South Dakota Interim Agriculture Secretary Hunter Roberts says the effort focuses on buffer strips. “Currently, there’s a property tax incentive for repairing buffer strips for 40 percent of the assessed value. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s a nice nod. Instead of an annual enrollment we’d like to change enrollment to every ten years,” says Roberts. “We’d also like to increase the incentive to 50 percent. That’s a legislative bill we plan to bring to the session.” The state is also applying for an NRCS grant to incentivize buffer strips across the state.
