News at SDState

Jeff Lakner was determined to attend South Dakota State University after high school. But his dad didn’t support his decision. “My dad was very much opposed because he firmly felt that I would become a farmer,” Lakner recalled. “In fact, he tried to coerce me by offering to buy me a fancy sports car if I did not go to college.”

There’s a plaque hanging in the MoDak Dairy office from 1985 celebrating the fact that each dairy cow produced an average of 15,000 pounds of milk annually. Forty years later, the average has doubled. Today, each MoDak Dairy cow produces about 30,000 pounds of milk annually.

A new study from South Dakota State University reveals how grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that is stronger than traditional plastic and will decompose in the environment in a relatively short amount of time.

Gazala Ameen, assistant professor of plant-pathogen interactions at South Dakota State University, has been awarded the 2025 Early Career Award by the American Phytopathological Society’s North Central Division.

Michael Gonda has received a 2025-26 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award.

A unique opportunity has been given to 14 undergraduate students by the South Dakota State University College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. The students were awarded grants that will allow them to conduct a research project under the mentorship of a college faculty member.

Researchers in South Dakota State University's Department of Dairy and Food Science are developing an innovative solution to defeat listeria and other foodborne pathogens.

For the second consecutive year, South Dakota State University finished just short of winning the International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition. The SDSU Quarter-Scale Tractor Team, competing as the Jackrabbit Tractor Company, finished in a tie with Kansas State for second place. North Carolina State defended its 2024 title, finishing 26 points ahead of its Midwest competitors scoring 2,316 points out of a possible 2,405. The 28th annual event was May 30-June 1 at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois, with 23 teams competing from across the United States and Canada.

Representatives from South Dakota State University and the University of Debrecen came together in Hungary last month to sign an academic cooperation agreement, making official a partnership that will connect the precision agriculture programs of both universities.

James Kemeshi, a doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, has built a low-cost agricultural drone.