One of the special orders of business approved during the South Dakota Farmers Union annual meeting focused on the merger of the South Dakota Agriculture Department and the Natural Resources Department. The state reached out to all agriculture groups to explain how this would be done, but SDFU President Doug Sombke says there wasn’t a comment period. “Both departments are very important to the whole state. The focus needs be on what each of them bring to the table instead of being combined.” State lawmakers can oppose the effort when they meet in January, but at this time, Sombke isn’t aware of pending legislation opposing the effort.
