More than 100 member bankers and business partners took part in the Association's Virtual Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday. The meeting is traditionally held during the SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention, which was canceled due to the pandemic.

The Annual Business Meeting's agenda included the election of SDBA officers, comments from the outgoing and incoming SDBA chairs, an association update from SDBA President Curt Everson and a South Dakota Bankers Foundation update from Halley Lee.

Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S., the nation’s farm banks were well-capitalized—with many raising equity capital—a more conservative type of capital—according to ABA’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report released last week. Equity capital at the nation’s 1,715 farm banks rose 11.5% to total $52 billion in 2019. Tier 1 capital, meanwhile, increased by $3.3 billion to $47.9 billion.

Farm banks increased agricultural lending by 3.6%, or $4 billion, to $105 billion in 2019. Almost all—98%—of them were profitable, with 63% reporting earnings increases. The report noted, however, that many ag producers were struggling with difficult conditions in the agricultural economy—from trade uncertainties to natural disasters to weakening farm balance sheets and land values—prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Farm banks reported non-current ag loans ticking up to 0.84%.

On Tuesday, June 9, South Dakota bankers are invited to join North Dakota bankers for a Virtual Town Hall with FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams at 10:30-11:30 a.m. CDT. McWilliams was originally scheduled to speak at the SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention, which was canceled due to the pandemic.

McWilliams was sworn in as the 21st chair of the FDIC on June 5, 2018. She serves a six-year term on the FDIC Board of Directors and is designated as chair for a term of five years.

The SDBA’s Annual Business Meeting, traditionally held during the Annual Convention, will take place as a virtual meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, June 9, at 9-10 a.m. CDT. The meeting is being held virtually due to the cancellation of the SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention, which was scheduled for June 8-9.

The agenda of the Annual Business Meeting includes election of SDBA officers, comments from the outgoing and incoming SDBA chairs, an association update from SDBA President Curt Everson and a South Dakota Bankers Foundation update from Halley Lee. The meeting is open to all SDBA members. 

Registration for the SDBA's 2020 Virtual Agricultural Credit Conference is now open. The virtual conference is a series of four webinars on June 24 and July 1, 8 and 15 from 10-11 a.m. CDT. The lineup is:

• Dr. Chris Kuehl: The COVID Economy: Where From Here?
• Doug Johnson: Convergence of the Big Three in Agriculture: Ag Economy, Ag Technology and Ag Experience
• Troy Bockelmann and Ryan Moe: Commodities Outlook and How It Impacts the Ag Economy
• Ed Elfmann and Sen. Mike Rounds: Fireside Chat: Washington Update.

The virtual sessions will be moderated by host Damian Mason, who you may remember from the 2019 Ag Credit Conference. Mason is a businessman, agriculturist, speaker, podcaster, writer and consultant.  

The South Dakota Department of Public Safety (DPS) is reminding people and businesses that it has temporarily granted extension for residents' driver license expiration dates. 

“Since the COVID-19 emergency, the state’s Driver Licensing Program has received several hundred calls each day from citizens worried about renewing their driver license or ID card,” said DPS Cabinet Secretary Craig Price.  “I have authorized the Driver’s Licensing Program to extend these expiration dates for the length of the Governor’s state of emergency for COVID-19, beginning March 13, through the duration of the emergency declaration plus an additional 90 days.”

The SDBA's Annual Business Meeting, traditionally held during the Annual Convention, will take place as a virtual meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, June 9, at 9-10 a.m. CDT. The meeting is being held virtually due to the cancellation of the SDBA/NDBA Annual Convention, which was scheduled for June 8-9. 

The agenda of the Annual Business Meeting includes election of SDBA officers, comments from the outgoing and incoming SDBA chairs, an association update from SDBA President Curt Everson and a South Dakota Bankers Foundation update from Halley Lee. The meeting is open to all SDBA members. Be watching the SDBA eNews and website for the Zoom meeting registration link as the meeting date gets closer. 

The SDBA's 2020 Agricultural Conference, which was set for July 8-10 in Pierre, is now going virtual. You won’t want to miss out on this opportunity to hear from leading ag experts in the fields of ag economics, ag technology, ag policy and ag marketing.

USDA is preparing to open the application period for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), particularly the payments to agricultural producers to help offset direct losses as well as additional adjustment and marketing costs.

The SDBA last week conducted a survey of member banks about their getting back to normal plans. A total of 37 of the SDBA's 72 member banks responded to the survey. The SDBA hopes banks find the survey results helpful as they decide how they will operate in the coming weeks. Click here to see the survey results.

The SDBA is providing additional reopening resources on its coronavirus web page:

• South Dakota Banks Back to Normal Survey – May 11, 2020
• South Dakota Banks "Back to Normal" Resource  – April 30, 2020
• South Dakota Division of Banking Branch Re-openings Memo
• ABA Reopening Matrix (Excel file)
• South Dakota's "Back to Normal" Plan

Farmers and ranchers play a vital role in keeping America’s food supply flourishing. But unfortunately, farms across America are hurting as crop and livestock prices tumble due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With farm income declining, ag producers—now more than ever—need help acquiring credit to help them deal with the pandemic’s impact on the industry.

The South Dakota Bankers Association (SDBA), the professional and trade association for South Dakota’s financial services industry, recently held elections for four of the nine seats on its Board of Directors. Elected to serve on the SDBA Board of Directors were:

• Dylan Clarkson, President/CEO, Pioneer Bank & Trust, Belle Fourche
• Craig Davis, President/CEO, First National Bank, Pierre
• Timothy Kintner, Regional President—South Dakota, Great Western Bank, Sioux Falls
• Pete Mehlhaff, President/CEO, Great Plains Bank, Aberdeen

This is Kintner’s first term on the SDBA Board of Directors and Clarkson, Davis and Mehlhaff’s second terms. They started their new terms on May 1, 2020.

A total of 19,159 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in the amount of $1,549,175,802 were approved in South Dakota as of May 1, 2020.

"A huge THANK YOU to South Dakota’s banks and bankers for providing critical working capital to more than 19,000 businesses!" said SDBA President Curt Everson. "You Make a Difference!!"

As South Dakota and our nation begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many factors for banks to consider when determining when and how to begin getting “back to normal.” So many moving parts will mean this process will look different from county to county and, in some cases, city to city.

The SDBA has provided a resource for banks to use in their discussions about how to best approach this challenge while keeping employees and customers safe. The SDBA will update the "back to normal" resource as new information and guidance becomes available. 

Reliabank, under the direction of David and Jan Johnson, has been involved in several historic preservation projects in the Watertown area, including the First State Bank of Hazel, now known as Reliabank of Hazel, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. The bank pledged $250,000 to Friends of Goss Opera House Main Hall, to be renamed Reliabank Hall, and the bank has facilitated loans for a revolving loan program for Historic South Dakota.

JM Consultants, the SDBA’s endorsed IRA training and audit provider, will hold two HSA webinars in May.

The SDBA has canceled the National School for Experienced Ag Bankers scheduled for June 22-25, 2020, at Black Hills State University (BHSU) in Spearfish, S.D. Because BHSU has closed campus through at least the end of June, and in light of South Dakota’s COVID-19 projected peak, the safest choice was to postpone the school to next year.

The National School for Experienced Ag Bankers will now be held June 21-24, 2021, at BHSU in Spearfish. Registrations will carry forward to next year’s school. Those who registered and wish to cancel will receive a full refund. To cancel your registration, email Halley Lee.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the $19 billion Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to support farmers and ranchers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee. The program will include:

The principal purpose of this survey is to obtain market value and cash rental rate information, by type of agricultural land, in different regions of South Dakota.  Farmers, landowners, investors, lenders, real estate professionals and public officials are the majority users of the data provided by the survey.

The survey has been ongoing since 1991. If you have any questions or suggestions about future iterations of the survey, contact Jack Davis with SDSU Extension at 605.995.7378 or via email.

On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast—sponsored by Reich and Tang Deposit Solutions—American Riviera Bank’s Rechelle Ringer discusses what her bank is doing to revamp its financial education offerings for virtual formats, as well as some lessons learned along the way. The ABA Foundation’s Jeni Pastier talks about how to deliver the foundation’s signature Teach Children to Save program virtually, as well as other resources from ABA for digital financial education. Listen to the episode.

The ABA Foundation will host two webinars for bankers next week on financial literacy topics.