Volume CX, No. 1 Huron, SD JAN/FEB 2025
A PUBLICATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION
SERVING SOUTH DAKOTA’S FARM & RANCH FAMILIES SINCE 1915.
Farming for the Future Award Winners
PAGE 6
Tri-State Young Producers Conference
Rural Youth Put on Bull Sale
PAGE 11
South Dakota Family Farmers & Ranchers Meet to Set Policy During Farmers Union 109th State Convention
PAGE 16
Meet 2024 Torchbearers
PAGE 24
Farmers Union Celebrates Perkins County Ranch Family
2025 National Farmers Union delegates elected to serve are: (back row L to R) Tonner Bowman, Terry Sestak, John Kippley, Rob Lee, Lorrie Hanson and Jason Latham. Front row L to R: Kaeloni Latham, Gerri Eide, Rachel Kippley, Mike Miller, Lance Perrion and Sarah Perrion.
S
upporting South Dakota’s family farmers and ranchers is the reason many South Dakota producers gathered together in Huron to set policy and learn from agriculture experts during South Dakota Farmers Union (SDFU) 109th State Convention held Dec. 11 and 12, 2024.
Convention Overall Continued on Page 8
Make Your Voice Heard Save the Date for Legislative Day 2025
MARCH 5, 10 a.m. Details on page 5
A
The Bishop family raises bison near Lemmon. Barry and Nancy are pictured here with two of their four children: Adam and John (far right).
s a child, Barry Bishop asked his dad, Joel Allen, what created the earthen depression on a hillside. “Dad told me that those were ‘buffalo wallows’ from times past. Interesting thing is, our bison use those same wallows today,” explained Barry, a fourth generation Perkins County rancher. Barry shared this story from his kitchen table. His wife, Nancy, and two of their four grown children, Adam and John, joined in the conversation. This home has been added on to and updated extensively over the years. It was built in the early 1900s, as Barry’s great-grandpa Joel Hall’s original claim shack. That claim shack is now the family’s dining room. None of the Bishop children remember a time before bison roamed the family’s land. “After all these years, I never get tired of looking at them,” said John, the youngest of the Bishop siblings. Their journey toward change began when tragedy struck in the spring of 1998. Barry’s dad developed a life-changing medical condition, landing him in the hospital for over a year, and he was not able to do any outside
Bishop Family Continued on Page 2