Harvest Tales From South Dakota’s Contrasting Lands

Growing up on a farm in central South Dakota, just outside Kennebec, I learned early that harvest was more than just work—it was a way of life. Now, after living in Sioux Falls for the past 30 years, I can tell you harvest looks a little different depending on which side of the Missouri River you’re standing on.

West of the river, harvest comes with a little more grit. Out near Kennebec, the land is tougher, the fields seem to stretch wider, and the weather doesn’t always play nice. Wheat, sunflowers, Milo and cattle take center stage. The air is dry, the wind is constant, and the work can feel like something out of a western movie, dust rolling off gumbo soil across the fields as combines chew through golden grain. When I was a kid, we’d haul wheat with Single and Tandem Axel trucks to the elevator in town or to the bins in the back yard along Medicine Creek.

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Now, here in eastern South Dakota, it’s a whole different rhythm. Corn and soybeans dominate, and the fields look like giant green and gold carpets in late summer. The soil is darker, the rain a little kinder, and the yields can be jaw-dropping compared to what we used to coax out of the ground west of the river. Instead of dusty roads and cattle drives, you’ll see grain carts chasing combines, semis lining up at ethanol plants, and farmers racing daylight to finish before the first hard frost.

JD Collins/Townsquare Media[/caption]Technology has changed the way things are out west. Fertilizer, no till and drought resistant lines of seed have brought the numbers WAY up since I was a kid. When the rains show up, Central South Dakota goes toe to toe with the east river dirt.

Don’t get me wrong—both sides of the river carry the same heart. It’s long hours, family suppers in the field, and the satisfaction of bringing in another crop. But when you’ve seen it from both sides, you realize South Dakota’s harvest tells two stories—each tough, each beautiful, and each worth celebrating.

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