Seeds of N.D.’s future

Board plans to market state produce industry

By MARVIN BAKER, Staff Writer mbaker@minotdailynews.com
HARVEY – A new advisory board created to exploit the produce industry in North Dakota met for the first time Tuesday, making introductions and discussing the marketing of locally grown and organic fruits and vegetables in the state.


Holly Mawby, director of Minot State University-Bottineau’s Entrepreneurial Center of Horticulture, said the produce industry in North Dakota lags far behind neighboring states. She created the advisory board to help jump start the horticulture center, which has been in existence only since January.


“Everyone on the board was chosen for a reason,” Mawby said. “Everyone has an expertise that will be able to help ECH.”


According to Mawby, the goal is to set up and assist public and private sector partners, establish distribution and marketing of locally grown produce, create educational opportunities and finally, add value and branding to a fledgling industry that until now has struggled in North Dakota.


“This is a huge project, from growers, to teaching to distribution to demonstration. It’s huge,” Mawby said. “And the big thing is, we’re going to have to face this distribution elephant.”


Mawby said she has analyzed produce distribution systems in Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut and would like to implement something similar in North Dakota. She reported that she’s had negotiations with two statewide distributors and would like to see a cost-effective distribution system established in the state.


Mawby told the board that MSU-Bottineau is going at this at the right time and expects to have several producers signed on this year.


Producers will be categorized in Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 is for those who earn less than $60,000 annually in their produce operation and Tier 2 is for those who earn more than $60,000.


She added the emphasis needs to be on locally grown, since consumers want to know where their food is coming from and because fuel costs are driving prices sharply higher for products coming here from the coasts.


MSU-Bottineau Dean Ken Grosz called the center a groundfloor opportunity for vegetable and fruit producers, as well as MSU-Bottineau and that it will be in the middle of an explosion of locally grown and organic demand in the coming years.


He suggested advisory board members get involved and provide the center with any information that may be helpful in promoting this industry, not only in Bottineau, but across state.


As an example, board member Terry Borstad of Cando is involved in the North Dakota Farmers Union and Dakota Pride Co-op, an organization in Jamestown that promotes specialty wheats.


Borstad is also a board member of Agraria Restaurant, an upscale establishment in Washington, D.C., that is owned and operated by the North Dakota Farmers Union.


Borstad reported that NDFU is in the process of building a second Agraria Restaurant in the nation’s capital that will be built in a high-traffic area.


“We try to educate the public about where their food comes from,” he said of Agraria. “It’s connecting the producer with the consumer. It’s source verified.”


Borstad is expected to use his connections across the state to at least open lines of communication between the center and Farmers Union.


Doug Hevenor, CEO of the International Peace Garden near Dunseith, suggested several marketing possibilities for the center when production is in full swing.


Hevenor, who has a wealth of experience in greenhouse production in Ontario and Florida, said that if cucumbers and peppers can be grown in northern Ontario’s hardiness Zone 1, they can certainly be grown in North Dakota.


Ward County Extension agent Mike Rose represents North Dakota State University on the center’s board. Mawby said Rose’s responsibilities will be largely informational. Since NDSU is a major agricultural educational force in North Dakota already, Mawby’s concern is so the center doesn’t duplicate something that NDSU is already involved in or vice versa.


As an example, NDSU Research Extension centers in Williston and Casselton are currently involved in grape research, which is something that the Bottineau center will not attempt.


Chad Johnson, a loan officer with the Bank of North Dakota in Bismarck, said he wants to see the Bottineau center succeed since he grew up in Bottineau and is a graduate of MSU-Bottineau.


His expertise will be to assist producers and distributors with loans they may need and give them advice on working capital.


Greg Hagen isn’t a board member, but works closely with Mawby in writing grants for the ECH, which has established a $3.2 million budget.


He said the Economic Development Association has designated the ECH a university center with an organic and locally grown target for Bottineau and surrounding area.


Mawby, who formerly worked at the University of North Dakota-Lake Region in Devils Lake, said she has a lot of experience in writing state grants but federal grant writing is another situation and that’s where Hagen, with the Souris Basin Planning Council, has already been very helpful.


Mawby told the board she would like to start some training this coming fall and winter on a variety of topics that might include growing techniques, season extension, packaging, trends and marketing.


The recent salmonella scare involving tomatoes is good reason to learn about post-harvest handling of produce, she said.


“Food safety is important,” Mawby said. “We need to talk about good agricultural practices and safe handling. These are things that are important in post-harvest vegetable production.”


And given the cost of fuel in recent months, people might not be willing to travel great distances. Mawby said a cost-effective alternative is teleconferencing so people all across the state can join in. She said an uplink is as near as the county courthouse.


“This is an industry in North Dakota that has to be supported,” Hagen said. “It’s a big business. It’s a lot of small businesses that create a big business and I have to emphasize that.”