Infographic: Where should ag development go?

The County Site Analysis Program, developed by South Dakota Department of Agriculture in 2013, provides counties with information on where ag development could take place, based on zoning rules, water availability and other factors. “The methodology addresses the feasibility of locations for the development of concentrated animal feeding operations, agricultural processing and storage facilities, and other agriculturally-related commercial/industrial development,” according to the summary explanation in the county site analysis reports. The reports gave sites a rating of “GOOD,” “BETTER,” or “BEST.” They also qualified some sites as “POTENTIALLY GOOD,” etc., if there was some factor that could be improved to improve the rating. A railroad track that is currently unused in Bon Homme County, for example, would improve the rating if it were returned to use.

The map below shows how many potential sites of each rating were found in each township. Exact addresses for the potential sites were not given.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

Find all the county site analysis reports completed to date: www.dakotafire.net/ag-sites

Also view all of the articles from this month’s Prairie Idea Exchange by following this link Connecting Ag and Community.

Is your township listed in the map above? What do you think of this program? Comment below.