U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue was in South Dakota yesterday touring wetland areas in Brown County and also traveled to Timber Lake to visit with the Intertribal Agriculture Council. South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Mike Jaspers was part of that meeting and says Perdue’s goal was to find out what is working and what is not, regarding USDA programs on the Cheyenne River Reservation. The meeting was largely positive, with just a few outstanding issues.

Jaspers says one program that is working well for tribal farmers is the Conservation Security Program and Perdue was impressed with the level of participation.

Perdue was in Brown County earlier in the day touring wetland areas that are part of the Prairie Pothole Region. The Secretary has heard many complaints since taking office about the negative impact of the backlog of wetland determinations made by the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the Dakotas. Jaspers says he’s hopeful the Secretary can standardize that process to help.

This is Perdue’s second trip to South Dakota and Jaspers says he appreciates how he Secretary wants to talk directly to farmers to come up with solutions that will help them in their operations.