Wipf Among ‘Very Few’ Full-Time Farmers Serving in South Dakota Legislature

Spink County, South Dakota farmer Brandon Wipf is completing his ninth year on the board of the American Soybean Association. But his leadership cultivation began in 2014 in what was then the American Soybean Association’s DuPont Young Leader Program, earning him a position on the South Dakota Soybean Association board. Thanks to a gubernatorial appointment to fill an unexpired term, Wipf has served in the South Dakota State Senate. Farmer representation in that legislative body, according to Wipf, is the exception.

“I am one of the only ones, and it kind of depends on how you really define farmer,” Wipf told the South Dakota Soybean Network. “There are some in the legislature who will say that because that was the job they did, but now they're retired or they've rented all their land out. So, people that are actually actively involved in everyday farming, it's just very, very few people.”

For that reason, as well as for other reasons, Wipf believes in investing in leadership development programs offered through the South Dakota Soybean Association and through other farm organizations.

“That's how I got started in this,” he explained. “I didn't realize that it was going to [lead to holding this legislative seat] by any means. That wasn't the intention when I started doing the leadership programs, but that's where it led. And so now that I've seen that, I'm convinced more than ever that organizations need to really lean into that and make sure we're cultivating the next generation of leaders to take over when people like me are tired and need to move on.”

During his only legislative session since his State Senate appointment, Wipf served on the South Dakota Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. In November, he’s on the ballot unopposed for the position he was appointed to fill.

“Yes, I'll be serving the next two years there in the Senate and looking forward to that; hoping to be on the Ag Committee again, of course, and just want to continue to live up to my commitment to the people in my district to show up and do the job of governing and do the business of the people in as unflashy of a way as I possibly can,” said Wipf. “I just want to really do well for my constituents and then go home to my farm and mind my own business. I think that's how our founders envisioned a citizen legislature working and that's what I want to be a part of.”

Brandon Wipf farms thirty miles north of Huron in Spink County.