SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Central Plains Dairy Expo in Sioux Falls, S.D., held March 24 to 26, saw a jump in attendance and exhibits this year.
Tracey Erickson, dairy field specialist at South Dakota State University, and a member of the multi-state board of directors, said the show has grown beyond expectations and draws interest and leadership from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, but also from western Wisconsin and Missouri, and farther. She says it's an opportunity to network and "get together and learn from each other."
Kathy Tonneson of Glyndon, Minn., who manages the event, said 1,700 preregistered last year, and this year 2,200 preregistered and 3,000 name badges were created from the opening social. She speculated March 25, the second day of the show, that attendance might double last year's 2,700.
Exhibitor interest is stronger than ever. This year's event had 550 booth spaces, compared with 350 last year, as well as 340 more exhibitors than last year, including several that take up a dozen spaces each. Even after the expansion, the show was full three months ago and there is a waiting list for next year of nearly 100.
A bright future
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There is reason to be optimistic for dairy, said Bob Lafebvre of St. Paul, Minn., senior vice president for industry relations of Midwest Dairy Association, speaking at one of the breakout sessions on March 24.
The association commissioned Blimling and Associates, a market research company based in Wisconsin and Omaha, Neb., to study the dairy industry in the region. Released in 2013, the study said the marketplace is strong because of a growing world population, expanding economies for exports and increased animal-based diets. Dairy production will grow by 30 billion pounds in the next 10 years, produced from fewer cows.
Lafebvre said the industry needs to have a voice in the debates about animal care concerns, and how Midwest producers are meeting public concerns.
Expansion in North Dakota
State organizations in the region are looking to boost interest in the general area, but also their own states.
Amber Boeshans, livestock development specialist for the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, representing the North Dakota Dairy Coalition, said the state is competitive with "copious amounts of high-quality feeds," and "we have room and permitting capabilities." Still, dairy operation numbers in the state have slipped to 90.
She said she'd visited with several California farmers at the event, some of whom were considering moving to this region as a counter-move to the ongoing drought and water use restrictions on the West Coast.
Frank Gwerder and his wife, Marlen Glattke-Gwerder of Modesto, Calif., were visiting the area for the second time. They said they're strongly considering moving their business from its 1,800-cow operation in two California locations, about 100 miles apart. Land prices are about 10 times more expensive in California and the price of milk is effectively about $1 less per hundredweight than South Dakota.
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The Gwerders said they're generally attracted to the Upper Great Plains by more affordable land values, proximity to neighboring cropland that could use their manure as fertilizer and a strong milk market for the processing industry.
Marlen says she'd like to move to the Midwest, but underlined to Agweek that she would not go to North Dakota. She thought the somewhat warmer South Dakota might be less of a concern for retaining labor. She said the Sioux Falls area also would offer a stronger cadre of dairy producers and quicker access to infrastructure.
