will make them better drivers. It will make the roads safer.”
The move also follows a surge in overall roadway fatalities so far in 2024.
Biernat acknowledged it might be a challenge fitting all the necessary information into a reduced class schedule.
But AARP says an independent study comparing course lengths found no significant impact on the knowledge drivers retained.
AARP’s Minnesota State Coordinator for Driver Safety Cheryl Salo further pointed out that by simply completing the course, no matter the length, participants are ready to be more alert when behind the wheel.
“The research has shown that when people have taken driver-safety courses,” said Salo, “they change at least one driving behavior.”
She said participants can also spur more safety conversations among friends and family, extending their knowledge to drivers from other age groups.
Auto insurance rates have been on the rise – and officials say combined with the shortened class requirement, that could be a motivating factor for people to secure the 10% discount.
