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Good seed: Crop Improvement Association’s mission is trusted, quality seed

Janelle Atyeo
May 20, 2026
11 hrs ago

1 of 2

South Dakota State Crop show entries are displayed at the Watertown Winter Farm Show in February.

Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo

Floyd and Keith Hansmeier of Hansmeier and Sons in Bristol, S.D., accept the South Dakota Premier Seedsman award around the year 2000. The family has grown certified seed for generations.

Submitted photo

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Janelle Atyeo

South Dakota farmers just put a lot of money in the ground.

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Crop performance on trial

SDSU's crop performance program helps farmers see how crop varieties stack up.

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Crop Improvement Association (8).JPG — The Foundation Seed building on SDSU's campus has a role in bringing seeds from breeding programs to the hands of farmers.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo

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Kuecker photo.jpg — Richard, left, and Norman Kuecker pose with employee David Pies outside their seed cleaning plant. The family was featured in a Farmer of the Month article in Webster's Reporter & Farmer newspaper in the 1990s. Norman started raising crops for seed in the 1940s. Today his grandson runs Kuecker Seed Farm and served on the South Dakota Crop Improvement Association board.
Submitted photo from Reporter & Farmer

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Crop Improvement Association (17).JPG — Driver, a newer spring wheat variety grows next to Chris, a variety released in the 1960s, in a variety trial last summer. Driver is greener, showing its disease resistance, and shorter, putting more energy into the grain head, compared to Chris.
Submitted photo by Kyle Gustafson

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Certified Seed bag (12) - worked.jpg — A certified seed bag hangs in the offices of the seed testing lab on the SDSU campus.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo

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Crop Improvement Association (6).JPG — Wheat breeder Sunish Sehgal shows an app he created to assess wheat stands.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo

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SDCIA State Crops Show.png — The Crop Improvement Association hosts a display in decades past for the State Crop Show.
Submitted photo

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Crop Improvement Association (16).jpeg — Members of the South Dakota Crop Improvement Association gather to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary during an SDSU women’s basketball game in February.
Submitted photo

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Raised in small town South Dakota, Janelle is enjoying her time as editor of Tri-State Neighbor and Midwest Messenger while raising kids, chickens and no till vegetables in central Sioux Falls. Reach her at janelle.atyeo@lee.net.