South Dakota Value Added Agriculture Development Center

Since 1999, the Value-Added Agriculture Development Center (VAADC) in Pierre has been a valuable partner in helping farmers’ ideas become productive, economic realities. VAADC’s mission is to foster the creation of producer-owned, value-added agriculture by offering technical assistance, staff support and by championing value-added agriculture. VAADC is funded through USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) program.

Cheri Rath, VAADC executive director since early 2005, grew up on a farm near Aberdeen, S.D., and was with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development before heading VAADC. Supporting the center are established agricultural based associations, South Dakota state government agencies and South Dakota State University.

“South Dakota has traditionally lagged behind neighboring states in value-added agriculture,” says Rath. “VAADC has turned that situation around with many partnerships and is now able to deliver quality technical assistance to farmers, cooperatives and other agribusinesses. Past projects have involved aquaculture, buffalo processing and patented grain processing, all of which have demonstrated the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of our farms and rural communities.”

Through a vast network of federal, state and local partners, VAADC has dramatically increased its capacity to deliver technical assistance.