Inside Ag May 2017 by MinotDailyNews

Inside Ag PAGE 2

MINOT DAILY NEWS

MAY 2017 A farmer takes to the field May 6 southwest of Minot. Jill Schramm/MDN

GROWERS LEAN TOWARD SOYBEANS, CANOLA FOR 2017 A

cres planted to soybeans and canola appear to be going up in the Minot area. Statewide, there could be a 10 to 15 percent increase in soybean acres, said Jeff Heil, operations manager for Dakota Agronomy Partners in Minot. The Minot region is following that trend, he said. “There’s a few more new growers who are raising for the first time and then there are growers who are increasing their acres,” he said. Heil said there’s growing soybean acreage north of Minot into Bottineau County, where some producers are just getting into the crop. Soybeans, which have been financially positive for farmers recently, continue to provide attractive pricing, said Chad Anderson, seed production specialist with North Central Research Extension Center, Minot. Another factor driving soybean acres is the high soil moisture north of U.S. Highway 2, he said. Field peas don’t like excess moisture but soybeans do. “We are going to see a lot of soybean acres this year – a lot of soybeans and a lot of canola,” Anderson said. “It’s really going to be oil-seed driven this year.” Canola mostly, but some flax, will make up the bulk of the oilseed crops, Anderson and Heil agree. Sunflowers will grab some acres because there have been good sun-

By JILL SCHRAMM Senior Staff Writer • jschramm@minotdailynews.com

flower contracts available, but producers have seen significant problems with blackbirds, particularly near wetlands, that discourages planting sunflowers, Anderson said. Corn remains a popular crop, although there’s mixed reports about whether acres will be up or down this spring. Anderson said some farmers are reluctant to get into corn because of the investment needed in bins and dryers. To make money in corn, yields of 120 to 130 bushels an acre are required, and to handle that volume, bins and dryers are necessities, he said. The Minot area and west is on the fringe of providing the right conditions for corn. However, there are areas, such as the White Shield-Parshall area, where the microclimate is suitable for corn and for soybeans, Anderson said. Crops that aren’t likely to increase acreage or could go down are durum, winter wheat and barley. Disease issues have turned many farmers away from durum and winter wheat. Price has had the same effect for barley growers. Without a barley contract, the price is $2.50 to $3 less than the $4.50 that can be obtained with a contract, Heil said. As for contracting, he added, “Those acres are limited.”

Oats is being contracted at a good price because of the demand in the gluten-free market, Anderson said. “We usually don’t see a lot of oat acres and we are going to see some again,” he said. Heil said a couple of companies began offering oats contracts for this year. He is aware of a handful of growers who did get contracts. There is still some interest in peas, especially west of Minot, and Anderson said acreage is likely to remain largely similar to last year. The uncertainty all winter has centered around what farmers will decide to plant on their last 20 to 30 percent of acres once spring comes, Heil said. With the low price of spring wheat rebounding a bit recently, he believes that’s where many of those acres could go. After all, he noted, “We are in wheat country.” Based on interest he has seen from farmers in cleaning their wheat seed or buying new varieties of wheat seed, he expects spring wheat acres could surprise the markets. “Will it be more than last year? I would say in our area, slightly higher,” he said. “There could be a slight increase in spring wheat because of the decrease in durum, barley and winter wheat.”

5/31/17.

Inside Ag PAGE 4

MINOT DAILY NEWS

Firm relies on foreign laborers to put turkeys on your table OREFIELD, Pa. (AP) — There are few experiences more quintessentially American than sitting at the table with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day to dine on roast turkey. And if there is a Jaindl Farms turkey on your table, it likely was made possible by foreign labor. The family-run Lehigh County institution that traces its roots to the 1930s is Pennsylvania’s largest single user of a federal visa program for seasonal agricultural workers. Jaindl’s first objective is to hire locally, company President David Jaindl said. To fill the remaining need, the farm uses the H2A visa program. That program, which last year brought 134,368 farm workers, mostly from Mexico, into the country, is in flux as the Trump administration prepares to put its stamp on the nation’s approach to trade, borders and immigration. Its use nationally has more than doubled since 2012, according to the State Department, and is growing as farmers worry more about immigration crackdowns. In 2016, Jaindl Farms requested 59 visas for workers between August and December to “perform a

MAY 2017 David Jaindl, owner and president of Jaindl Farms, walks among 22-weekold turkeys at the family-run business in Orefield, Pa. Jaindl Farms is Pennsylvania’s largest single user of the federal H-2A visa program for seasonal agricultural workers, which is in flux as President Donald Trump’s administration prepares to put its stamp on the nation’s approach to trade, borders and immigration. AP Photo

variety of duties related to the production of turkeys,” according to documents filed with the U.S. Labor Department. In 2015, Jaindl Farms accounted for 73 out of 777 total guest workers approved under the program for Pennsylvania, according to the State Department. The massive operation processes more than 750,000 turkeys a year and has about 100 year-round, full-time employees. In recent years, it has become difficult to find local workers for seasonal agriculture work, Jaindl said. The jobs, which pay $11.66 an hour, involve the “de-beaking and growing of turkeys; feeding, water-

ing and cleaning turkeys to be free of feces and straw; catching, loading and unloading them as well as cleaning and maintaining turkey housing,” according to Jaindl Farms’ visa application. Federal law requires advertising the jobs to local workers first. Once the number of openings is established, obtaining the visas is a fairly complicated process, Jaindl said. There is a lot of paperwork to complete and workers must be provided with housing and transportation to and from the farm, he said. Jaindl houses workers at six sites, according to its visa application. One is called Breeder Camp, a two-bedroom, 28-person

bunkhouse. Another, known as Orchard #1, is a three-bedroom mobile home shared by five workers. The upside, Jaindl said, is that he knows his foreign workers are fully screened and fully documented, and many are experienced, returning year after year. Overall, it’s not a popular program with Pennsylvania farmers, said Mark O’Neill, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Federal statistics for 2015 show Pennsylvania accounted for less than 1 percent of the total H2A visas issued. “It’s an expensive program,” O’Neill said. Along with transportation and

housing, host companies have to provide meals or a kitchen for workers to prepare their own, he said. Shepherding visa applications through the approval process is complicated and often requires legal help for companies that specialize in H2A visas. In the past, delays in approving visas have jeopardized the harvest for some farmers who depend on the H2A program, he said. And for year-round operations such as mushroom farming, seasonal workers just don’t make sense. The Farm Bureau is working to get the federal government to revamp the program. The group See TURKEY — Page 5

Inside Ag MAY 2017

Turkey Continued from Page 4

would like approvals granted more quickly and the visas expanded to include year-round work. Workers are currently limited to nine-month assignments. Those efforts would generally weaken federal oversight and reduce protections for migrant farm workers, said Bruce Goldstein, executive director of Farmworker Justice, a group that looks out for farm worker rights. Workers in the H2A visa program already are vulnerable to being housed in substandard conditions or being paid lower than market wages, Goldstein said. And if the Labor Department’s budget is cut, it will make enforcing the rules designed to protect guest workers even more difficult, he said. He predicts the Trump administration’s focus on deporting undoc-

MINOT DAILY NEWS umented immigrants will make the H2A program more popular. “Some employers are concerned about immigration enforcement and know a lot of their workers are undocumented,” Goldstein said. The U.S. Agriculture Department estimates more than half the farm workers in the U.S. lack proper documentation. While working conditions “vary wildly,” the H2A program offers few real protections for farm workers because they are completely dependent on their employers, said Beth Lyon, a professor at Cornell University Law School and founder of the Farmworker Legal Clinic. “It’s a system that is very easy to exploit for employers who don’t want to do the right thing,” she said. “The workers have no leverage. Undocumented workers are, ironically, in a better position because at least they they can walk.” Most of the legal protections are there to remedy past abuses, said

Cindy Hahamovitch, a University of North Carolina historian who has written several books on farm workers. The housing and transportation requirements, for example, were put in place to stop farmers from charging workers, making them debtors the moment they arrived on the farm. “Plus, H2A workers are always worried about not getting called back or of getting sent home, so they are less likely to complain about housing, or wage shaving, or the pace of the work, than Americans,” Hahamovitch said. Finding reliable workers Jaindl Farms wasn’t the only agricultural business in the Lehigh Valley participating in the H2A visa program in 2016, federal records show. The Lehigh Valley Home and Garden Center in Northampton requested three visas for crew leaders. A spokesperson there declined to provide more information. And

Subarashii Kudamono in Coopersburg requested 12 for harvesting its gourmet pears. No one there returned a call and email seeking comment. Several farmers in Schuylkill and Carbon counties also use the program for nursery and greenhouse workers, and Christmas-tree farming, among other ventures. Bryan MacDonald is one of them. The owner of Pinecrest Tree Farms in Orwigsburg said he started having trouble staffing his tree farm about a decade ago. “It’s reliability,” he said. “I don’t know what happens, but people who are looking for work don’t want to do this kind of work. It’s dirty, it’s hard, it’s wet. it’s cold and it’s windy. You’re slopping around the mud in 40-degree temperatures banging metal nails into a burlap wrap.” The hours can be long, but that’s the nature of the business. Customers — whether they are land-

PAGE 5 scape companies or families — want their trees at a specific time. Local workers would frequently fail to show up at critical times, MacDonald said. The nine employees he brings from Mexico each year are reliable, hard workers, he said. They live onsite, so they never have any problem getting to work. “These are not the guys who come across illegally,” MacDonald emphasized. “These are not the guys who are committing crimes. These guys are salt of the earth, some of the nicest gentlemen you would ever want to meet. Their focus is work, family and they are very religious. They all have rosaries.” MacDonald said he has many of them in his home for Thanksgiving. “I’ve had these guys come as skinny kids scared to death and now they are my senior guys and know every inch of this farm,” he said.

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Inside Ag MINOT DAILY NEWS

MAY 2017

PAGE 7

Grazing Readiness Project The Pierce County NDSU Extension office along with 17 other ND counties will be helping to collect data for a Grazing Readiness project beginning this month and continuing through late June to early July. The goal of this project is to document the grazing readiness of key forage species across the state, which will in turn help producers improve the condition of their grazing resources. County agents will be monitoring and reporting the growth stage of four key range and pasture grass species (crested wheatgrass, smooth bromegrass, western wheatgrass and green needlegrass) until they reach grazing readiness (the 3-leaf stage for crested and brome; the 3¢ leaf stage for western wheat and green needle). Grasses to be monitored in pasture sites will be brome and crested wheatgrass with western wheatgrass and green needlegrass being monitored in native rangeland sites. Each county agent has been asked to identify pasture and rangeland sites to monitor in

Green Needlegrass – 2.5 leaf – ready to graze at 3.5 leaf stage Crested Wheatgrass – 3 leaf – ready to YOLANDA graze at 3 leaf stage SCHMIDT Smooth Bromegrass – 5 leaf – ready to graze at 3 leaf stage Pierce County Agent In North Dakota, most cool-season native range grasses typically reach grazing readiness in mid- to late May, which is the recommended time to begin grazing native range. their counties. The number of sites is depend- Domesticated grass pastures, such as crested ent on the grazing resources within each wheatgrass and smooth brome, reach grazing county; however, each agent will monitor a readiness two to four weeks earlier than naminimum of two sites, one pasture (either tive range, permitting grazing in late April to brome or crested wheatgrass dominated) and early May. one rangeland. Sites will be visited weekly. Basing grazing readiness on calendar dates may be the right decision in some years, but Grazing Readiness Progress of Key due to the variability of spring temperatures Species in Pierce County and growing conditions, the calendar date This week’s grazing readiness report for method may not always match the recomPierce County key native and tame grass mended growth development stage of native species is: and tame grass species. Western Wheatgrass – 3 leaf – ready to Grazing too early can lead to a shortage of graze at 3.5 leaf stage forage during the second half of the growing

season which can reduce stocking rate and animal performance. To aid ranchers and land managers in determining carrying capacity and setting stocking rates, NDSU Extension Rangeland Specialists, Miranda Meehan and Kevin Sedivec have developed a set of grazing management tools: “Determining Carrying Capacity and Stocking Rates for Range and Pasture in North Dakota,” a publication which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/CarryingCapacityStockingRates NDSU Range and Pasture Calculator, a web-based calculator that allows you to export files for your records which can be found https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/sheets/range-andpasture-calculator/> For a map of counties participating in the NDSU Extension Service project to monitor grazing readiness, visit https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/news/newsreleases/2017/april-10-2017/determine-grazingreadiness-prior-to-pasture-turnout>

Inside Ag PAGE 8

MINOT DAILY NEWS

MAY 2017

Treasuring family and farming Thirdgeneration farmers cherish family legacy

TOP LEFT: Gayle, left, and Lyle Gorseth share a pot of coffee along with a happy marriage of 27 years. MAIN: Third generation farmer Lyle Gorseth examines the feed from his dried distiller located on his family farm.

By ALLAN BLANKS Staff Writer ablanks@minotdailynews.com For more than 100 years, the Gorseth family farm has been a beacon of community pride, with an outstanding reputation for kindness to neighbors and first rate dairy and beef production. Over the span of 27 years, Lyle and Gayle Gorseth continue to share a happy marriage while treasuring both their surrounding community and the land bestowed to them. Described by close friend Sharon St. Aubin as a proud American family that upholds wholesome values, the Gorseths are celebrated for the care they extend to the community as well as the land they continue to tend to. “They have a wonderful cattle operation,” St. Aubin said. “They take good care of their cattle by moving them to different portions of their pasture. Their pasture is in really good shape and the cattle always have really good feed. They also take great care of the fence.” Referring to the saying “Fences do good neighbors make,” St. Aubin expressed tremendous pride for the pro-

Photos by Allan Blanks/MDN

fessional treatment extended to the land and cattle by the Gorseths. “Farmers and ranchers have a lot of respect for the land because it’s their livelihood,” Gayle said. As visitors arrive to the Gorseth family farm, their eyes are treated to the sight of tall ash trees, emerald green grass and rows of crab apple trees bordering a horseshoe driveway paved by dutch white gravel. Before guests enter the Gorseth home, they are greeted by Stella, a 5year-old black-and-white border collie. Described by Lyle as a trusted shadow, Stella can be seen watching the herd or faithfully marching beside

her master before chasing cattle back into their proper formation. When Stella isn’t patrolling the hillside or keeping watch near the family entrance, the clever canine is either resting in the garage or entertaining visitors. “Stella loves to chase,” Lyle said. “She loves the land and likes to be my shadow.” Prior to sunrise, Lyle and Gayle are fully dressed and ready to accomplish their daily goals. By 7 a.m., the couple has shared a warm batch of coffee and homemade muffins. For the Gorseths, coffee is their beverage of choice before and after

they’ve achieved their aspirations. “Coffee is one thing we like to splurge on,” Lyle said. “Generally, we’re pretty conservative but we really like good coffee.” When the Gorseths invest in a well crafted cup of coffee, their contributions goes toward their local church. “We order coffee through equal exchange through our church,” Gayle said. “It’s the coffee we stick with and it’s a fair trade. We like the coffee, our church uses it and everybody says we have good coffee at church.” After enjoying a local brew of coffee, Gayle nurtures the minds today’s youth as a speech language pathologist at a nearby school, while Lyle

nurtures the cattle, horses and family land. Lyle, a third-generation farmer, is a celebrated member of the Stanley, Berthold and Blaisdell community. As a descendant of homesteaders, Lyle embraced the values of outstanding integrity, devotion to community and an appreciation for hard work. Sharing similarities to Lyle is Gayle. Raised in a small farming community in eastern North Dakota, Gayle also learned the importance of honesty, friendship and commitment to work. See GORSETH — Page 10

AG B U I L DI NG S

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Inside Ag MINOT DAILY NEWS

PAGE 10

Gorseth Continued from Page 8

Today, both Lyle and Gayle are proud parents of their son Charlie, who is pursuing a culinary career in California. Throughout the Gorseth family farm, reside 80 cows, a string of horses and a wealth of well preserved land. Possessing a strategic eye and a healthy intuition, Lyle is regarded as an agricultural wizard for his ability to protect the soil and provide high quality cows and cattle to customers. Across the Gorseth’s 40 acre pasture are winding hills enclosed with electric fences that prevent cattle from going astray. During the season, Lyle skillfully rotates the herd to different parts of the pasture, which preserves the natural

Allan Blanks/MDN

The Gorseth family farm currently has 80 cows, primarily black Angus. grass of the land. “The electric fence trains the cows and the cattle to stay in the fence better,” Lyle said. “When the cows and the cattle

go to another part of the pasture that doesn’t have an electric fence, they’re trained not to push on the fence because they’re trained to stay inside.”

In addition to protecting the herd and maintaining the land, Lyle provides high quality hay and feed to ensure the nutritional needs of

MAY 2017 the cattle are met. After facing frigid temperatures and back-to-back blizzards, having a good balance of quality and quantity hay proved to be beneficial for the Gorseth farm. “There is always plenty of grass available, that’s another reason why they stay in,” Lyle said. With a surplus of grass and hay along with a well-trained herd, calving season has been a success at the Gorseth farm. “Right now, their nutrition is about as high as it gets,” Lyle said. “When they’re birthing calves, I feed them some grains this time of year as well.” Along with the image of thriving trees and looping hills are cherry red barns paired near silver dried distillers. “I like the dried distillers,” Lyle said. “It comes from the

ethanol plant in Underwood. Inside it is corn that’s been processed with the starch taken out of it. It’s high in protein and good feed.” For Lyle, the secret to maintaining a family legacy while protecting a farm older than a century, is to cherish the land and treasure the community who live on or near the land. “In ways, I don’t really feel like I own the land, we’re just using it for a while” Lyle said. “We want people to know that this land is also a little bit of theirs, too. By that same token, I hope people remember not to throw trash in the road ditches. If you’re a trucker and you blow a tire, try to remove the tire or the fragments of it so it doesn’t land in the ditches. I hope people feel a little ownership of the land and remember to respect it.”

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Inside Ag MINOT DAILY NEWS

MAY 2017

PAGE 11

China and US reach agreement on beef, poultry, natural gas WASHINGTON (AP) — Beijing will open its borders to U.S. beef, while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to landing on American supermarket shelves under a U.S.-China trade agreement. Trump administration officials hailed the deal as a significant advance toward boosting U.S. exports and closing America's trade gap with the world's second-largest economy. U.S. trade experts offered a more muted assessment, calling the agreement a modest fulfillment of past assurances made by China. Among other things, the deal enables U.S. companies to export liquefied natural gas to China. It will also lower longstanding barriers that have affected matters ranging from agriculture to the operation of American financial firms in China. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross hailed the agreement, coming on the heels of President Donald Trump's April meeting with President Xi Jinping, as "a herculean accomplishment." "This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade," Ross told reporters at the White House. In Beijing, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters the early results of the agreement showed that economic collaboration between the two sides "couldn't be closer." But trade experts questioned the magnitude of the deal. "These are modest moves which by themselves will not have much effect on the U.S. economy," said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Treasury Department official.

AP Photo

A Chinese shopkeeper stands behind a row of beef products at an open air market in Beijing, China. China will finally open its borders to U.S. beef while cooked Chinese poultry is closer to hitting the American market as part of a U.S.-China trade agreement. Trump administration officials hailed the deal as a significant step in their efforts to boost U.S. exports and even America's trade gap with the world's second-largest economy. The beef exports and electronic payments in the agreement have long been promised by China. And the agreement does little to address some key issues of trade friction, such as automobiles or social media. While the Trump administration has touted a surge in U.S. manufacturing, this agreement does little to help that goal. "The challenge is selling manufactured goods into China — there isn't anything in this deal to suggest China is going to become more open to U.S.-manufactured exports," said Brad Setser, a senior fel-

low at the Council on Foreign Relations. It remains unclear how far China will go to allow more American exports. Previous administrations have hailed market-opening agreements only to be left disappointed. "The key in these negotiations is specifics that are enforceable — literally, the devil is in the details," said Scott Mulhauser, a former chief of staff at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. "The more these agreements include real, concrete outcomes rather than plati-

tudes, rehashing old ground or punts to the future, the better they are," Mulhauser said. "American companies, workers, farmers and more are eager for more access to Chinese markets, and they'll look to ensure reality matches the rhetoric of these promises." Trump made America's wide trade deficits and especially the gap with China a major issue in his campaign and during the early days of his administration. He's argued that America's perennial trade gaps have cost millions of factory jobs and he has pledged to

take a tougher stance in trade negotiations to lower the imbalances. Under the agreement, the United States is inviting Chinese companies to import U.S.produced liquefied natural gas. The Energy Department has authorized natural gas shipments of 19.2 billion cubic feet per day to China and other interested countries that lack a broader free trade agreement with the United States, the Commerce Department said. China is turning more to natural gas as a way to reduce its dependence on coal and

combat the country's extensive air pollution. The move would allow China to diversify its supply and provide a major market for American suppliers, though the expansion could lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers. The agreement would also ease import restrictions on agricultural goods, including ending China's ban on beef imports, which was imposed in 2003 after a case of mad-cow disease. In exchange, the U.S. would allow the sale of cooked Chinese poultry — a move Ross said could be done safely. The agreement would also streamline the evaluation of U.S. biotechnology product applications; pave the way for allowing American-owned suppliers of electronic payment services to begin the licensing processes in China; and facilitate the entrance of Chinese banks into the U.S. banking market. The agreement grew out of negotiations the countries agreed to start after Trump's meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate with the Chinese president. America's trade deficit in goods and services with China totaled $310 billion last year, by far the largest imbalance with any country. The two countries have also agreed to hold talks this summer to be led by Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Vice Premier Wang Yang to work on a oneyear plan. While Trump had earlier said China could receive more favorable trade terms from the U.S. in return for help in persuading North Korea to cease its nuclear and missile activities, Zhu downplayed any suggestion of a link between the two.

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Inside Ag MINOT DAILY NEWS

PAGE 14

MAY 2017

Nebraska farmers create shrimp habitats DILLER, Neb. (AP) — A plywood hog, its paint chipped and sun-faded from years of exposure, decorates a metal feed bin outside four redwalled swine barns that sit long and squat along a quiet gravel road in southeastern Nebraska. In the distance, wind turbines spin over freshly planted cornfields. The breeze blowing those massive white blades smells fresh. There is no overwhelming stench of manure. The pigs that once filled the barns have been gone for years. Three of the barns are empty. But in the fourth are eight 14foot pools, the kind you could pick up at a big-box store for kids to splash in over the summer. All but one of those pools is filled with salty, brownish water, habitat for thousands of Pacific White Shrimp. “It is its own little micro environment,” said Scott Pretzer on a recent afternoon as he pulled back a plastic sheet tented over one of the pools to reveal the hazy liquid within.

The plastic, he explained, keeps heat, humidity and jumping shrimp in the pools. He dips in a net attached to a long pole and comes up with a shrimp about the size of his palm. In six to eight weeks, he says, the first batch will be ready for sale. It’s a novel livestock for a land-locked state but one that has been slowly spreading across the Midwest as low crop prices push farmers to find new ways to supplement their income. Shrimp pools already have popped up in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada. The Pretzer family is the first to bring them to Nebraska, but another operation is close behind them, the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/2q8umon ) reported. Dietrich Brinegar and his dad, Stewart Brinegar, plan to begin growing tasty crustaceans at their farm a mile west of Carleton in June. To house their shrimp, Dietrich erected a new building of insulated concrete alongside swine confinements his dad

AP Photos

ABOVE: Scott Pretzer, of Rock Creek Aquaculture, with the help of his daughter Skylar Pretzer, 14, scoops up some juvenile shrimp at their aquafarm in Diller, Neb. RIGHT: Some juvenile shrimp are scooped up an aquafarm at Creek Aquaculturein Diller, Neb.

built in 1994, the same year his son was born. “If the shrimp do well, we’re going to get out of the hogs. We’re getting kind of sick of that,” Dietrich said. People have tried raising crustaceans in Nebraska hog barns before. Retired University of Nebraska-Lincoln Professor Jim Rosowski did it in the early 2000s with Malaysian prawns, a freshwater critter that looks like a big shrimp. A handful of farmers gave prawns a try but couldn’t make enough money for their effort, said Dean Rosenthal, who is in charge of licensing and other aspects of aquatic production for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Shrimp could be different,

said Nebraska Department of Agriculture Promotion Coordinator Steve Martin. Martin tried raising prawn in ponds for two years before giving up. It turns out prawns are rapacious cannibals and highly territorial. Shrimp are much more neighborly. One 14-foot pool can hold 3,500 shrimp while an adult prawn needs more than a square foot of space all to itself. And there is demand for shrimp. Americans in 2015 ate 4 pounds of shrimp per person compared with 2.3 pounds of Salmon and 2.3 pounds of tuna, according to the National Fisheries Institute. The United States imports more than 90 percent of its

shrimp, which in 2015 amounted to 587,500 tons, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported. The Pretzer family has dubbed their new business Rock Creek Aquiculture. The name is a reference to nearby Rock Creek Station, and a historic supply center along the Oregon Trail and Pony Express and the place where Wild Bill Hickock shot David McCanles to death in 1861. Scott’s a veterinarian by trade. He still works at Ehlers Animal Care at 35th Street and Old Cheney Road in Lincoln, but went to part time several years ago so he could take over management of the family farm.

His dad, who lives down the road from the hog barns, technically is retired but still gets out of bed each morning, visits the farm and pitches in. The family raises corn and soybeans but had been looking at options to bring in more money into the business. Hogs weren’t an option. He wanted his children, Reid, 17, and Skylar, 14, to be the fifth generation of farmers and pigs are not the way to get them interested, he said. It was Scott’s dad, Verne Pretzer, who first spotted an article about raising shrimp in a farming magazine and showed it to his son. “Shrimp don’t run you See SHRIMP — Page 15

Inside Ag MAY 2017

Shrimp Continued from Page 14

over, and they don’t smell too bad,” Verne said. Verne said he’s not scared to try new things. He was one of the first in Jefferson County to test no-till farming back in 1985, but decades of farming taught him caution, too. He’s been there to push the brakes and point out pitfalls to Scott, who’s endlessly fascinated by the aquaculture. Scott did his research. The family visited a shrimp farm in Indiana and signed up for consulting services. “What really impresses me is the quality of the product. It doesn’t smell like or taste like the shrimp you buy in the store,” Verne said. Fresh White Pacific Shrimp has a milder and sweeter taste, he said. It turns out an old hog confinement is the perfect building for shrimp. It took Scott and Verne nine months to remodel and setup the pools. They used 150 tons

MINOT DAILY NEWS of sand to fill in the manure pit, added insulation to the ceiling and floor then poured a new cement slab. They ran a system of pipes throughout for heating the tanks and bringing in pressured air to aerate the water. Inside the building stays warm and humid year round. The water is kept at about 81 degrees and tested daily to ensure just the right levels of things like alkalinity, ammonia, salinity and pH. Lights have to be kept on in the building, too. “They don’t like to be in the dark; it’s a stressor for them,” Scott Pretzer said. The shrimps are raised without chemicals, hormones or antibiotics. “If we need to adjust the pH, we have baking soda,” he said. Each tank is a contained ecosystem. Once the water is in the system and conditioned, it stays there. It doesn’t get changed and there is no discharge. Beneficial bacteria feed on ammonia produced by the shrimp and keep the water in balance. Some nitrogen-rich sediment will settle at the bottom of the tanks, which works

great as fertilizer for the garden. But it takes time to get the water conditioned just right, and the first year the percent of shrimp in each tank that live to be sold can vary, which means profits vary, too. Come harvest time, shrimp get scooped out of their pools and plopped into ice water. Scott says that’s the most humane way to kill them. They’re then packed with ice to keep them fresh. He recommends grilled shrimp with a little salt and pepper. “I don’t get real fancy with seasoning. When you have something good to cook, I don’t like anything overpowering in terms of seasoning or sauce,” he said.

A shrimp, one, of a pair that Scott Pretzer, of Rock Creek Aquaculture, keeps to show visitors, swims in a tank at his aquafarm in Diller, Neb. AP Photo

PAGE 15

Inside Ag MINOT DAILY NEWS

PAGE 16

MAY 2017

Flaxton auctioneer launches career with new credentials By JILL SCHRAMM Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com FLAXTON – As an honorary “colonel” in the auction world, Stanley Anderson of Flaxton is eager to move into a profession that first captivated him years ago as a youth. Anderson graduated with the colonel title in February from the World Wide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa. “I have been wanting to do it for a long time,” he said. “My dad was an antique collector so he always went to auctions. I kind of grew up knowing about auctions. I have always had that interest.” His father died when he was 15, and his mother held an auction a few years later. The auctioneer at the sale heard Anderson doing an auctioneer’s chant and invited him to auction a couple of items. Getting a taste of the craft whetted his appetite, but he waited many years before pursuing it. He is self-employed in con-

Stanley Anderson struction work and worked many years as a Verizon field technician. He’s also a horse enthusiast and gives hay and sleigh rides with his team. More recently, he began to seriously consider auctioneering. The World Wide College of Auctioneering rose to the top when he was looking into schools. Established in 1933, the college has

trained more than 40,000 auctioneers. The nine-day school showed Anderson there is more to auctioneering than meets the eye. Students were taught breathing techniques, how to keep rhythm and how to put a hum in their chants for a fuller sound. Before even arriving at the school, Anderson was provided a CD with tongue twisters to begin practicing. Once at the school, students practice both tongue twisters and number exercises. Students learn development of voice control, auction chant and bid calling. They learn how to appraise items and train bidders. Anderson explained it’s important for the auctioneer to control the bidding so it’s sometimes necessary to “train” last-minute bidders to participate at the auctioneer’s pace. The school also teaches the essentials of auction law, clerking and serving as a ringmen in helping identify bids in an audience. Students received instruction in real estate, charity, automobile, farm, antique and

specialty auctions. Other subjects included business management, technology, marketing, networking and online auctions. Anderson found the practice auctions particularly enjoyable, especially when fellow students were auctioning. “That was the one place you could really bid with no consequence. That was fun,” Anderson said. Near the conclusion of the school, a student-run public auction was held. Each student brought an item to donate to the auction. Proceeds went to charity, in this case to aid a man who lost his arms and legs to frostbite following a snowmobile accident last winter. Among items Anderson auctioned was an auctioneer’s gavel. One of the instructors bought the gavel and presented to Anderson as a gift. Anderson said the class of 40 became close during the nine days. Students ranged in age from 15 to around 75 and represented many walks of life. One student raised pigs and attended

the school to simply learn to auction pigs. The group included a handful of women and residents from across the United States and from Canada and Mexico. A Canadian student, who also was a singer, wrote and performed a song about auctioneering at the graduation ceremony. Anderson said auctioneer training is challenging ”It’s not a natural thing to get up there and learn it right off,” he said. “You can easily get discouraged.” The key is to keep practicing because the skills do come, he said. He still practices daily, at home or driving down the road, to continue honing his chant. Anderson is pursuing his auctioneer’s license and is beginning the groundwork needed to begin his own business. As for being called colonel, that was another interesting tidbit Anderson picked up at auctioneering school. He said the honorary title for auctioneers dates back to the Civil War, when only colonels were authorized to sell the spoils of war.

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MAY 2017

No cows but an emerging crop of morel mushrooms

ABOVE: Amber Peterson carries her recently picked morel mushrooms as she searches for more on a farm near Ithaca, Wis. RIGHT: McKenna Michel, 9, picks a morel mushroom on her grandparents' farm near Ithaca, Wis. AP Photos

ITHACA, Wis. (AP) — The walk in the woods was purposefully slow. There were downed branches, tangles of thickets and steep terrain. The May apples were up, wild apple trees were in bloom and the rolling hills of Richland County had a fall-like appearance as buds from oaks, maples and birch combined with farmland for a picturesque scene. But for most of Saturday's hike on Steve and Barb Michel's 330-acre property, we kept our heads down — staring, squinting, hoping and waiting to catch a glimpse of a fungus. The morel mushroom is all the rage for a limited time each spring, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. It drives many onto the east-facing hillsides of the Driftless Region and others to farmers markets where the delicacy can be more easily procured but at $25 to $80 per pound depending on the season. Amber Peterson chose the former.

She found eight mushrooms on her first ever trip but also had a brief encounter with a bull snake. "Finding morels is exciting," said Peterson, 35, an attorney in Madison who grew up in rural Rio. "I didn't (at first) even see the snake. I was focused on the giant morel ahead of me." Peterson was among a group of family and friends of Scott and Katie Michel, the owners of Orange Shoe Fitness in Fitchburg. I had written about their business in February and the interview led to Scott Michel's childhood in rural Ithaca, where he worked on the family farm and played high school football, basket-

ball and baseball. He also spoke of morel hunting. So, when an email arrived from Scott Michel a few weeks ago about a group morel hunt, I bagged plans to be on Lake Mendota for the opening of the fishing season and eagerly accepted his invitation to hunt for morels. The inland fishing season in Wisconsin is a nearly 10-month ordeal. Morels are available only for a few weeks. "It's just an excuse to get out in nature," said Scott Michel, 36. "It's fun when you can invite friends and family out. Some years you find more than others, but any time you can get out and just unplug for a little bit, and

you find something that people find elusive, it's always kind of a victory." The morel (Morchella esculenta) has been found in all 50 states but the Midwest is prime location for the sponge-like mushroom. We were on private property on Saturday but it's also legal to harvest edible fruits and nuts, wild mushrooms, wild asparagus and watercress for personal consumption on public lands, including state parks, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The morel season can vary but typically lasts no more than four to five weeks, said Tom Murphy, who has 450 acres of land, 300 of which are wooded, near Soldiers Grove.

Murphy had only one pound of morels to sell at the Wednesday Dane County Farmers Market in Downtown Madison and let it go for $25. His daughter in-law, Rachel Murphy, had a neighboring stand where she was selling beef sticks and jerky. She sold out of her two pounds of morels in 45 minutes at $60 a pound. "The first couple weeks of the season people are just all over (the market) looking for them," Murphy, 39, said. "Last week we had eight pounds and they were gone in a matter of minutes. They go really fast." The morel will be celebrated for See MOREL — Page 20

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PAGE 20

MAY 2017

Preparations being made for 2017 Threshing Shows By MARK JONES Staff writer mjones@minotdailynews.com

Makoti. Stationary engine display; North Dakota’s largest crawler collection on display; indoor flea marker; mucker demonstration (10 a.m.); plowing demostration (11 a.m.). More information: www.makotithreshingshow.org

While we are still in the middle stages of spring, organizers are busy at work getting ready for the various threshing shows to be held later this year in locations around the region. Threshing shows will be held in 48th annual Crosby Makoti, Lansford, Crosby and Threshing Show Drake. Dates: July 14-16 The following is a plan of what Cost: $10 daily; $20 for three organizers have planned for their days; children 12 and under are fee. Submitted Photo 2017 shows: Visitors to the Makoti Threshing Show see threshing machines Location: Pioneer Village on Highway 5 west of Crosby. in operation, as shown in this 2013 photo by Cheryl Stein. Schedule of July 15 events: Pa57th annual Makoti rade (1 p.m.); sawing of lumber and Threshing Show running of equipment; talent show; button or $7 at the gate. Dates: Sept. 23-24 49th annual Drake silent auction; games for kids. Location: 1/2 mile west of Drake Cost: $10 buttons sold at the Threshing Show More information: call John at on Highway 52. gate is the admission. High schoolDates: Sept. 9-10 Schedule of events: Parade aged students and younger are free. 965-6489. Cost: $5 per person for a prepaid (both days, noon); Tractor poll Location: 11 South Main,

Morel Continued from Page 18

three days beginning May 19 when the 35th annual Muscoda Morel Mushroom Festival is held. The event includes mushroom brats, a mushroom parade on Sunday and cups of sauteed morels sold for a fundraiser by the members of the Leslie J. Lee American Legion Post No. 85. Leading up the effort is Tom Nondorf, who is paying $20 a pound and trying to collect between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds of morels for the mushroom stand. He expects to spend between $20,000 and $25,000. Last year, his group charged $7.50 for a four-ounce cup and the line stretched down the block. Also returning for the fourth year is a morel mushroom beer brewed by Ashley Wirtz, a village of Muscoda employee who is a homebrewer. Free samples require a $5 cup. Wirtz made 20 gallons of the morel lager a few weeks

ago at his Wirtz Haus of Brews — which doubles as his kitchen — using morels donated by the Legion. "It's more of a gimmick than anything," Wirtz, 43, said when asked about the taste. "Last year we put a small piece of morel in the glass with the sample and people were ecstatic about that." At the Michel property, on Highway N about a mile from Ithaca High School, a pickup truck, ATV and a four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle ferried our group a mile from the farm house, through a former corn and soybean field and to the edge of woods lined with deer trails. Scott Michel's grandparents bought the farm in 1955. Steve and Barb Michel sold off the cows in 1999 to live a more relaxed life not tied to the daily milking schedule. Now they are free to travel, entertain their six grandchildren and fish for smallmouth bass, trout and bluegill from their private pond. A Saturday earlier this

(both days); kids pedal tractor pull (Sunday); vendor show (both days); bingo (both days); trackor give away (tickets will be out soon). More information: call Warren at 626-7337 or email at ezakopyko@srt.com.

45th annual Lansford Threshing Show Dates: June 24-25 Cost: $5 admission (Children 12 and younger are free) Location: South side of town Schedule for June 25: Lansford Cafe Open (8:30 a.m. to noon); country church (9 a.m.); Steve Stark - historical speaker (10:30 a.m.); ice cream social (noon); parade (1 p.m.); kiddy tractor poll (2 p.m.); threshing of wheat (3 p.m.) More information: rasauer@srt.com.

Scott Michel, right, attempts to guess the weight of a bag of recently picked morel mushrooms with his brother, Eric, left, on their parents' farm near Ithaca, Wis. AP Photo

month, however, was all about the morel. "We've been finding them out here for years," said Steve Michel, 64. "My dad, he was the outdoorsman. We've even got ginseng up here. We enjoy it a lot more now that we're not

milking cows." The property is spectacular with valleys lined with woodland that hold deer, turkey, red wing black birds and the occasional bobcat. Our group of foragers included a banker, an emer-

gency room doctor, a maintenance mechanic, a couple of the Michels' four children and Scott Michel's brother, Eric, who has a doctorate in wildlife management and now works as a researcher at South Dakota State University in Brookings,

South Dakota. When Eric Michel, 30, emerged from the woods after about 90 minutes, his gray, plastic grocery bag held about a half pound of morels destined for a frying pan coated with butter.

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Inside Ag PAGE 22

MINOT DAILY NEWS

MAY 2017

North Dakota delegation praises Perdue as ag secretary BISMARCK (AP) — North Dakota’s congressional delegation is praising the Senate’s confirmation of former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary. Perdue has assured nervous farm-state senators that he’ll advocate for rural America, even as President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed deep cuts to some farm programs. His promise to reach across the aisle won him several votes from Democrats, including North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s. Heitkamp says Perdue will be “a strong voice for agricultural trade in the administration.” Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer touted Perdue’s experience as the governor of a farm state and his understanding of the agriculture industry. Republican Sen. John Hoeven

says Perdue will be a strong leader for the federal Agriculture Department, which has about 100,000 employees and is in charge of the nation’s food and farm programs. Perdue won confirmation on a strong bipartisan vote of 87-11, as several Democrats backed a Trump nominee after razor-thin outcomes for his choices earlier this year. Perdue’s cousin, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., voted “present” but presided over the vote and announced the final tally. The son of a farmer from Bonaire, Georgia, Sonny Perdue is the first Southerner in the post in more than two decades. He has owned several agricultural businesses, but isn’t related to or affiliated with the food company Perdue or the poultry producer Perdue Farms. At his confirmation hearing

in March, Perdue assured nervous farm-state senators that he will advocate for rural America, even as Trump has proposed deep cuts to some farm programs. He also promised to reach out to Democrats. Still, Perdue, 70, is getting a late start on the job. Trump nominated him just two days before his inauguration, and then the nomination was delayed for weeks as the administration prepared his ethics paperwork. Perdue eventually said he would step down from several companies bearing his name to avoid conflicts of interest. As agriculture secretary, he’ll be in charge of around 100,000 employees and the nation’s food and farm programs, including agricultural subsidies, conservation efforts, rural development programs, food safety and nutri-

tion programs such as food stamps and federally-subsidized school meal, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Perdue will help facilitate recovery in small American towns. “I know he will put the needs of farmers, ranchers and others in rural America first,” Roberts said. Perdue’s main task over the coming year will be working with Congress and coordinating his department’s input on the next five-year farm bill. Current farm policy expires next year, and lawmakers on the House and Senate agriculture committees will have to find a way to push it through Congress amid heightened partisan tensions and concerns over spending. At his hearing, he pledged to

help senators sustain popular crop insurance programs and fix problems with government dairy programs. Perdue may also find himself in the uncomfortable position of defending agriculture in an administration that has so far given the issue limited attention, despite Trump’s strong support in rural areas. Trump has proposed a 21 percent cut in USDA programs and has harshly criticized some international trade deals, saying they have killed American jobs. But farmers who produce more than they can sell in the United States have heavily profited from some of those deals, and are hoping his anti-trade policies will include some exceptions for agriculture. At the hearing, Perdue said, “Food is a noble thing to trade.”

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