A major central South Dakota agricultural asset has entered the land market: JES Farms Partnership, a large-scale irrigated farming operation located just north of Pierre in Hughes and Sully Counties. Listed by our AgTeam Land Brokers, the property is offered at $172 million and includes approximately 16,398.7 acres.
A rare scale of irrigated production
The defining feature of JES Farms is scale. The operation includes roughly 12,458 irrigated acres, supported by 84 Valley center-pivot sprinkler systems, including 13 corner systems. That level of irrigation infrastructure is very desirable in central South Dakota, where dryland production is common and annual precipitation can be variable. The farm’s irrigation system draws from the Missouri River and is supported by a 13-mile gravity-fed canal system with a 125-foot elevation drop, allowing low-pressure water delivery across the farm.
The farm’s water position is one of its most important strategic assets. The property has a permit for 55,000 acre-feet of irrigation water from the Missouri River, issued by the South Dakota Legislature. It also notes that more than 250 miles of drainage tile were installed in 2017 for 18 pivots, and that the 13 pivot corner units were also installed that year.
That combination, river water, large-acreage irrigation, drainage tile, and a broad pivot network, places the operation in a different category from many conventional row-crop farms. It is being marketed not simply as farmland, but as a vertically supported production platform.
Cropland, soils, and FSA base acres
Approximately 14,961.94 are cropland acres, including both irrigated and dryland acres. It includes 2,333 dryland cropland acres, and the property’s top soil classes average 93%, with the overall average around 84%.
Farm Service Agency data included in the listing shows substantial program bases:
| Crop | Contract base acres | PLC yield |
| Corn | 10,726.2 | 139 bu. |
| Wheat | 1,187.52 | 38 bu. |
| Soybeans | 1,334.08 | 38 bu. |
The property is positioned primarily around row-crop production, with corn, wheat, and soybeans forming the key base-acre categories.
Built-in grain handling and storage
The on-farm grain infrastructure features 2 million bushels of grain storage and handling capacity, including hopper bins, overhead bins, dryers, and quonsets.
Large storage capacity may allow an owner-operator or investor to better manage harvest logistics, reduce dependence on immediate delivery windows, and potentially time grain sales around basis and futures-market opportunities. Another benefit is the farm’s proximity to grain outlets and an ethanol plant near Onida, approximately 20 to 21 miles away.
Livestock, feedlot, and wintering income
Beyond crops, the farm includes livestock-related infrastructure and revenue opportunities with a 5,000-head feedlot capacity.
The farm has historically generated revenue by backgrounding cattle on corn stalks and silage, wintering 2,750 cows for roughly 125 days at $0.90 to $1.25 per day, and selling cornstalk bales.
Operating infrastructure
JES Farms is not just bare land. It includes multiple equipment and storage buildings, bulk anhydrous and seed storage, shops, owner and worker housing, and 10 dwellings for workforce housing.
Recreation, hunting, and Lake Oahe frontage
JES Farms also has a recreational dimension with highlights of goose, deer, and pheasant hunting, as well as Lake Oahe frontage. Lake Oahe, a major Missouri River reservoir, is widely associated with fishing, boating, camping, and hunting opportunities. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers describes Lake Oahe as covering more than 300,000 acres, with more than 2,250 miles of shoreline, and notes fishing opportunities for species including walleye, smallmouth bass, salmon, northern pike, catfish, white bass, and panfish.
JES Farms has a 2026 one-year hunting lease with South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks at $7.50 per acre. It’s walk-in-only upland game and goose hunting lease is a source of annual income.
Lakeshore development potential
One of the more unusual features in the listing is a tract referred to as “The Peninsula” on the extreme northwest corner of the farm. This area extends into the Missouri River / Lake Oahe area and has lake views in three directions. The tract was professionally surveyed and plat-mapped for subdivision development, and a master plan was approved by Sully County in 2021.
Location near Pierre and regional markets
The farm’s proximity to Pierre is another major selling point. The property is located about 14 miles from Pierre, South Dakota’s capital city, and near Fort Pierre Livestock, grain outlets, an ethanol plant, medical services, schools, airport access, and other amenities.
Pierre Regional Airport provides aviation services for central South Dakota, including scheduled commercial airline service, air charter, air cargo, air ambulance, business aviation, flight training, and general aviation.
In Summary
JES Farms is unusual because it brings together multiple high-value agricultural and land-investment characteristics in a single offering: large contiguous scale, Missouri River irrigation, extensive pivot coverage, major grain storage, livestock capacity, housing, recreational income, proximity to Pierre, and Lake Oahe frontage.
In a region where moisture variability can shape farm profitability, this property’s emphasis on irrigation is central. In a capital-intensive agricultural market, the existing grain, housing, and livestock infrastructure may reduce the need for a buyer to build an operation from scratch. And in a land market increasingly shaped by investors seeking both productive and recreational assets, JES Farms offers a combination of row-crop production, livestock integration, hunting income, and lakefront optionality.