SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — During the 2025 Midwest Agricultural Export Summit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, trade between South Dakota and countries around the world was a main focus point.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden spent a portion of the day, Aug. 13, meeting with delegates from multiple countries. Many countries are interested in doing trade with the state.
“It’s really a shot in the arm after years of talking a big game, but never really getting anything done in the world of trade to now see the fruits of the labor from the last couple of years of getting engaged and how well we were received on the world stage from other countries as far as trade goes,” Rhoden said.
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Officials from South Dakota have gone on several trade missions to other countries in the past. Rhoden said the first one he attended was to Mexico a couple of years ago, which proved to be very successful.
“We went there and met with national leaders. I was pretty apprehensive as a first trip because I didn’t know how we’d be received as a small state like South Dakota. I was amazed at how eager people were to have a conversation with us and to find ways to do business with South Dakota,” Rhoden said.
Rhoden said within a couple of months of that trip, they had a 50:1 return on investment in Mexico and now they have had several other trade missions around the globe including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Israel, Japan and Taiwan.
Now, there’s a growing interest from other countries to create partnerships with South Dakota.
“It’s really caught on. We are now finding ourselves being recruited by countries like India or Kenya,” Rhoden said. “It’s very encouraging, very exciting for the future of trade in South Dakota.”
Prakash Gupta, Consul General of India in Seattle, attended the summit and had the chance to sit down with Rhoden. During his time in South Dakota, Gupta said he learned more about the possibilities of trade in agri-products from South Dakota to India.
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“I very actively learned of the possibilities of ethanol, soybeans, even millet being exported to India from South Dakota,” Gupta said.
The trade partnership is more than just exporting goods from South Dakota to India; it’s a two way street.
Later this year, Gupta said they are hoping to do a first-ever India-South Dakota Trade and Investment Forum in Sioux Falls in partnership with South Dakota Trade where they would like to showcase some possible Indian ag products that could be imported to South Dakota.
“We are hoping to introduce Indian coffee, Araku coffee. We are hoping to introduce some of India’s finest whiskeys and wines to South Dakota and we are also looking at hopefully bringing some nice India mangoes and pomegranates later this year,” Gupta said.
Gupta said that in his talks with Rhoden, they discussed the possibility of the trade of not only agricultural goods between India and South Dakota, but also a focus on tourism and other areas.
“When it comes to South Dakota specifically, trade is a very important piece focusing on ag products as well,” he said. “Tourism is a very important piece and I would say cooperation in the higher education space is very important because we have a large number of Indian students at South Dakota State University and we would like the presence of contemporary India to be well registered amongst young American minds. So we are working to bring an immersive experience on Indian Culture Week to South Dakota as well.”
Having partnerships with other countries is a great way for companies in states like South Dakota to grow their export market.
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“It’s tough to go to a foreign country and just start talking to people. If a state trade department leads the way, it just makes it much easier for them,” said Hunter Roberts, South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “That camaraderie of having state government leadership there, state business industry there and then doing business to business for our companies is so helpful for them and it creates opportunities that we need.”
“It means everything. You know, we’re a landlocked state and for a lot of years, we kind of stood on excuses of why we didn’t get engaged in trade,” Rhoden said. “Now we’ve done the proving grounds and we know what works and for the future economy of agriculture in South Dakota, trade is absolutely vital.”
