Agriculture was the focus of the first debate between South Dakota Governor Larry Roden and Democratic Challenger Dan Ahlers. Ahlers, who is a former state lawmaker from Dell Rapids, outlined ways to support the state’s cattle industry. “One of the things that we can do is is make sure that we have competition here in South Dakota for meatpackers and dairy producers,” said Ahlers. “We just saw it in the news where they’re advocating bringing in foreign beef in order to lower prices for consumers. If we had more competition in the market here in South Dakota, not only would prices for producers stay high, but it would force the prices for consumers to stay down.” Addressing a similar question, Roden was critical of the Trump administration’s decision to import foreign beef. “I have supported President Trump on a lot of the things he’s done, bhis latest announcement on the 300,000 metric tons of ground beef coming here is not one of them,” said Rhoden. “I thought he was wrong headed in his logic and the things that came out of that administration trying to defend it, I think were weak. The South Dakota Farmers Union hosted that event at the South Dakota State Fair.
