Adopted August 2024

The SD Association of Cooperatives proactively represents cooperatives and their members on legislative, regulatory, and educational issues by adding value through a unified voice.
 
State priority areas:
SDAC will work with state legislators, government officials, and other organizations to promote and protect the interests of cooperatives and their member owners.   
 
1) Government Relations
a. Support effective co-op statutes and policies 
b. Develop and maintain good working relationships with government officials on the local, state, and national levels. 
c. Develop coalitions to find solutions to issues facing our cooperative members
 
2) Taxation 
a. Promote sales tax fairness, including maintaining appropriate exemptions for agricultural inputs
b. Support fair property taxation for all classes of property
c. Support reasonable education funding
d. Support funding for infrastructure development
e. Support investments to maintain enhanced cyber-security efforts

3) Infrastructure
a. Support efforts to maintain the safety and capacity of an efficient road, bridge and rail system
b. Advocate for access to reliable and affordable electric and communications services 
c. Support territorial integrity for rural electric cooperatives
d. Support reasonable development and management of South Dakota's water resources

4) Education
a. Provide relevant training and education opportunities for cooperative board members and staff
b. Educate the public about the value of cooperatives through activities such as Co-op Month and the Cooperative Hall of Fame
c. Support efforts to elevate SDSU as a research university to attain the R1 Carnegie Classification
d. Work with the Board of Regents to support the College of Agriculture at SDSU and the inclusion of cooperative economics in business economics courses
e. Support the state’s secondary career and technical education institutes and vocational programs
f. Support FFA and 4-H
g. Provide scholarships to support youth development

5) Agricultural production and rural development
a. Promote reasonable regulations governing use of agricultural inputs
b. Promote reasonable zoning regulations 
c. Support reasonable environmental and right-to-farm regulations
d. Provide flexibility for farmers and ranchers to utilize a variety of business structures 
e. Support precision agriculture technology and programs including use of artificial intelligence
f.  Support value-added agriculture and the work of the Value-Added Development Center
g. Support efforts to find and develop new uses through biotransformation for South Dakota agricultural products

6) Energy
a. Support all forms of energy needed for agriculture and rural development, including alternative ag-based bio fuels
b. Urge use of sound science in making decisions about environmental, safety, or economic issues surrounding development and use of all energy sources
 
7) Workforce
a. Develop policies and programs to ensure a sufficient workforce
b. Promote efforts to streamline licensing and regulatory requirements related to workforce development
c. Increase worker visa limits

Federal priority areas:
SDAC will work with our state’s Congressional delegation, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and  other organizations to ensure the value of farmer cooperatives is recognized by Congress and the Administration.  We support the Capper-Volstead Act, and ask that administration of the Act remain vested in the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.  We will focus on issues that allow farmers, through their cooperative memberships, to:
  • Improve their income from the marketplace
  • Strengthen their bargaining power
  • Maintain access to competitive credit sources
  • Capitalize on new marketplace opportunities, including value-added processing
  • Manage risk
  • Access technical assistance and other services
  • Support passage of legislation to make Section 199A a permanent part of federal tax code
  • Support passage of the SECURE Act to address the overcharging of premiums by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for rural cooperative “multiple-employer” pension plans
  • Ensure that farmers and cooperatives have access to a skilled workforce and improve the deeply flawed H-2A visa program
  • Support passage of legislation which would protect American food products from unfair trade practices by foreign countries