(Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)
A state board approved a bond of up to $25 million Wednesday to help a dairy near Bryant construct manure management facilities.
During a Zoom meeting, the South Dakota Economic Development Finance Authority approved issuing the bond for the 12,500-cow Washington Dairy owned by Riverview, a Minnesota company that already operates four other dairies and a feedlot in South Dakota. The funding will be used for site preparation, concrete collection lanes, lagoons, settling ponds, and other equipment to collect and dispose of manure.
The Livestock Nutrient Management Bond program issues tax-exempt bonds to purchasers — typically local banks — who set the repayment terms and interest rates for the company borrowing the money.
Members of the Economic Development Finance Authority are appointed by the governor. The bond program is one of many economic incentives offered by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED).
The authority held a public meeting on Sept. 20 at the Clark County Courthouse to collect feedback regarding the bond, but no members of the public attended.
In a separate project, Riverview plans to build an $86 million, 12,500-cow dairy in Hamlin County on land currently owned by Gov. Kristi Noem’s brothers. That would be the company’s sixth in the state. For that project, Riverview has applied to another GOED program for a refund of up to $4.5 million of sales and use taxes spent to build the dairy.
$4 million in loans to companies
In a separate meeting Wednesday, the South Dakota Board of Economic Development awarded about $4 million in loans to four companies.
Three companies were approved for loans from the South Dakota Works program, which offers business and commercial loans to companies in need of working capital, fixed assets and interim construction financing. Barbeque Twist of Aberdeen was approved for a loan of $89,875; Maxwell Construction, based in Iowa, was awarded a $1,851,312 loan; and Cole-TAC of Rapid City was approved for a $343,800 loan.
TM Industries of Parkston was approved for a $1,800,000 loan from the Revolving Economic Development & Initiative Fund, which offers low-interest loans to businesses starting up, expanding or relocating in South Dakota.
Noem recently highlighted Cole-TAC, a tactical shooting gear manufacturer, in a press release urging California gun manufacturers to leave that state and move to South Dakota. Cole-TAC relocated from New Hampshire to the Black Hills in 2021, bringing with it 40 jobs.
The board also extended a loan for Dakota Protein Solutions of Freeman and reconfirmed a loan amount for Phase Technologies of Rapid City.
Additionally, the board decided it would pause plans to commission a feasibility study assessing the viability of small meatpacking projects in the state. The department planned to hire an independent consultant for the study, focusing on areas such as available cattle supply, sales and marketing, the economics of processing, and workforce availability. The reason for halting the study was that only one entity applied to conduct the study so far.