Latest News

Monarch butterfly visiting a blanket flower near a backyard garden.

SDSU Extension to host Backyard Natural Resources series

May 01, 2025

South Dakota State University is pleased to announce the second year of its virtual Backyard Natural Resources series on May 6, 8, 13 and 15, 2025.

Producer holding soil in cupped hands over a bare field in early spring.

80 South Dakota farmers needed for nationwide soil health project: Enroll today

April 03, 2025

South Dakota State University Extension is inviting South Dakota farmers to participate in a new soil health survey.

People shop for plants on tables outside

SDSU Extension, McCrory Gardens to host Garden Discovery Festival

March 31, 2025

South Dakota State University Extension and McCrory Gardens will launch the 2025 summer programming schedule with the Garden Discovery Festival on May 18, 2025.

Three bright red and green apples ready for harvest

Brookings Master Gardener donating apple trees to local youth

March 26, 2025

A Brookings-area Master Gardener is donating apple trees to local youth for the sixth annual Fruitful Children Project.

Prescribed fire schools for SD landowners scheduled for March, April

March 24, 2025

South Dakota State University Extension is partnering with the South Dakota Grassland Coalition, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Great Plains and landowner-led fire cooperatives to host a series of fire training workshops this spring.

A man kneels next to a creek with testing equipment spread in front of him

SDSU Extension hopes to empower South Dakotans through water use survey

March 18, 2025

Sushant Mehan wants to know what South Dakotans think about water. Mehan, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and South Dakota State University Extension Water Resource Engineer Specialist, is researching water in various ways, including how water affects plant growth and what the future of crop production looks like across the Great Plains as moisture levels fluctuate.

Wheat plants exhibiting severe symptoms of rust.

SDSU Plant Diagnostic Clinic provides fast diagnoses of plant diseases

March 07, 2025

South Dakota State University Plant Diagnostic Clinic is the only public diagnostic clinic for plant diseases in South Dakota and receives more than 1,500 samples each year.

SDSU Extension welcomes new Weed Ecology Field Specialist

February 28, 2025

In his role, Reicks will provide guidance for weed management in specialty crops, pastures and rangelands, organic systems, lawns/gardens and public right-of-ways. He is based in Brookings.

SDSU Extension releases updated crop budgets tool

February 28, 2025

Producers and financial advisors can use the spreadsheets as a template to input their own costs and get an estimate on profits. The spreadsheet includes tabs for fertilizer and pesticide and commodity estimates for different regions of the state, including high- and low-production areas.

Sprawling rangeland enrolled in the conservation stewardship program.

SDSU Extension invites all to SD Coalition Grassland Management School

January 30, 2025

SDSU Extension is partnering with the South Dakota Grassland Coalition, Audubon Great Plains, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service to host the school, which is on Feb. 11-12, 2025, at Cedar Shore Resort near Oacoma.

SDSU Extension to host tar spot webinar

January 24, 2025

Tar spot is a potentially yield-impacting corn disease that was confirmed in 46 of South Dakota’s 66 counties in 2024. The fungus can cling to crop residue over the winter and re-emerge once temperatures rise. It’s most commonly spread in South Dakota by wind-blown spores.