On behalf of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, I invite you to attend two of the premier agricultural events held in the Upper Midwest: the 2012 Sioux Empire Farm Show and 2012 Sioux Falls Farm Show!

For 59 years, the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce has been proud to sponsor the Sioux Empire Farm Show. With the continued partnership between the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and Midwest Shows Inc., of Austin, Minn., Sioux Falls is again home to a first-class exhibition celebrating the region's agricultural industry.

With crop and livestock reports coming out this month, Matt Diersen, South Dakota State University economics professor and Extension risk and business management specialist, will have more historical data to rely on when he speaks at the Sioux Falls Farm Show later this month at the Convention Center.

Year-end numbers from 2011 will be in by the time his program is presented.

Exhibits are located at the Sioux Falls Arena and Convention Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., and are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 25-26 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 27.

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Landoll Corporation, which is still owned by its founder in his 48th year of business, will be one of the exhibitors at this year's Sioux Falls Farm Show as the Kansas company looks forward to another strong year in sales.

Sales manager Jamie Meier said the last two years have been the strongest he has seen in the ag division for the firm owned and operated by Don Landoll, who began the ever-expanding company as a blacksmith and radiator repair shop in 1963.

Exhibits, on the north end of the Expo Building on the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls, are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 25-26 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 27.

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Jan. 24

4:30 p.m. Ribbon Cutting (Expo Building)

High school sweethearts Glenn and Gaylin Scott of Valley Springs, S.D., believe the path life has taken them has been blessed.

Their family farm, located in rural Valley Springs next to the Minnesota border and one mile from the Iowa border, counts its sixth generation and has been in operation since 1885. Glenn is the fourth generation to operate the farm.

The phrase "two for one deal" doesn't often apply to people, but with Jo Beal and Scott Wick, the Sioux Falls area has certainly gotten a good "deal" from the couple's volunteer service to the Sioux Empire Fair Association in 2011.

Beal and Wick, who are married, were named the Agri-Business Citizens of the Year by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Division. They will be recognized at the Jan. 27 Mayor's Round-Up & Sale of Champions as part of the 2012 Sioux Empire Farm Show.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The 59th Annual Sioux Empire Farm Show will be held Jan. 24-28 on the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls.

Livestock shows and sales as well as commercial exhibits will be held in the Expo Building.

Cory and Melissa Schrag of Marion, S.D., and their daughter Samantha, 13, and Jaxon, 9, put a lot of miles on the diesel pickup and trailer every year showing the family's Shorthorn cattle around the nation.

How many shows a year?