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Building Resilience in Family Farms: South Dakota's Innovative Salinity Solutions

By: Buz Kloot

This summer (2024), as I began editing video footage from June 2023 (yes, I’m a bit behind), I realized I had my work cut out for me. We conducted interviews with several experts: Scott and Jeff Hamilton (of Hamilton Seed Mix fame), SDSU’s Anthony Bly, NRCS’s Kent Vlieger, Ducks Unlimited’s Bruce Toay and Matt Hubers, and the inimitable Frannie Fritz.

The subject was salinity. If you’re driving east River (a very South Dakotan term for those outside the state), you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to see how rising water levels and salinity have impacted farmlands and infrastructure. Large patches of white in croplands during summer or expansive puddles in wet weather are easy to spot. Roads and fences dip into prairie potholes, and it’s not uncommon to see water levels encroaching on old houses and barns.

As I sat down to tackle the stories from these experts, I wondered how I would weave them into a coherent narrative.

Finding the Story

By mid-summer, I discovered a strong story from the interviews with the Hamiltons and Anthony Bly—they seemed to be responding to each other, even though we interviewed them separately. I thought, “Let’s finish this story by the end of August so we can move on to the Kent Vlieger, Cain Creek project, and the new Beadle County project, where we met with Ducks and Frannie Fritz.”

Life’s Challenges

Well, it’s October 1st as I write this. The Hamilton-Bly story had to be set aside—call it fate, divine providence, or whatever you like. After navigating a family crisis in Africa, dealing with a computer failure and replacement, hosting my daughter and my energetic grandson, and weathering a hurricane, I’m only now starting to tackle the Hamilton-Bly story. I’m not pleased that it has taken me this long, and I’m still not finished, but stepping away has helped me focus on the key points. Hopefully, the resulting video—though delayed—will be more informative and, dare I say, entertaining.

Understanding Salinity

Over the past year, I’ve begun to understand salinity better through these videos and several podcasts (see list of podcasts below). I’ve also come to appreciate that salinity and its spread are complex. The remedies are intricate as well, but not impossible. Life—filled with family emergencies, visits, and equipment breakdowns—often gets in the way. As a result, addressing those growing saline areas may have to take a back seat, at least for another growing season. The spread of salinity, especially in the Jim River Valley, can be classified as consequential but not urgent. Like my video project, it can be set aside as we navigate life’s unpredictable challenges.

Looking Ahead to the Fall: A Time for Reflection and Preparing for Action

It seems that Providence has delayed our series on salinity until fall, “when the shadows lengthen and the winter comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of the growing season is over, and our work for the season is done” (with apologies to Cardinal Newman).

This fall, if salinity impacts you, I encourage you to take the time to educate yourself on this important issue. I’ll do my best to release the first video before December, and we also have podcasts and written resources available.

Your partners in South Dakota—NRCS, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and Every Acre Counts—are eager to assist you in this journey.

To borrow from the tree-planting folks: The best time to address salinity was 20 years ago; the second best time is today. Let’s take action together—strength in unity!

Useful Links:

Stay tuned to our newsletter for our first feature film on salinity featuring the Hamilton’s Anthony Bly

Feature Story by Kurt Lawton:

Soil Salinity Management in SD Stockgrowers’s Summer 2024 Magazine

Blogs:

Conquering Salinity: Matt Hubers' Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture in South Dakota
Confronting Soil Salinity: Kent Cooley's Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture
Managing Soil Salinity: Dr. Lee Briese's Expert Tips for Sustainable Crop Production

Podcasts: