Title: content director / investigative reporter
Contact: 605-937-9398 / bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org
Language spoken: English
Demographic expertise: South Dakota, including the Rapid City area, the Black Hills, rural towns and reservations
Topic expertise: agriculture, state government, education, rural issues, Indigenous people, poverty
Potential conflict of interest: Pfankuch serves on the board of the Oyate Prevention Coalition in Rapid City, which works to prevent substance abuse among Native American youth. He will recuse himself from reporting on the organization.
Biography: Pfankuch (pronounced FAN-cook) is Wisconsin native and former editor of the Rapid City Journal. He has worked for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, Florida and South Dakota, including as reporter or editor at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and Capital Times in Wisconsin, and at the Florida Times-Union and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. He also is a syndicated writing coach who has presented at newspaper conferences across the country. Pfankuch has won more than four dozen state, regional and national journalism awards, including, while at News Watch, agricultural writer of the year from the North American Agricultural Journalists association in 2020, 2021 and 2023 as well as first-place reporting awards in the Great Plains Journalism Awards sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club and South Dakota NewsMedia Association. Pfankuch lives in Black Hawk.
Professional memberships: Investigative Reporters and Editors, North American Agricultural Journalists, South Dakota NewsMedia First Amendment Committee
Social platforms: X/Twitter; LinkedIn
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 307 Posts
Special report part 3: Take a tour of a $12 million robotic dairy in South Dakota
LAKE NORDEN, S.D. – The Drumgoon Dairy in Lake Norden is one of only a handful of dairies in the state to use a fully robotic milking system. Here are some basics on the operation run by Rodney Elliott, a native of Northern Ireland who has run one of South
Special report part 1: SD dairy industry growing fast to meet needs of cheesemakers
South Dakota dairy producers have undergone a rapid expansion in recent years to meet the milk needs of the state’s growing cheesemaking industry, bringing a burst of economic prosperity to farm families and farming communities throughout the eastern half of the state.
Milk production in South Dakota rose by
Legalization of marijuana could provide economic boost for SD Native American tribes
Legalization of marijuana in South Dakota could provide a new, lucrative economic-development opportunity for Native American tribes and tribal members who have historically struggled to find prosperity and stability in the state economy.
Voter-approved measures to legalize marijuana in South Dakota may be on hold or stalled for the time
Proposed health plan for SD farmers would fall outside state and federal regulations
South Dakota lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow agricultural industry groups to develop their own health-benefit plans that would be outside the purview and regulation of the state Division of Insurance and which would sidestep some federal consumer protections.
The measure is being pushed by the South Dakota
Preparations for legalization of pot picking up pace in Pierre
After a slow start in 2021, South Dakota lawmakers and state officials are taking increasingly aggressive steps toward building a framework for the growing, packaging, selling, taxation and use of legal medical and recreational marijuana in the state.
A major piece of legislation was filed Feb. 3 that sets the
Rob Joyce named executive director of South Dakota News Watch
South Dakota News Watch, the state’s only non-profit statewide journalism organization, has appointed veteran administrator Robert “Rob” Joyce of Sioux Falls as its new executive director effective Feb. 1, 2021.
Joyce will replace outgoing executive director David Bordewyk, who served in the role for 15 months and is returning
COVID antibody treatment available and effective but delivery slower than desired in SD
A relatively new medical treatment that can reduce symptoms, speed recovery and even prevent death due to COVID-19 in some patients is widely available across the U.S. and South Dakota but is not being used as much as health officials and medical providers would like.
Only about 30% to