PIERRE, S.D. – Today, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) announced that the Board of Water and Natural Resources has approved $139,791,400 in loans and grants for drinking water, wastewater, and solid waste projects in South Dakota.
The $139,791,400 total consists of $121,686,200 in low-interest loans and $18,105,200 in grants to be administered by the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“Safe and reliable water, wastewater, and solid waste infrastructure is essential for protecting our natural resources and building stronger communities for future generations, said DANR Secretary Hunter Roberts. “I want to thank the Board of Water and Natural Resources for approving the funding recommendations.”

**OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has warned its 100,000-plus employees that major staff cuts are coming, offices will be closed, and people will be forced to relocate if they want to keep their jobs.
USDA employees have been given the option to quit with up to six months in pay if they choose to take it.
The USDA Office of the Secretary provided employees this week with new details on another Deferred Resignation Program (DRP 2.0) and offered some broad details about the larger shakeup in USDA staff.
Citing the president's executive order in February implementing the "Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative," the memo warned of more cuts to come. "While final plans are still under development, USDA aims to be transparent about what employees can expect."
USDA plans to further reduce the size of the workforce and consolidate offices. That includes moving more people out of Washington, D.C., or the "National Capital Region," so staff can be "closer to the farmers, ranchers, foresters, and consumers we serve."

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New data the Agriculture Department released Friday created serious doubts about whether China will really buy millions of bushels of American soybeans like the Trump administration touted last month after a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The USDA report released after the government reopened showed only two Chinese purchases of American soybeans since the summit in South Korea that totaled 332,000 metric tons. That’s well short of the 12 million metric tons that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China agreed to purchase by January and nowhere near the 25 million metric tons she said they would buy in each of the next three years. American farmers were hopeful that their biggest customer would resume buying their crops. But CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke, who is its lead economist for grains and oilseed, said there isn’t much incentive for China to buy from America right now because they have plenty of soybeans on hand that they have bought from Brazil and other South American countries this year, and the remaining tariffs ensure that U.S. soybeans remain more expensive than Brazilian beans. “We are still not even close to what has been advertised from the U.S. in terms of what the agreement would have been,” Ehmke said. Beijing has yet to confirm any detailed soybean purchase agreement but only that the two sides have reached “consensus” on expanding trade in farm products. Ehmke said that even if China did promise to buy American soybeans it may have only agreed to buy them if the price was attractive.

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