This year’s E-Tour, from June 22-26, is the 33rd annual tour hosted by the North Dakota Grain Growers Association to showcase the diversity, innovation and economic impact of North Dakota agriculture and related industries to Environmental Protection Agency employees. EPA staff from national and regional offices get a first-hand look at North Dakota farms and agricultural businesses and talk with producers.

“The feedback we get from the folks in Washington and in Denver, they always rave about our tour, so we want to keep it up. They learn and we learn and we meet the people, so it’s just a great opportunity for some interaction,” said Nick Sinner, executive director for the North Dakota Grain Growers Association (NDGGA), Fargo.

The EPA employees largely work in areas critical to agriculture, such as pesticide regulation, he said. For many, their roles involve determining the qualification of different chemicals available to farmers and the rules around their uses.

“Very few of them have ever stepped on a farm, much less been on a farm in North Dakota. So we think this is an excellent opportunity to meet these people that deal with the chemicals that our farmers use, and it’s an excellent opportunity to start building a relationship and answer their questions, ask them questions. It’s just building the dialogue. We’re spending some time out here in North Dakota, getting them on farms, showing them what life is like here, and the impact that their work can have on the producers here,” Sinner said.

JILL SCHRAMM/MDN Cale Neshem of Flatland Farms, left, Berthold, talks about spraying operations with Environmental Protection Agency employees Thursday, June 25.

For the most part, the EPA visitors are new each year. The tours also vary regionally from year to year. This year’s tour included equipment and aerial chemical application demonstrations and stops at Birdsall Grain & Seed of Berthold, the Freedom Mine and Great Plains Synfuels Plant at Beulah, and the North Dakota State University North Central Research Extension Center and Minot Milling in Minot, according to the tour schedule. The EPA visitors also met with producers at the Knell and Weinand farms near Hazen, Boll Farm at Newburg, Neubauer Farm at Bottineau and Flatland Farm at Berthold.

The EPA guests hear from farmers about how they handle chemicals and follow label instructions.

“We want them to understand how that label affects us. So, if they put things that are too restrictive or unreasonable, we want them to know this is how it’s affecting us,” Sinner said. “It may not fit for us. They also look on a nationwide scale, too, so it may be very pertinent to a different part of the country. So, they help us understand that.”

At the tour’s onset, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture provided an overview of the state’s agriculture, which is always an eye-opener because most people are surprised at the diversity of crops grown in the state, Sinner said. An aerial tour of the Prairie Pothole region was particularly valuable, he said.

“A lot of what our issues are deal with all the prairie potholes, and the restrictions that they bring along with them. There’s no better way than to fly over the prairie,” Sinner said of educating tour guests. “It’s all laid out there very effectively for them.”

JILL SCHRAMM/MDN Craig Kleven with the North Dakota Soybean Council provides information about a corn and soybean planter to a tour member during the North Dakota Grain Growers Association’s E-Tour to Flatland Farms of Berthold Thursday, June 25.

Other parts of the country and different industries conduct similar events to interact with EPA staff. Sinner said North Dakota’s tour is reported to be sought-after by the employees, and NDGGA readily fills its slots.

Twelve individuals with the EPA, along with John Potts, pesticide outreach specialist with the N.D. Department of Agriculture, participated in the tour, with other interested ag group representatives joining at times . Sinner said NDGGA board members have hopped on the bus at various locations and contributed to the vital discussion in those sometimes long drives between stops.

“Our growers are all the experts on what’s going on in North Dakota, and they have their expertise with what they do at EPA,” he said of that engagement that occurs on the road. “It’s very seldom just quiet on the bus.”