The Value-Added Agriculture Development Center, South Dakota State University, South Dakota Department of Agriculture, South Dakota Office of Tourism, South Dakota Specialty Producers' Association and the South Dakota. Governor's Office of Economic Development  teamed up to co-sponsor the 2005 state-wide Value Added Conference. The conference was held on March 17, 2005 at the Brookings, Inn, Brookings, S.D.  Over 200 students, farmers, ranchers, businessmen and women attended the event.

This year's theme was "Marketing Added Value".  The conference began with a welcome from Gerald Warmann, Director of the SD Cooperative Extension Service.  The morning included guest speaker Mike Clary, president of the OAR Group, a cooperative agency of business professionals providing a hands-on, common sense approach to business strategies.  His morning session was on basics of brand development for a changing value-added market.

Marketing community-based value-added was the topic of guest speaker Larry Swain.  Swain operates Swain and Associates, a strategic planning consulting firm that specializes in value-added agriculture for small family farms.

Featured speaker at the noon lunch was South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds.  The governor talked about the standards and criteria that must be met for the S.D. Certified Beef Program.

The afternoon was made up of breakout sessions which included workshops on Agri-tourism and Marketing Branded Products.

For more information on this conference please feel free to contact the Value Added Agriculture Center by telephone at 605-352-9177 or by e-mail at staff@goldenplainsgroup.com