Dakota Lakes Research Farm

The Dakota Lakes Research Farm is a cooperative effort between South Dakota State University and the Dakota Lakes Research Farm Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation established by area farmers. This group owns the land, buildings, and other fixed assets. They work with the manager in prioritizing research projects and planning capital improvements. This research center is utilizing a energy efficient building. The other major accomplishment is the operation of three projects that are designed to explore the feasibility of future farming in three different areas. The first is a roadside project to bring sustainable habitat back to public roadsides and improve soil/habitat management. The second is a seed project that will be testing the sucess of coating seeds to make planting and application more cost effective. The third project is a grazing project. Its focus is to get cattle out of feed lots and improve there overall health and welfare. The study will use moveable pens in pasture with the hope of reducing costs and improving animal health.