SD legislators talk lab-grown protein, will address Beef Checkoff

A South Dakota Representative is carrying two pieces of legislation that would directly impact her state’s cattle industry.

South Dakota District 18 Representative Julie Auch, a farmer/rancher/small business owner who serves Clay and Yankton Counties sponsored a resolution to urge the South Dakota congressional delegation to support an amendment to the federal Beef Checkoff and a bill to change the status of lab-grown protein.

The House and Senate approved the lab-grown protein bill (HB 1077) and if the Governor doesn’t veto it by Feb. 12, 2025, it will be written into South Dakota codified law.

The resolution, HCR 6016, urges support for the OFF (Opportunities for Fairness in Farming) Act and further supports possible amendments to the OFF Act that would prioritize promoting USA beef rather than generic beef and would implement a periodic vote on the Beef Checkoff.

Auch told TSLN that the intent is “to send a message to Senator Thune, Senator Rounds and Representative Johnson that we want them to support the OFF Act.”

As a cattle owner, Auch herself pays into the mandatory Beef Checkoff program. She believes the program could do a better job of serving the cattle industry. She became particularly concerned after learning that the Beef Checkoff funded educational materials for students nationwide to learn about the methane that cattle produce, and to teach students how to “advise” ranchers on ways to reduce the amount of methane their cattle produce.

“I guess that just went too far,” she said. “We want those dollars to be spent to promote our product, our USA beef,” she said. “It’s been years since I’ve seen any promotion of beef on television. The decline in number of US beef is also a sign that the Beef Checkoff isn’t functioning properly. We have the lowest number of cows since the 1970s and we’ve lost a third of our cow-calf operators here in South Dakota since 1992. We’ve lost 295,000 acres of grazing land, which is being tilled up or put into conservation easements. So we really need to put an emphasis on the fact that something needs to be said to hold the Beef Checkoff accountable,” she said.

Auch and her husband Gary have raised cattle for over 40 years near Lesterville, South Dakota. Today they sell Angus and Simm/Angus bulls. She grew up on the Cwach Charolais operation near Yankton, and believes independent cattle operations are the backbone of South Dakota’s economy.

“We need to start defending the industry that makes South Dakota the state that it is. I grew up in this industry. The cattle industry is the biggest industry in this state. I don’t want to see what happened to the hog industry happen to the cattle industry,” she said.

HCR 6016 is not on the calendar at this time. Auch expects it to be on the House Ag Committee agenda toward the end of session.

HB 1077 – cell cultured meat

Representative Auch also sponsored HB 1077 which would define adulterated food, and the definition would include lab-grown protein.

The bill passed the House and Senate is now awaiting Governor Rhoden’s signature. If he does not sign or veto it by Feb. 12, 2026, it will go into law.

Auch said this issue is important to herself and her husband. “This is the one thing my husband asked me to do,” she said.

Auch and others who testified in committee said that, although the Food and Drug Administration has approved some forms of lab-grown protein, they don’t believe the substance and protocols have been properly vetted to ensure they are safe for human consumption.

On the Senate floor, Senator Lauren Nelson, also from District 18, spoke strongly in favor of HB 1077. “Manufacturing. In Vitro and manipulated. Those words matter. A cultivated protein food product is manufactured using cells that are manipulated to divide indefinitely in an artificial environment in vitro within a bioreactor. Bathed in serum whose ingredients are a proprietary secret, to produce products designed to resemble meat,” she said.

“According to a standard dictionary definition, adulterated food refers to any food product that is unsafe, unwholesome or otherwise unfit for human consumption, often because it contains harmful substances,” she said. “The government’s approval of cultivated protein food relied solely on data and studies submitted by the producing company, Upside Foods – the very entity that stands to profit from this product. No independent long-term studies were conducted. Fellow Senators, in this approval process, the wolf was allowed to guard the henhouse. Does this give you confidence that this product is 100 percent safe?” she asked.

“The cells used to produce this cultivated product are immortal. Immortal cells are population of cells commonly used in cancer research that do not undergo normal cellular death and instead divide forever. In addition, cell-cultured chicken cells have been reported to contain higher levels of heavy metals including lead and cadmium than conventional chicken meat,” she said.

“The serum and its ingredients used in the bioreactor are trade secrets, meaning their full composition is not publicly disclosed, not even to the FDA. Unknown ingredients are used to sustain “never die cells” and the product is nonetheless approved for human consumption. We don’t know what’s in the serum. Could it be a harmful substance?” she said.

The bill clearly hit a nerve with the entire state. Every senator spoke on the floor.

District 17 Senator Sydney Davis, a cattle producer representing Clay and Union Counties urged a “no” vote. “There were some comments made about the free market and all this worry that producers are under attack. Give the consumer some credit. They are choosing beef overwhelmingly. Consumers are smart, consumers want real beef, and that’s because they had the ability to choose. They had the ability to go to their local beef producer or buy a quarter or buy half, and they want to keep doing that. What are we scared of? Banning a product that’s not even for sale in the state right now? All we are going to do is is open ourselves up for a lawsuit,” she said.

She insinuated that related lawsuits would be costly enough that they would prevent teachers, medical providers and state employees from earning raises.

“These big companies would love nothing more than to take South Dakota to court because they would make more money on litigation than they ever would selling their product here. Think about that. Please vote no,” she said.

District Senator Mykayla Voita who serves for Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp supported the bill: “I think there is a really big difference between the ‘system’ that is approving this and the ‘system’ that looks at a real cow…We have no information on this stuff, we have no ingredients, because it is proprietary.”

“There is a conflict going on here with some things that are being stated about ‘oh the consumer will choose’ but why are three out of our four big packers invested in startups of these cell cultured companies? The next thing you know, this stuff is going to be mixed with your actual beef. This isn’t about co-existing with the beef market. It’s about replacing it,” she said. “They are trying to make the cattle industry go the way of the pigs, of the chickens, everything else that is vertically integrated,” she said.