Eminent Leader in Agriculture, Family, and Community
County: Tripp
Growing up on a Chamberlain cattle ranch, Kim Vanneman spent most of her time outdoors helping her dad, Maynard Jensen.
“I truly enjoyed being outdoors and working with the cattle and horses and helping dad. I was his right-hand girl,” said Vanneman, a 2023 Eminent Leader in Agriculture, Family and Community Honoree. “I knew from an early age that agriculture was my passion and I wanted to stay involved.”
With a clear career focus, Vanneman majored in Animal Science at South Dakota State University. She said in addition to gaining skills to enhance her ability to care for livestock, during her time at łÉČËĘÓƵ she developed a network of faculty and friends who she has remained in close contact with ever since.
“We have always told our kids that they needed to go to college not only to get a degree to help them do what they want to do, but also for the life skills and networking,” said Vanneman, who has three children together with her husband Clint: Ambur Hinrichs, Ashley Kartak and Justin Vanneman.
Reflecting on life after college graduation in 1979, Vanneman’s plan as a young girl to stay actively involved in agriculture came to fruition.
She met her husband, Clint, at łÉČËĘÓƵ and returned to his family’s Ideal crop and livestock farm after they married in 1980. Together the couple worked to expand the operation so that one day, their children would have the same opportunity Clint’s parents Ryal and Peggy provided to them.
“We are currently in the process of transitioning the farm to the fourth generation, and we could not be more proud,” said Vanneman of the farm that has been in Clint’s family since his grandfather homesteaded the land in 1909.
Today, all three of their grown children are involved in the family farm, with their son, Justin, actively engaged in the day-to-day farm management.
“We both say our greatest success is the fact we have three grown children who are married and involved in the agriculture industry,” Vanneman said.
She explained that as she and Clint have been transitioning farm management to Justin, they are following the example set by Clint’s parents.
“About five years after we married, they moved to town. Clint’s dad still came out to help on the farm but there is just something about being the one who lives on the farm,” Vanneman said. “It makes you realize it is yours and you are responsible for what happens – good or bad.”
Supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers is a focus that for Vanneman extends well beyond her own family.
“The next generation is the lifeblood of the agriculture industry,” Vanneman said.
Helping the next generation was a focus of Vanneman’s when she first ran and was elected in 2007 to serve in the South Dakota Legislature. It motivated her to serve as chair of the House Agriculture Committee. It was her desire to see the next generation of South Dakota agriculture producers succeed that motivated her to apply to serve as Secretary of Agriculture in 2019.
“I know the importance of having a seat at the table,” Vanneman said. “When it comes to my passion for agriculture, it is my desire to serve as an advocate to help our ag industry be sustainable and thrive.”
To help strengthen South Dakota agriculture, Vanneman worked to unify agriculture leaders during her time serving as South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture.
“In the past it may have worked for each organization to promote their own commodity. But today, agriculture needs to have a unified voice connecting all of the dots of the industry to give a clear message to consumers who do not know or understand agriculture,” explained Vanneman who remains a strong advocate for agriculture having served and still serving on several boards: Farm Credit Services of America, Agtegra Cooperative, South Dakota Ag Foundation, Stockyards Ag Experience and Tripp County Community Foundation Advisory Board.
Vanneman said during her years of service in the legislature and as Secretary of Agriculture she often found herself calling upon not only a lifetime of production agriculture experience, but a childhood spent actively involved in 4-H.
“I owe a lot to my parents Maynard and Marcella Jensen of course, but I also owe a lot to my 4-H leaders, John and Florine Glaus,” Vanneman said. “They challenged us to be our best and made sure we all learned parliamentary procedure and how to speak in front of others.”