Lura Roti
Reporter/ProducerLura Roti grew up on a ranch in western South Dakota but today she calls Sioux Falls home. She has worked as a freelance journalist for more than two decades. Lura loves working with the SDPB team to share the stories of South Dakota’s citizens and communities. And she loves sharing her knowledge with the next generation. Lura teaches a writing course for the University of Sioux Falls.
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Beneficial insects are all around us. It’s common knowledge that honeybees create a sweet treat while working to pollinate plants. And then there’s ladybeetles that eat many garden and crop pests like aphids. In this story an entomologist and rancher highlight yet another beneficial insect – the dung beetle. Its job is not glamourous. But it is essential. SDPB’s Lura Roti has this story. -
With several current board members looking to retire from Central Farmers Cooperative when their terms are up, the full-service agriculture co-op headquartered in Salem decided to try something new.It’s cooperative month in South Dakota. It is an opportunity to focus on a South Dakota cooperative taking a proactive approach to the challenge of getting young farmers to serve on the board of directors. -
NewsWith several current board members looking to retire from Central Farmers Cooperative when their terms are up, the full-service agriculture co-op headquartered in Salem decided to try something new. -
Each fall ranch families across western South Dakota round up their cattle and move them to pastures closer to home where they can more easily provide feed and protection to their herd throughout the winter months.SDPB’s Lura Roti recently spent a day with the Painter family and brings you this story from their Buffalo ranch -
NewsRiley Pass has been the site of a 320-acre landform reclamation project to restore the landscape to its original beauty after it was scared by uranium strip mining more than 50 years ago. -
A cat’s eyes. Its whiskers. The way it gracefully springs into action to attack its toy prey – Judith Peterson loves studying her cat and companion, Chai. Since 2017, the Sioux Falls physician and artist has created several hundred works of art inspired by her feline friend. -
Since 1888 Marshall County has been home to the Bien family ranch. Located in the rolling hills of South Dakota’s Prairie Coteau, since the family homesteaded the land, they have embraced its natural landscape of native grass and wetlands. -
A third-generation Veblen rancher, Bien enjoys welcoming friends to enjoy the beauty of the ranch. And when they arrive, he gives them a unique welcome thanks to a bell from the old Trondhjem Lutheran church. -
Although Layne and LeAnn Lux both grew up on McPherson County farms, when the couple had their first child and were ready to continue the family farming tradition, their parents were too young and their farms too small to support another family farming full-time. -
Summer is the season for community celebrations. This is true for the rural ranching community of South Hand. Since the 1890s this community 23 miles from Miller comes together for their annual South Hand Old Settler’s Picnic.
