Quota freedom reigns in ‘Indian country’
The state is in desperate need of farmers to take on 65,000 cows to supply milk to a developing dairy industry.
A team from South Dakota visited Ireland last August outlining the attractions of heading west to the ancient stronghold of the Sioux Indians, and the land where Calamity Jane, Sitting Bull, and Wild Bill Hickok roamed.
It used 'wanted' posters in the style of the old Wild West to invite people to meetings in Adare, County Limerick, Cork City, and Athlone.
Low land prices, no personal income tax, sensible regulations, no quotas, low production costs, financial and technical assistance, profitability, and a high demand for milk were among the incentives detailed.
The turnout at the meetings and the level of interest shown in the prospect of farming in South Dakota, where there is one dairy cow for every 40 head of cattle, was greater than expected.
As a result, a group of farmers , and other interested parties travelled from Ireland earlier this month on a week-long fact finding mission to the state, where agriculture generated $17.1 billion of economic activity in 2000.
Tom McNamara, from Ballyhea, Charleville, County Cork, who went on the trip to the Sunshine State out of sheer curiosity, said it was a wonderful eye-opener.
He described the scale of farming in South Dakota as massive and overwhelming, and in his opinion more suited to the Dutch and Canadians than the Irish.
A person would need nearly two million dollars to set up and stock a 500-cow enterprise, which is considered a break-even level. Many people in South Dakota are also going out of farming because of small margins, and the reluctance of their families to make it a career.
McNamara said the trip to "the heart and soul" of America was a marvellous experience, even if the prospect of many Irish farmers moving there permanently do not appear high.
Ideally, South Dakota would like people to go in with 500 to 2,000 head of cow, all of which are kept indoors in vast cubicle houses covering acres of ground.
A handful of Dutch, Belgian, and British farmers have already set up dairy units in South Dakota, where the coyote is the state animal, and where the summers are warm and the winters cold.
A couple from Cheshire, James Ailsby (33), and his girl friend, Julie Scanlon (31), a freelance communications manager with roots in County Clare, are among the British farmers who have headed west to escape EU quotas.
They milked 50 Holstein Friesian cows three times a day 25 miles south of Manchester, but now plan to milk 400 Jersey cattle in South Dakota.
"Economic circumstances in Britain for dairy farmers have been extremely hard for several years. South Dakota offers us a future we could never hope for in Britain," said Mr Ailsby.
Joop Bollen, director, South Dakota International Business Institute, said deciding to uproot and move 4,000 miles to the US was not a decision Irish dairy farmers would typically make overnight.
"All we want to do is show people what dairying is like in South Dakota, which is nearly twice the size of Ireland and has 755,000 people.
"The price of land there is about one sixth what it is in Ireland, and there is plenty of it available," he said.
Another group of Irish people is expected to go on a further dairy tour to the Midwest state, nine-tenths of which is covered by 32,500 farms (average size 1,354 acres).
They too will be familiar with the words of the old country and western song "Take me back to the Black Hills, the Black Hills of Dakota, to the beautiful Indian country that I love."
But it remains to be seen whether any Irish farmers, traditionally cautious by nature, will feel inclined to match those words in reality by moving to a state, to which thousands of people rushed 125 years ago in search of gold and land and dreams of their own.
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