Educational Resources

Audio

Listen and learn while you’re on the go or in the car! Download our “Soil Health Tips”, created to cover all the topics you’ve been wanting to learn more about. Just a minute long, many include producers who share their firsthand knowledge.

Profiles in Soil Health Videos

Watch and learn from producers we visited across the state of South Dakota! Each operation showcases the unique ways they have worked to increase soil health, profitability and quality of life. Their creation was organized by the SD Soil Health Coalition through a grant agreement with USDA-NRCS South Dakota and features farmers and ranchers sharing their firsthand experiences with adopting and utilizing these practices on their operations.

Event Recordings

This page contains video recordings of events hosted by the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition, including webinars and the Soil Health Conference. These videos include presentations by presentations by soil health experts and panels of producers answering questions about how they have implemented soil health practices in their operations.

Instructional Videos

From demonstrations to how-tos, these videos were created by South Dakota Soil Health Coalition staff to demonstrate soil health concepts and provide instruction on soil health practices.

Small Scale/Urban Agriculture

SDSHC offers these resources to help you improve the soil in your garden, yard, or small scale agricultural operation!

Salvaging Drought Stressed Crops

While drought-stressed crops can be utilized as forage for livestock, there are many factors to consider before harvesting. To help producers navigate through these issues, SDSU Extension and the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition released the, “Salvaging Drought Stressed Crops” video series. Every farm and ranch face its own unique challenges and this information is intended to be applied as producers see fit to their own personal situations.

Youth Soil Health Resources

With children’s books, coloring books, interactive material, and curricula, our Youth Soil Health Resources page gives you options to engage your students and children with soil health science. The earlier children are exposed to soil health information, the more liekly they are to retain it and use it.

SD Soil Health Buckets

Interested in an educational tool containing 18 different accredited lesson plans and all the necessary equipment to perform accompanying experiments and activities? Look no further, the SD Soil Health Coalition provides educational “Soil Health Buckets” and lessons to vocational agriculture classrooms, soil science classrooms and additional youth groups.

Our Amazing South Dakota Resources

The “Our Amazing South Dakota Resources” campaign was created in 2018 with the goal of better communicating the importance and value of grasslands and soil resources throughout the state. This campaign strives to better show what South Dakota farmers and ranchers are doing to protect and enhance these resources. Each thirty second video was created utilizing footage from interviews with South Dakota farmers and ranchers and showcases footage of their farming and ranching operations.

Soil Health Conference Registration Open!

The 2025 Soil Health Conference will be held Jan. 15-16 at the Ramkota Hotel and Event Center in Watertown, a spacious venue which will allow for a full day and a half of speaker sessions, awards, producer panels, and time to engage with sponsors. This event will feature many speakers including Keith Berns, Nebraska no-till farmer, ag educator, and co-owner of Green Cover Seed; Paul Jasa, noted Extension egineer at University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dr. Jon Lundgren, Ecdysis Foundation executive director and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm; and Joe Breker, an award-winning North Dakota producer who has been using regenerative agriculture practices for over 40 years!

News & Events

Restaurateur promotes local food for community security

Restaurateur promotes local food for community security

By Stan Wise PIERRE, SD – When Sioux Falls restaurateur Tim Meagher purchases local food, he doesn’t do it because it’s trendy. For him, it’s about securing a future for his business and the community. “If somebody else has control of our food system – if you were a...

Dormant seeding makes room for wheat in crop rotations

Dormant seeding makes room for wheat in crop rotations

By Stan Wise PIERRE, SD – It’s the age-old struggle – farmers scramble to get their work done within the timeframe that Mother Nature affords them. Depending on the local weather patterns, it can be a challenge, and farmers who follow regenerative agriculture...

New website helps consumers connect with local producers

New website helps consumers connect with local producers

PIERRE, SD – It’s no secret that consumers are hungry for safe, healthy, sustainable, locally grown food. South Dakota’s small scale and urban producers are stepping up to the plate by learning how to improve their land, their environment, and their communities while...