Minot Daily News SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2020
Agriculture
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Focusing on nutrition Business model lets consumers share in farm production
By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com BOTTINEAU – Farming is truly a way of life for the Bartletts of Bottineau. When James Bartlett moved his family to 160 acres nestled along Lake Metigoshe in 2004, he put into practice a philosophy about food, lifestyle and business development that takes a more holistic approach to agriculture. Bartlett Farms is finding success in a farm-toconsumer model that focuses on nutrition-dense, chemicalfree animal products that haven’t gone through the usual supply-chain processing. Bartlett Farms sells customers shares in its cattle and poultry to obtain raw milk and pastured meats delivered to their doors. James and Lynn Bartlett operate the farm with son, Peter, and his wife, Nicole. Peter runs the raw micro-dairy while James runs the poultry, hog and beef operations. Three other sons have had a hand in the farm and continue to assist in nonproduction avenues. Jonathan, who started the poultry operation, is in seminary, studying to become a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. David operated a yard care company in the Lake Metigoshe area and now lives at Detroit Lakes, Minn., as does Andrew, who runs a film-making and idea company. James Bartlett was teaching engineering at North Dakota State University when he began thinking about entrepreneurship. As homeschooling parents, the Bartletts wanted to start a Christian-based, family operation that offered teaching
Photos by Jill Schramm/MDN
ABOVE: Bottled raw milk is among products available direct from the farm to consumers at Bartlett Farms, operated by family members, from left, Nicole, Peter, Jim and Lynn Bartlett.
LEFT: James Bartlett checks on the chickens in their hen house Feb. 12. moments for their boys. “We were always encouraged to be entrepreneurial,” Peter Bartlett said, “and then take whatever we were interested in and pursue it. So moving to the country, I appreciate Dad’s vision for that because he was specifically wanting each of us to pursue things we were interested in. “I just have liked animals. I’ve like birdwatching, being out in nature, and now I get to go be with nature every day and use it as a way to help people,” he added. To achieve that brand of entrepreneurship required start-
ing with the right piece of property. “We prayed for three years,” James Bartlett said. They could have gone to New Hampshire, where his grandparents had land, but they felt they should stay in North Dakota. “We put a map on the wall at home, and we put a red line through all the places we had been,” he said. “The only place we hadn’t been was the Turtle Mountains.” He brought students on a tour of a Dunseith electronics company and drove through the area. Becoming more serious in the search, he placed an
ad for land in the local newspaper. From the three responses, the Bartletts selected their property and begin to develop the business vision. A recounting of their story states they started with a semitrailer, pop-up camper, raw land and a two-sided thatched roof over a toilet seat cover on a bucket. They built a house and began a livestock operation with just a goat barn. They later moved in cabins from a youth camp to use as chicken coops as they gradually developed an operation to provide eggs, poultry, pork and beef. They learned from neigh-
bors about tilling, weeding and fertilizing with animal waste. They also became part of an online network and connected with a remote veterinary consultant. Their first sales venture was selling raspberries at a farm stand. They began getting interest in their chickens, and as word of mouth about their operation spread, they added raw milk. To their knowledge, they were the first in North Dakota to offer raw milk through a cow-share program, which began in 2009. They started with groups of customers send-
ing a pick-up person to their farm. Eventually, the Bartletts began delivering. The farm currently delivers to Minot and Bottineau every week and Bismarck, Williston and Fargo every other week. It has more than 100 customers for its raw milk. Bartlett Farms doesn’t sell raw milk but sells shares in a cow. A single share equates to a claim to two gallons of milk a month. Customers can buy a single share or multiple shares. “We were copying a model that was used in Virginia,” See BARTLETT — Page 2
A crop tour sponsored by the Renville County Agricultural Improvement Association drew farmers interested in production information.
Improvement associations promote agriculture By JILL SCHRAMM
Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com Set up to create an avenue for increasing new seed varieties, agricultural improvement associations across North Dakota have looked beyond that mission to promote agriculture in various ways. For instance, Divide County’s association has supported four new North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) stations. Scott Sova, Noonan, one of seven members of the Divide County board, said fundraising $25,000 from businesses and farms for NDAWN was a major project and an important one. The stations provide rainfall, temperature inversions and other weather data that NDSU uses in its disease forecasting models. “Farmers can decide whether they need to make application and what to scout for,” Sova said. “Some of those applications can be pretty costly so this gives a guy information on whether he should be doing it and what the risk level is.” In Renville County, the association
sponsors an annual ag show that has seen an increasing number of vendor booths and attendees. About 100 people attended this past year’s event, which featured 43 booths and a program on crop insurance. Matt Peterson, Antler, a past president of the Renville association, said the events have been both educational and enjoyable. “There’s always something new out there, and it’s a good time to get together with friends you haven’t seen for a while,” he said. The shows have had a broad scope to capture the interest of the community, with home and energy programming as well as the agriculture programming, he said. Peterson, who served more than 10 years on the county’s nine-person board, said he also found value in working with the other directors and learning from the knowledge they brought to the table. Every county has an ag improvement association, although the governance and the activities might look somewhat different with each association. Annual dues to join the associations are minimal, typically from $3 to $15 a year. Income to support the
groups’ activities largely comes from a checkoff from sales of new seed varieties in the seed increase program conducted through the associations by North Dakota State University. The seed program is an enormous benefit to producers, said Josh Cook, a Renville County Ag Improvement board member from Kenmare. “I do see the ag board as being a strong player in the seed game, to bring the right seed to market, bringing affordable seed to market,” he said. As a seed increase grower, he was able to obtain soybean seed for this year through participating in the program. “For me personally, that’s going to cut my seed cost to a fifth of what it was before,” he said. “With the price of soybeans, I couldn’t do it buying new seed. Being able to put my own seed back in the ground, it makes it doable and it actually pencils out on the profitable side.” The ag improvement associations are coordinated through county Extension Service offices. County agents serve as board secretaries. Renville County Ag Agent LoAyne Voigt said the association board helps guide many of her decisions about
County associations serve varied functions
what types of programs Extension should bring into the county. “I rely a lot on my local ag improvement board,” she said. “They’re kind of my go-to when I have questions on ‘Is this something we should be addressing?’” The Renville association meets several times a year and in addition to the ag show every winter, it often hosts a crop tour and a banquet. Over the years, it has hosted programs such as exotic animal tours, feeder calf show, shop tours and an appreciation breakfast. Board members serve threeyear terms but the number of terms is limited to discourage burnout and encourage new blood. “We try to keep it a very active board,” Voigt said. “They get to meet producers across the county, and they seem to really enjoy it socially.” She added the association has earned a solid reputation with producers because of its accomplishments. “Just simply because we’ve been so strong over the years, the producers will look to the improvement association for leadership at different times,” Voigt said. “We were struggling once
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with varieties and trying to get information out there. We noticed, even though we’re only 50 miles away from Minot, that some of our variety development seemed to be kind of different than what they were seeing at the experiment station just south of Minot. So our group worked together, and we developed local funding to support a variety (plot) here, just outside of Mohall, and that’s been going now for 18 years. But that was the grassroots through the ag improvement that saw the need for it.” The Ward County Ag Improvement Association will be holding its second Dinner on the Prairie this year. The dinner enables members of the public who don’t have a connection to agriculture to meet farmers and ranchers and learn about their food supply, said Ward County Ag Agent Paige Brummund. The association also holds an annual meeting that features a speaker. In the past, the association has sponsored bus tours and shop tours. Like many associations, it has supported programs of other groups that seek to See PROMOTE — Page 2
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Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
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Peter Bartlett said. “But in North Dakota, there was no law. It was just a gray area until 2011.” In 2011, a bill to ban what they were doing came before the North Dakota Legislature. Bartlett Farms’ customer base in Williston and Bismarck packed the legislative hearing room. In the end, legislators amended the bill to make cow shares a legal method to distribute raw milk, increasing the protection for the business. James Bartlett said only about 3% of the U.S. population drinks raw milk. “Most people haven’t really studied the benefits of raw milk – the vitamin benefits, the enzyme benefit. A lot of people find healing,” he said. Peter Bartlett added the main reason people hear about the farm is they have children with conditions such as allergies, eczema and asthma. The problem is a gut issue, and raw milk nourishes the gut, he said. “When it gets pasteurized, it actually becomes the number one food allergy,” he said. “So raw milk is actually the cure for the number one food allergy in America.” The farm is working to become listed in the Raw Milk Institute, which requires having certain procedures and practices in place to be accountable to the public regarding product standards. The farm does test for salmonella and e-coli on a regular basis and can test specific samples for any consumers who have concerns. However, samples have never tested positive for the bacteria, they said. The Bartletts raise heritage breeds, mostly Jersey, which produces a higher butterfat content. “We actually see a quite a long lifespan. Some of the commercial dairies will cull after five or six years of production. We have cows that are probably about 11 years old,” Peter Bartlett said. Consumers also can buy poultry shares to receive the eggs. A single share is two dozen a month. “Pretty much everything we do is designed to help people heal their gut in some special way. So with the eggs, we avoid
promote farm improvement, particularly programs of the Extension Service. The Ward County association gives a scholarship to a student pursuing a career in agriculture and provides grants to youth programs that teach about agriculture. The Ward County group also has donated toward development of the North Central Research Extension Center seed plant. Membership in the association allows for participation at the annual meeting and information on the latest lists of seed varieties available for distribution. Ward County has a 15member ag improvement board. Seven districts each select two members, with one member elected at large. All terms are two years, with a maximum of three terms. Bottineau County’s association has sponsored farm-related or Extension programs and provides a $500 scholarship to a youth from a member family interested in a career in agriculture. Bottineau Extension Agent Sara Clemens said the group is looking to get more active in hosting activities, such as farmer appreciation events being planned for this summer. The association also offers a program in conjunction with its annual meeting, which brings people together for issue-based discussions and for socialization. The association board consists of 10 members elected to three-year terms. Members receive an Ag Alert newsletter about topics of agricultural interest once or twice a month. McLean County has a ninemember improvement association board, of which one member is an agri-business industry representative, such as a grain elevator representative, who serves a one-year term. Other members serve four-year terms. McLean County Agent Calla Edwards said the board meets about twice a year to consider sponsorship of events and activities. Many of those activities involve bringing Extension programs to the county. Like other associations, seed distribution is the primary income source, but the McLean group also had received memorial money, which the board donated to construction of the
Jill Schramm/MDN
Peter Bartlett looks after the Jersey milk cows Feb. 12 at Bartlett Farms at Lake Metigoshe.
soy, corn and wheat, because there’s some people that are allergic to eggs because of what the chickens are eating. So if we can make a special custom recipe to feed our chickens, then those people can benefit from the eggs,” Peter Bartlett said. Once a hen is no longer laying, the customer gets a soup chicken. Each summer, the farm also raises pastured chicken and turkeys for the meat. The farm does its own butchering for poultry. Hogs and the Angus beef are butchered in a USDA-certified facility. As they continue to grow their operation, the Bartletts have implemented business systems that track everything from gallons of milk each cow gives to the time each family member devotes to the operation. Lynn Bartlett originally chronicled the farm’s adventures on a blog as it established its place in the agricultural community. The Bartletts were early pioneers with a farm website presence. In addition to its website at barlettfarms.us, the farm maintains a presence on social media platforms and issues a monthly newsletter. “So that’s been fun – just using technology to reach out to people,” Peter Bartlett said. “Farming in the 21st century is different, and if young people, like myself want to begin farming, you have to think about it more like a business, as an entrepreneur first, and then apply that to agriculture. If you just take the family farm and try to do it the way it’s always been
done, you’re going to run up against prices that are really low and competition that you can’t beat because of scale. If we were trying to compete at the price of wholesale, bringing our animals to the livestock ring, we couldn’t raise enough to even come close. It has to go direct to the consumer in order to get enough value.” Nicole Bartlett, a nutritionist engaged in consulting and teaching, operates a business called Robust Living, which has a website at robustlivingnutrition.com. She has conducted courses in Minot and Bismarck, which have included demonstrations on how to make kombucha tea, bone broth, yogurt and cheese. Peter and Nicole founded the Weston Price Foundation chapters in Minot and Bismarck. “It’s been really interesting, too, to try to talk to people who had no farm experience, and they want to get healthy food. They’ve never had any contact with a farmer,” Peter Bartlett said. “So we have to learn both the farmer language and how to communicate to the city people. Because we weren’t farmers to begin with, I think it’s been a little easier for us to step into that role and relate to them.” The Bartletts give farm tours every year, usually in August, for their share owners. “One thing I think is big is seeing the consumers who enjoy our products,” Peter Bartlett said. “There’s a reward in having somebody come up to you and give you a hug and say how much your products mean to them. That’s not something most farmers get to feel.”
Saturday, April 11, 2020
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Guests enjoy dinner on the prairie sponsored by the Ward County Agricultural Improvement Association last July. The association looks to hold a similar event this year. seed cleaning plant at NCREC at Minot. Pierce County Ag Improvement holds an annual meeting and an annual plot tour. One of its members hosts an off-station plot for NCREC. The group also has supported a NDAWN station and expects to contribute to maintain a new station being constructed. It supports Extension programs and meetings as well as 4-H Achievement Days. The board’s 10 members include herself as secretary, Pierce County Agent Yolanda Schmidt said. Other board members are elected to threeyear terms. McHenry County Ag Improvement Association is governed by a 10-member board, elected to three-year terms with a two-term limit. County members pay nominal dues for a lifetime membership. McHenry County Ag Agent Rachel Wald said in addition to the seed increase program, the association conducts an educational program in connection with its annual meeting. “We try to get as much education into that as we can,” she said. This past year, the focus was on marketing. The meetings also have addressed disease and weed issues and offered producer panels to discuss issues local producers have worked through. The goal is to get the community working together to make agriculture better in the county, Wald said. Because of time constraints on producers, the association has only been moderately active, but it sponsors Extension events, has supported a soybean plot demonstration and gives two student scholarships. Wells County Better Seed and Grain sponsors a 4-H contest each year, conducts a summer crop tour and holds a grain show at the annual meeting, known as the Winter Show. The December 2019 Winter
Show was the 81st year for the show, which features various speakers on topics relevant to area agriculture. The group sponsors a farm safety day for school children in grades three through six every other year. Funds also go each year to promote other local agriculture-related activities, said Wells County Ag Agent Lindsay Maddock. The group donated toward the new seed plant at the NDSU research center in Carrington. There is no formal membership but any Wells County producer can participate in the annual meeting. Better Seed and Grain is governed by a nine-member board, elected to three-year terms. Dan Folske, Burke County Extension agent, said his county’s association has been less active during the past several years but is looking to get more involved again. The association is reviewing its bylaws for changes that might encourage more involvement. For instance, the bylaws currently call for six members, elected from districts to twoyear terms. Folske said consideration is being given to making all the positions atlarge. Currently, the association helps sponsor programs and promote activities in line with its mission. “Soil health is one of the big topics right now,” Folske said. In Divide County, a primary activity is hosting the annual ag show that features speakers on issues related to the past crop season and marketing for the future. The meetings draw 50 to 60 people, Sova said. “It’s definitely important,” Sova said of the meetings. “It fosters a lot of discussion among producers about what someone might try or has tried and what has worked and maybe failed.”
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Saturday, April 11, 2020
Contest for a cause By CIARA PARIZEK
Staff Writer cparizek@minotdailynews.com The Hefty Seed Company in Mohall held its third annual seed yield contest in 2019. Charlie Adams, the general manager of the Mohall location, said the 2019 contest was still amazing despite the poor conditions. The copious amounts of rain made fields sloppy and farmers had a difficult time harvesting their crops between their equipment getting stuck and some of their crops being in rough shape. The uncooperative weather caused Hefty Seed Company to try something different to figure out the yield amount of the contestants’ soybeans, corn and wheat. The first two years, they weighed the crops. Last year, they had to determine the yield of each farmer’s five acres by using software called Farmers Edge and Climate FieldView. Farmers Edge collects data by using weather stations and telematics devices that are put directly on the farmer’s land to provide accurate yield data. It shows temperature, wind speeds, the direction in which the wind is blowing, amounts of precipitation, dewpoint and several other things that are essential to having a successful harvest. Climate FieldView is another piece of software that farmers use to optimize yields, which agronomic practices would work best, check soil types and many more. It is available in the Play Store on Android devices and in the App Store on Apple devices. The 2019 contest was split into three divisions: soybeans, corn and wheat. The first two years, only soybeans and corn were grown to compete. Last year, they added their AgriPro wheat. “It’s wheat country up here,” Adams said,” and we’ve just been seeing real impressive yields with some of our customers.” In order to enter the contest, there is only one requirement. The farmers must buy their seeds from Hefty Seed Company in Mohall. Otherwise, it’s
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Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
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From left to right, Wyatt Thompson, Randy Fyllesvold, Pastor Craig Schmidt, Charlie Adams and Larry Peterson gather on March 2 for a donation of $2,100 was divided up between Antler Outlaws, Northwest Landowners and Bethel Lutheran Church of Antler. open for anyone to participate. The amount that each farmer is allowed to enter is five acres in each division. Once the growers purchase their seed from Hefty Seed Company, they are automatically eligible to compete. They are informed of the contest and Adams said they have up until harvest to decide if they want to enter the contest or not. Each farmer can enter into more than one division if they so choose. The higher the winners’ yield amounts were, the more they donated. “There are a few people that donated above and beyond what the yield calculated out, as well,” Adams mentioned, “which is cool.” Adams said that over the three years, new growers have stepped up and joined in. Young farmers like Chase Holsten and his brother Trey Holsten are in their 20s. Chase Holsten helped his grandfather on their farm and remembered sleeping on the floor in the tractor between his grandfather’s feet. While he was in school, he helped his family on their farm during the football season. After Chase Holsten graduated from Mohall-LansfordSherwood Public School, he had the option to continue to help on the farm or to do something completely different. He chose to continue
North Dakota farmers participate to donate Several organizations were given donations. Dakota Hope Clinic of Minot, Little Flower Catholic Church of Minot, Zion Lutheran Church of Mohall, Mohall Fire Department and EMS, Bethel Lutheran Church of Antler, Northwest Landowners Association, Antler Outlaws, Antler Cemetery Association, St. James Catholic Church of Sherwood and the Westhope local volunteer fire department.
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From left to right, Charlie Adams, Chase Holsten, Trey Holsten and David Stark stand together for the presentation of the donation of $2,700 to the Tolley Fire Department on March 2. farming. He still occasionally helps his family and he also runs his own operation on land that he rents from his family. He’s been running his own operation since 2013, so this upcoming season will be his seventh. He participated in the contest and donated $2,700 to the Tolley Fire Department, long with Trey Holsten. “A majority (of farmers) have done it again for the third year,” Adams commented, “which is amazing because it was such a hard year and commodity prices were down. The weather was horrible, harvest conditions were horrible, very stressful.” Despite the weather of last year’s harvest, the Hol-
sten brothers persevered and still completed collecting their yields. Adams commended the young men for donating despite having to “pinch pennies on the operation.” Peter Gates is another farmer that participated in the soybean division. He had done soybeans and corn one year, but last year he just entered soybeans. “Moisture was an issue, so it just seemed like just went on forever. (...) It was a mess. We were getting stuck three, four times a day,” Gates described. Later in the season as the ground firmed up with the colder temperatures, things went a bit smoother. Gates had gotten into farming six years ago, being the
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family business. “It’s a good thing to be involved in, and Hefty’s pretty good about supporting the farmers and the community, as well,” he said. Farmers had to take a bit of extra time to finish harvesting their crops, so the award banquet was postponed until March 3, where the winners were announced and donations were given. So far, the Mohall Hefty Seed Company is the only location that is holding the contest to give back to the community. There were quite a few repeat contestants, and Adams was glad to see that those farmers were so dedicated to giving back by doing the contest again and again.
For the 2020 season, Adams said that he plans to add canola for a fourth division. They started carrying it and quite a few farmers grow canola, so it seemed like a fitting addition. Wyatt Thompson is the lead agronomist for Mohall’s Hefty Seed Company. He went to North Dakota State University, doing an internship with Hefty in Mohall for two years. After graduation, he worked part-time as a sales agronomist, then moved up the chain to lead agronomist. He said his favorite part of his job is grower interaction. “I work with some very, very good people.” Thompson has worked on his family’s farm and “ran cows,” so it was something he had an interest in. When the opportunity arose while he was in college, he took it. “It’s a very good place to intern, lots of opportunities, it’s close to home, and very good people to work with,” he said of his internship. As the lead agronomist, he helps test soil and helps the farmer determine which crop would be the most prosperous in that particular plot of land. Agronomists also find ways to increase the productivity of the soil and improve seed quality to produce better yields. Adams said he wants to continue to seed yield contest as an annual event to give back to the community and farmers can donate to anyone they choose. They may give their whole donation to one place, or divide it up into portions and distribute it to many different places. For the 2019 contest, the amount of $46,261 was donated to charitable causes. Over the course of the first three years, they have raised a grand total of $100, 760. In a press release, Adams said, “The credit goes to the farmers who battled the toughest harvest conditions anyone has seen in generations. For them to still give this much back to the community speaks volumes to the character and resolve of our farm families.”
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Saturday, April 11, 2020
Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
Sue Sitter/MDN
With roots in ag, Rugby Manufacturing grows strong By SUE SITTER
Staff Writer The Pierce County Tribune RUGBY – Like many industries in North Dakota’s rural towns, Rugby Manufacturing has roots in agricultural implement production. According to Rugby Manufacturing’s website, the company was founded in 1969. The website summarizes the history behind the firm, referred to by those who work there as “Rugby.” “Since (1969), we have grown from a small agricultural equipment manufacturer to a cuttingedge truck equipment expert,
offering a wide array of superior products nationwide, through a robust network of distributors,” the website says. General Manager Jeff Duchscher related the story behind the company that became a fixture in the Pierce County community. “They started it in Rugby and that’s where the name Rugby Manufacturing came from – the town. The brand of equipment we sell is Rugby brand, so we use the Rugby name quite often,” he said. Duchscher said the Socha family founded and ran the company for 30 years. The family had immigrated to the United States from Canada
and sold the company in the late 1990s. Founders Jerry and Bonnie Socha retired to Lake Metigoshe after selling the business and their children moved to various locations in the United States and Canada. Duchscher described how Rugby Manufacturing evolved from a producer of farm implements to industrial equipment and accessories. “When (the company) started originally, it was to produce specifically for the agricultural industry – various agricultural products from harrows to sprayers to bail haulers, things like that.” Duchscher noted. “Over that time, truck bodies
and hoists were developed,” Duchscher said. “Some of the original ones were also for the ag industry. There were grain bodies and hoists that were used for agriculture. Slowly over time, the transition was more into the industrial sector. So, we built dump bodies for Class 3-5 trucks that were in the primary business model. The hoists were part of the business through much of the history and they still are today.” “As far as today’s product line, specific to the ag industry, we still have some products that are used quite often,” Duchscher noted. “Some of our larger hoists are used with grain bodies. We no longer build the grain bodies
themselves due to the size and nature of our business. The size of the product we build is much smaller than what’s typically used in farming applications today.” Duchscher added, “We still supply hoists and we have various models – underbody scissor hoists, twin telescopic conversion hoists that are still commonly used for the grain bodies.” Duchscher said the variety of hoists produced at Rugby Manufacturing continue to be popular with customers in a variety of work settings. “Then we also have a line of See RUGY — Page 5
Rugby startup rolls out natural health and beauty line By SUE SITTER
Staff Writer The Pierce County Tribune RUGBY – Despite multiple challenges, a startup Rugby company has been busy with planting and rolling out a line of locally grown hemp health and beauty products. Craig Wollenburg of the Hemp Hub worked through a fall blizzard and a spring viral pandemic to set up a production facility on Rugby’s Main Avenue, request proper zoning with the city and move more than a ton of hemp plants from the fields to dry for production. Wollenburg was able to move the majority of the plants from fields northeast of town into smaller drying sheds on the growing sites, but some remained unharvested until recently. After Wollenburg purchased the Hemp Hub’s main production facility, he moved the product from the sheds and the fields into town. As he walked through the new facility, Wollenburg pointed to rows of racks where pungent hemp plants dried. Next to them sat 30 reinforced plastic bags holding buds plucked from the plants. “This is one of the last loads of drying we have,” Wollenburg said. “Levi’s been working on that all day.” Wollenburg works together with Levi Hanson in the building and fields. “There’s only two of us so we practice social distancing,” Wollenburg said. Opening one of the large plastic bags sitting on the floor, Wollenburg picked up a bud. “This is the material we extract the oil from. Mostly it comes from the buds.” “You can crush this down,” Wollenburg said, picking up a bud. “Squeeze that,” he said, demonstrating how a sticky resin comes out of the crushed plant material. “Once we take that, we get the oil extracted from the plants,” Wollenburg said. “We usually add another type of oil to cut it down. Olive oil’s been used; coconut oil’s very common. We blend that and we put that into our bottles, which we’re
“We grow it here. We process it. We make sure it’s our oil and nobody else’s and we derive the benefits from what we did here in the Rugby area.” – Craig Wollenburg of Hemp Hub in Rugby
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Craig Wollenburg of the Hemp Hub in Rugby holds a bottle of CBD tincture made from locally grown hemp. just now preparing for retail.” The extraction process yields CBD, or cannabidiol, which is gaining popularity for uses such as pain relief and skin care. Wollenburg said, “We’re marketing the product under the brand North Dakota Naturals.” “This is called full spectrum crude oil,” he said of the North Dakota Natural CBD products. “That means none of the terpenes (organic plant compounds), none of the cannabinoids were extracted out just to leave CBD in,” Wollenburg noted. “There are other chemicals in this,” he added. “There could be CBG, which right now is under a great deal of scrutiny because it’s showing a great deal of promise with epileptics. This summer, we’ll be growing some plants strictly for CBG.” Although traces of
tetrahydrocannabinol or THC are in the oil, there is not enough of the compound to produce a “high.” The trace amount falls under guidelines established by the 2018 farm bill, which made provisions for hemp cultivation and marketing. As Wollenburg finished drying the last of 2019’s harvest, he stayed at work preparing for spring planting and testing finished North Dakota Naturals products. “Today, we should get several samples of facial creams and balms for sore muscles and pain relief,” Wollenburg noted. “We have just formulated those and we’ll receive them today.” “The only place it comes from is the hemp we grew right here in Pierce County,” he added. “A friend of ours in Minnesota has the same processor that we plan to use here, but his is set up and has been
running for about a year,” Wollenburg said. “We’re testing our product there and it’s working very well.” Extracting the oil involves running crushed leaves and flowers through chilled carbon dioxide in a processor, which Wollenburg said would be in his new facility later in the year. Full-scale production will begin when zoning matters are worked out. “The (City of Rugby) zoning committee met and recommended unanimously to pass (the zoning designation) along to the city council to get it approved, but we need to have the open hearing yet. There were not enough people for a quorum at the last regularly scheduled meeting so that’s coming up” Wollenburg said. In the meantime, Wollenburg involved himself in testing part of his product line for flavor. “It’s an earthy flavor,”
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Wollenburg noted. “These supplements will be taken under the tongue. Some product lines will add a mint or an orange flavor.” Wollenburg admitted surprise at the positive responses his products have brought out. “I’ve found a lot of people who are older are much more open minded about giving a new product a try than I had believed,” he said. Most marketing for North Dakota Naturals products will be based online through websites and social media. An agency in South Carolina will handle the work, Wollenburg said. “I call them my ‘Millennial Team,’ he added with a laugh. Describing the CBD line’s debut, Wollenburg said, “Because of the pandemic, instead of rolling out our new product line with a lot of splash and fanfare, we’re just going to have a very soft
opening. We’ll send emails to friends, family, people we know who’ve used this and people who’ve asked about the product.” Wollenburg paused to inspect rows of large, white plastic bags. “We’ve already dried and processed 30 bags of product,” he said. “Each bag holds about 100 pounds of product. We keep and hold it in this state until it goes to the processor.” Inside plastic storage bins, Wollenburg stored hemp buds which deliver CBD through a smokeable product. “We put tortillas in the drying process here,” Wollenburg said, lifting soft flour flatbread out of the bins. “You store them and, what they call, ‘burp’ them every so often. If they get too dry, you can re-establish moisture by using things like bread or apple peels or orange peels. In California, they use tortillas.” Wollenburg looked at his smartphone. “I’m expecting a call from my partner in California to make sure 20,000 seeds for this spring’s planting are in the mail,” he said. Wollenburg said full production would begin later than he estimated last year. “The COVID-19 pandemic slowed some things down and now, it’s planting season,” he noted. “We’re pretty busy in the next eight weeks with that.” Still, Wollenburg expressed confidence in North Dakota Naturals. “We grow it here. We process it. We make sure it’s our oil and nobody else’s and we derive the benefits from what we did here in the Rugby area,” he said.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Rugby
Continued from Page 4
platforms, flatbeds and rancher bodies that is commonly for a wide variety of applications anywhere from ag use to commercial landscape companies, things like that,” Duchscher said. Duchscher said Rugby Manufacturing ranks as a leader in scissor hoist production, although most of their products have industrial, rather than agricultural uses. “We haven’t forgotten our roots,” Duchscher said, “but by and large, the ag market used to be 100 percent of our business for the first 15 to 20 years of our company and right now, if it makes up about five percent, that would be about it.” Duchscher said since 1999,
Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture Rugby Manufacturing was owned by and sold into the private equity sector. “We were owned by a couple of different investors for the next 20 years.” “In that time,” Duchscher said, “One of those private equity companies purchased a variety of dump body manufacturers that were similar to us so we had sister companies in Minnesota, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. They created and formed TBEI, which stands for Truck Bodies Equipment International. That was an accumulation of a variety of dump body manufacturers.” “Then, in 2017, Federal Signal purchased the rights to TBEI. Federal Signal is a publicly traded, New York Stock Exchange company. They own a whole variety of other companies as well,”
Duchscher noted. “Long story short, we’re part of the TBEI family, owned by Federal Signal, TBEI division,” Duchscher added. “As far as our future, I wouldn’t say we’re targeting the agricultural sector but the products that we have and our product mix hasn’t changed the overall scope of what they’re used for in the past 10-15 years and we don’t intend to change that going forward,” Duchscher said. “So we’ll still have hoists, hydraulic packages that are used to set up for grain bodies and grain trucks and we’ll still have flatbeds and platforms that have a variety of uses, agricultural among other things.” “So,” Duchscher added, “At this point, we’re not tailoring any new products for the ag market,
but we’re not eliminating any or moving ourselves away from the ag market either.” Duchscher said of Rugby Manufacturing, “Right now, the business and the brand are very, very good. A couple of our main segments, the Class 3 to 5 dump bodies, we’re the leading manufacturer in the country, and our underbody scissor hoists, we’re the leading manufacturer in the country.” “At the current time, we have 110 employees at this location,” Duchscher noted. “Obviously, our other locations have additional employees.” “Right now, our business has continued to grow,” Duchscher added. “We’re going on about 10 to 11 straight years of growth and we’re definitely looking to hire
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Page 5 more and expand.” Rugby Manufacturing sends some manufacturing work to other locations due to space concerns in its present building, according to Duchscher. “We have a building expansion currently in process and I’m looking at additional employees as I speak,” Duchscher said. “Right now,” Duchscher added, “We look to continue with that success and we’ve put a lot of focus on our platform line of products in the last couple of years. We continue to gain market share there as well. That’s what’s driving our growth right now.” “And like I said,” Duchscher added, “business is good and at this time, we’re hiring people and expanding the business. That’s a good thing.”
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Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Extension offers opportunities for ag women By JILL SCHRAMM
crops have kept Voigt constantly learning. Senior Staff Writer “I find it very fascinating,” jschramm@minotdailynews.com she said. “It’s always changing, Women always have had a always something new. That role in North Dakota agricul- makes it fun.” Now as one of the veteran ture, but there’s a new level of visibility and engagement as agents, she has enjoyed menmore women see the opportu- toring new agents. “As a mentor, it’s kept me nities in the industry. From production to agri- abreast of a lot of new ideas, business and finance to educa- new technology, and I think it’s tion, women are finding there’s been a real win-win situation,” a place for them at the table. she said. Voigt also enjoys working One area where they have increasingly shown a presence is with youth as she manages through the research and edu- Renville County’s 4-H program cational arm of the North with the help of an office assisDakota State University Exten- tant. She has taken 4-H programs on science and sion Service. In the Minot region, most technology into the schools. The responsibilities of 4-H county agricultural Extension agents are female, a major commonly fall to the ag agents change from even 10 years ago. in the smaller counties. Bottineau County Ag Agent Renville County Ag Agent LoAyne Voigt, Mohall, was one Sara Clemens is also 4-H coordinator. A of only a S o u t h few women Dakota serving as farm girl, ag agents in she started N o r t h her profesDakota sional cawhen she reer as an took the poagricultural sition in Sara LoAyne education 1988. Clemens Voigt teacher in Voigt holds a degree in Extension ed- Rolette before becoming the ucation from NDSU but Bottineau County agent. “I’ve taken to the livestock worked a couple of years with a Fargo landscaping company side of things a little bit more so after graduation and did tem- than crops, but I knew from a porary Extension assignments very early age that I wanted to before coming to Renville do something in agriculture,” she said. Her experience in County. “I was just coming here for agriculture-based classes in a short period of time to get high school heightened that some experience and go back to pull toward that career field. the eastern part of the state. I’m The Extension Service has originally from Minnesota. But been a great way to fulfill that 30 some years later, I still desire to be part of agriculture. “I like getting to know the haven’t made it,” she laughs. “It’s just an enjoyable career. producers. You get some freeFor me, probably the best part dom to be able to go out to their of it is no two days are ever the operations, get one-on-one, same. I like the education. I like hands-on experience with them,” Clemens said. “It’s defithe teaching.” She attributes the increase nitely a network-building type in women in agriculture to the of job. I get to see a lot of differincrease in women in the work- ent people. You get some really force generally. For women off-the-wall questions. I like the who grew up around agricul- variety it offers.” She might be discussing ture, a career in the field can be a natural fit and it has become vaccination schedules with a livestock producer one day and widely accepted, she said. Her interest in Extension examining weeds or discussing started as a 4-H member. Her chemicals in a crop rotation the family farmed, although they next. “Every day is different,” she lived in town. As Renville County’s first fe- said. As the first female ag agent male agent, Voigt said, she generated some curiosity. in Bottineau County, Clemens However, once farmers quickly remembers the public’s surdiscovered she could provide prise when they would call and the information they needed, ask for the ag agent. But having her gender didn’t matter. In the been the first female ag teacher same way, the increased in- in Rolette, she was familiar volvement by women in the with breaking new ground. Clemens said women are Extension Service’s mission is only a surface change, she said. seeing opportunities in nearly “From the outside you no- every field, and agriculture is tice it. But it really hasn’t no exception. “There’s definitely not the changed much,” Voigt said. Voigt said for any agent, typical gender roles anymore,” there is a learning curve associ- she said. “It goes back to, if you ated with becoming a trusted can do the job, you’ve got the source of information on all the right skill set and the right different aspects of farming. knowledge base, the sky is kind Additional questions continu- of the limit.” That’s the mindset shown ally arise as farming evolves. The move to reduced tillage, by Shana Forster, the first fethe introduction of new crops male director at the North Censuch as chickpeas and soy- tral Research Extension Center beans and the new insects and in Minot. A native of Mandan, diseases that come with new she spent many hours as a
youth on her grandparents’ diversified farm. An internship through the U.S. Department of Shana Agriculture Forster and college courses opened the world of agricultural science to her. “If you like science, there’s a lot of career opportunities, especially if you want to stay in North Dakota,” she said. Forster was one of only a handful of young women in the crop and weed science program at NDSU when she was working toward her degree. She received her bachelor’s degree in 2000, master’s in 2002 and doctorate in 2016. She worked at the USDA-ARS Northern Crops Science Laboratory in Fargo and later as assistant pulse crops breeder and then cropping systems specialist at NCREC. Although there weren’t always female role models to guide her way, she said, “It really wasn’t something I thought about. It didn’t seem like that was an obstacle, either.” Forster said her path to her current position isn’t the only way but what is important is being a life-long learner because agriculture is a changing field. “The technology component of agriculture is huge,” she said, “so if you have any interest in technology and agriculture, I see a lot of opportunity.” Ward County Extension Ag Agent Paige Brummund remembers only a handful of female colleagues across the state when she took her current poPaige sition in Brummund 2011. However, joining Extension wasn’t her first thought for a career. “I knew I wanted to do something agriculture-related, and particularly on the livestock side. That was my passion area. But I didn’t think of Extension being one of those options really. My association with Extension was primarily through 4-H when I was growing up,” she said. After college, she worked for ranches in Texas as a breeding manager for horses and cattle. When the opportunity to come back to North Dakota arose nine years ago through an opening in Extension, she applied. Brummund said agriculture may be attracting more women because it is such a diverse field. Women particularly have been drawn to the livestock side, but there’s also opportunities in crop science or working in fields such as sales or finances, she said. “I think it’s a good career, for sure. I think in some instances, it’s flexible,” Brummund said.
In Extension, part of the attraction is it is a hands-on job that presents opportunity for continued learning and professional development. She also enjoys the 4-H involvement and the chance to make a positive impact on youth. Brummund’s interest in agriculture extends to going home to a cow-calf operation and feedlot as well as horses. McLean County Ag Agent Calla Edwards grew up around horticulture and horses. Her parents operated a nursery/garden center and she was active in 4-H and FFA. Calla She inEdwards tended to become an agriculture teacher but after deciding the classroom wasn’t for her, she began looking at Extension. “It was somewhat similar to teaching. There’s still an educational aspect to it, but it wasn’t in a formal classroom setting. I think that’s what attracted me to it,” she said. She worked about seven months as an agent in Oliver County before coming to McLean County, where she is in her fifth year. “I have really enjoyed getting to know the people, working with the 4-H and working with the kids,” she said. During the growing season, she has more opportunity to exercise her horticulture interest, working directly with farmers as a resource for them. While there’s still some formal classroom instruction involved in the job, such as the pesticide training that ag agents offer, she prefers the one-on-one interaction with county residents. She said agriculture is definitely a good fit for women, including on the production side. “Women are more and more taking over. It used to be the sons were the ones that were taking over the family farm and I see more women step into that role,” she said. Rachel Wald has been McHenry County’s ag agent since November 2015. She is a graduate of the University of MinnesotaCrookston with an asRachel sociate deWald gree in equine management and of North Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology. She had worked as a veterinary technician. While she has a strong livestock background, she’s had to learn more about the crop side of agriculture since joining the Extension Service. “I still have a lot more to learn. But it’s definitely getting me to open my eyes to every aspect of agriculture, the grain
side as well as the cattle side,” Wald said. “If you are in Extension, you have to be a forever learner.” Wald grew up active in 4-H and FFA near Willow City. Her grandparents were farmers, and her husband now farms and ranches the family place. Because fewer young people are looking to get into farming, Wald sees women being needed on the production side to fill those roles. In addition, there are jobs from marketing to agronomy that need to be filled, and women are stepping up, she said. Wald credits exposure to agriculture careers to the growth in female interest. Even someone interested in computers can find a agriculture-related job because of the technology in the industry, she said. The key, she said, is “just getting it out, letting the kids know that you can do just about anything if you want to do it in agriculture.” The role model for Lindsay Maddock, Wells County Extension agent, was her mother, w h o worked in animal health sales and later in beef nutriLindsay tion. Her Maddock mother’s joke at that time was there’s never a line to the ladies’ room when you are a woman in agriculture, Maddock said. “Because when she started, there just weren’t that many women doing jobs within the agricultural fields,” she said. These days, Maddock sees a growing number of women in agriculture, particularly in the Extension Service, and she finds that encouraging. A bigger handicap than being a woman is being young and inexperienced, which is overcome only through building that knowledge base, she said. Maddock grew up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Minnesota. She was involved in showing cattle in 4H and Minnesota and National Junior Angus Association. She holds degrees in animal science and equine studies. Her interest was in livestock nutrition, which she followed up on through selling feed for a year. Maddock said she relied on other more experienced agents when she started and she still taps into the knowledge at times. “Going from a job that was kind of very specialized towards one area to something where you wear multiple hats every day and cover different sectors within agriculture is what’s different, and it’s an adjustment,” she said. “Just being able to lean on others with experience was probably the most helpful for me.” Pierce County Ag Agent Yolanda Schmidt grew up on
dairy farm turned beef operation in the Towner area. “Ag has been a big part of my Yolanda life from Schmidt basically infancy,” she said. She studied animal science, which took her into the dairy industry as a dairy herdsman for about six years at a Parshall facility that doubled in size while she was there. “I was originally supposed to be hired as someone’s assistant, but there wasn’t a head herdsman so I kind of got cast into that role right out of college. So that was a quick learning curve,” she said. She later moved back to Fargo to work with the dairy unit at NDSU. While in South Dakota at a dairy conference, she encountered a former colleague who was herd manager at Midwest Dairy Institute, a teaching dairy, who offered her a position. “That dairy was 1,200 cows, and by the time I left, we had expanded to just under 2,000,” she said. She later took a job with a small community college in Watertown, S.D., that was looking for an instructor for its revamped dairy curriculum. “I spent three years there and thoroughly enjoyed it. But my heart was still in North Dakota,” she said. She watched for an opportunity to return to her home state and found it with Pierce County Extension. “All of my experiences have helped me in my current role. I would say the backbone of my role here is animal science, and so all of my other jobs have prepared me for that. But where the learning curve has come in is more on the ag business side of things, maybe a little bit more on the cropping side of things, and then somewhat on the horticulture side of things as well,” Schmidt said. In entering the ag industry as a woman more than 15 years ago, the biggest obstacles centered around being young and inexperienced and then dealing with cultural differences that were common with the diverse workforce in the dairy industry. “For the most part, once they understood that I knew what I was doing, then I was accepted,” Schmidt said. “What I found is once you built the key trust level, there usually wasn’t the problem.” Today, it is easier for women as more females have entered the field. Schmidt notes the veteran agents who paved the way. Jackie Buckley of Morton County, who retired at the end of 2016 after 37 years as an Extension agent, and Voigt are among them.
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Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
Page 7
Gates Manufacturing grows from farm shop to global implement marketer By SUE SITTER
Staff Writer The Pierce County Tribune LANSFORD – What began as a side business for a Lansford farm family more than 40 years ago has grown into a manufacturing company supplying implements and attachments for agricultural equipment in the United States and several other countries. Mike and Pat Gates, a young couple farming near Lansford in the 1970s, noticed equipment used for tilling and other field chores sometimes needed adjustments. Mike Gates began using the shop on his property to improve farming tasks by making new implements. “My dad was definitely an inventor,” said Andy Gates, president of Gates Manufacturing. “My dad started inventing stuff and building stuff that we needed on the farm,” Gates recalled. “That turned into stuff we sold to neighbors and eventually dealers and people like that.” Mike Gates’ inventions soon gained popularity. The first of Mike Gates’ inventions to catch on with farmers was a sunflower lift rod, according to Andy Gates. “It went on the end of a sunflower pan and lifted up the sunflowers if they were laying down so they could be brought into the header,” he said. “There for a few years, probably ‘84, ‘85 was when my older brother Byron and my younger sister and I all worked from the shop after school and it was basically truly a family business building that product,” Gates said. “We were building probably 4,000 to 5,000 a year in the fall in those busy years. Those sunflowers were really popular then.” “Then, in the later ‘80s, my dad built the first heavy harrow,” Gates said. “He took a solid mount with spring down pressure on a toolbar frame.
Submitted Photo
The Coulter Harrow is one of many patented topsellers for Gates Manufacturing.
Submitted Photo
The Gates family poses near their farm shop in a photo dating from the mid-1980s. From top left, clockwise, are Byron Gates, Andy Gates, founder Mike Gates, Pam Truscott-Gates and Patricia “Pat” Gates. Initially, it was other manufacturers’ toolbars and again, he did this for neighbors at first.” Mike Gates’ heavy harrow was patented. The family business would soon add a line of attachments to their harrow. “We build harrow attachments for any brand of implement,” Gates said. “That started in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s also. It has kind of grown over the years to be a pretty good business.” “That kind of took off and he got a patent on that product,” Gates noted. “He started building his own toolbars. It kind of turned into more so an attachment business, more into whole goods, in other words, building units that had serial numbers for initially sales directly for the farmer, then more towards the mid’90s, when we joined a dealer network.” Gates Manufacturing now sells products through dealer networks such as Gooseneck Implement and Northern Equipment in North Dakota. Dealers in several states and Canadian provinces also carry Gates products. “The business essentially grew and in 1990, we built an
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additional shop on the homestead farm,” Gates noted. “Then, my parents quit farming in the mid-1990s and basically started doing the manufacturing full time at that point.” “We had an engineer we hired in the early ’90s, a sales person, people like that. We turned it into more of an official manufacturing business in the 1990s,” Gates added. “The mid-’90s were the start of a growth phase,” Gates noted. “A couple of new products were invented. One was called the Coulter harrow. That originated when my dad went to farm shows in the regional area, and bigger ones in Fargo; one in Minot, maybe the Valley City Farm Show for awhile.” “He also attended a farm show in Regina, Saskatchewan,” Gates said. “There was a farmer from France who asked about building a heavy harrow with a row of blades on it. He did that.” “A lot of our sales in the late ’90s, at least 50 percent of our sales, were exports to France mainly,” Gates said. “We’ve done a fair amount of exports, some to other coun-
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tries – Australia, China, Romania – so we’re not novices from that perspective, but that’s what kicked it off was when we got approached by a gentleman from France that wanted a unique product. That product was designed for their market because they have a narrower transport and they put brakes and lights on it.” “We built a different frame for the European market than we do for the domestic market,” Gates said. “Today, it’s one of our best selling products at the moment. It’s called the Coulter harrow.” Manufacturing’s Gates Coulter disc was introduced later. “That was an extremely popular product from about 2010-2014 or 2015,” Gates said of the Coulter disc. “We’ve got a couple of unique products that are niche products and they don’t cross over too much into what the major equipment manufacturers (such as Case or John Deere) make,” he noted. “That’s kind of what’s allowed our business to stay around,” Gates said. Gates said sales to foreign markets such as Canada have
slowed due to foreign currency exchange rate changes, so the company is focusing on flexible uses for their implements. “Whatever’s working in North and South Dakota is also a useable tillage tool up in Canada, too, where our target market is,” Gates noted. “But we’ve expanded. We sell our attachment products in about 30 states.” Although Gates described sales in the past four years as “soft,” he added, “We’ve seen a little bit of an uptick here in the spring of 2020, and we hope that’s sustained. It probably will be because we’ve got the Coulter harrow that performs really well in wet conditions.” Gates said farmers would soon look to replace worn-out implements in the coming years as well. Gates Manufacturing now operates in a facility away from the family farm in Lansford. The company employs “about 25 people” and outsources most metal processing work, Gates said. “We’re primarily welding, painting and assembling internally,” Gates noted. “We do some fabrication but we also buy a lot of fabricated parts.” After Mike Gates died in 2018, his wife, Pat, sons Andy and Byron and daughter Pam Truscott, who lives in California became shareholders in the business. Andy Gates said he became more involved with managing the business as his parents grew older and spent more time vacationing in Arizona. “I got involved in full time in 2010, the end of 2009,” he noted. Gates said the family busi-
ness had to adjust to labor shortages and hire contractors during the oil boom, when they also decided to move the business into the Lansford facility. Although Gates lives in Fargo, he said, “My brother, Byron lives in Lansford. He’s actually the mayor in Lansford.” “I think the business will stay in the family,” Gates said. “I don’t know if we’ve got an interest in the third generation. I’ve got a son that’s probably not interested in manufacturing. My brother’s got two children, and boy and a girl and they’re both in college right now. They’ve both worked in the manufacturing business as well as my son. I guess we’ll see. The jury’s out,” he said. “It kind of depends on if we can keep coming up with niche products. So far, it’s been pretty good,” Gates added. “My dad had three patents, I patented a product a few years ago, the Coulter disc. It’s got electronics on it and the concept of a tillage implement that can adjust itself down the road, so that’s something new. It’s probably ahead of its time from where real demand will turn into down the road,” Gates said. “Since we actually have an attachment product that goes on all kinds of different manufacturers’ implements, we have to keep adapting and coming up with new and different ways to attach them to other manufacturers’ equipment,” Gates added. “So as long as we always keep the innovation going in that area, it should be a viable product for a long time,” Gates said.
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Minot Daily News • PROGRESS: Agriculture
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Saturday, April 11, 2020