Southwest North Dakota Displays Grass Roots Economic Development Efforts

A group of bankers, agricultural producers, veterinarians, economic developers, feed manufacturers and others in southwestern North Dakota is showing how rural residents can band together create new jobs and stem out-migration.

The goal of the group, Southwest Feeders, is to develop a support network that will allow southwestern North Dakota to capitalize on its livestock industry and low feed costs to create economic growth. To that end, the group has raised about $45,000 toward the development of a research and demonstration feedlot at the North Dakota State University Hettinger Research Extension Center.

The group and the project grew from the Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) that was formed six years ago as a Congressional experiment focused on economic development in rural areas.

"The first vision of that REAP effort was that it would come with mega-bucks from the government," says Tim Faller, Adams County REAP board member and director of the NDSU Hettinger Research Extension Center. "That was not true and probably would have been disastrous because of the competition that it would have created. Instead, REAP created a grass-roots effort that formed a common bond among counties and communities in this region. The group’s single greatest accomplishment has been to cooperatively attack the common issues that we face."

That’s tougher than it sounds, Faller says. Some in the group wanted to replace agriculture with manufacturing and service-related industries. "Others felt that we have done little to capitalize on the agricultural resources of the region. We began to see that by adding value to the quality products raised in the region – grain, weaned calves and lambs – we could have a major impact on the economic vitality of our region."

That’s where the Southwest Feeders group and their research and demonstration project comes in. NDSU Extension livestock specialist Chip Poland and others involved in the region’s livestock industry recognized that producers east of the Missouri River in North Dakota add value to 50 percent more of their calves through backgrounding, preconditioning and feeding than do their counterparts west of the river.

"The tradition here has been to wean them and ship them," Poland says. That tradition is a strong one in an industry that’s proud of its traditions. Related businesses also were geared to that tradition. For example, banks in the region typically required payback of operating loans at weaning time.

"As we explored changes, we found that we needed to change not only producer’s attitudes but banking and other business practices as well," Poland says. Poland is educational coordinator for the project and is located at the NDSU Dickinson Research Extension Center.

REAP threw its backing to the effort. The North Dakota Barley Council, the North Dakota Lamb and Wool Producers, Dakota Prairie Feedlot and other groups followed suit.

Faller says similar opportunities exist in other areas of the region’s agriculture as well. The region’s climate has spared it from many of the diseases that have plagued crop production in other areas of the state. "We could supply disease-free seed for those areas," Faller explains. Similarly, new NDSU varieties could allow producers in the region to grow malting barley and other high-value crops that are increasingly plagued by disease and pest problems elsewhere, he says.

"To take advantage of those opportunities, we have to be willing to commit the resources to break with tradition," Faller says. "Our best chance at that is to generate grassroots interest and cooperation through efforts like REAP.

Faller says leaders in other areas are watching. REAP was created by Congress as a framework for local cooperation and to focus existing rural economic development programs. The effort in southwestern North Dakota is one of four in the nation. There is another in north central North Dakota and two in New York.

REAP efforts also have helped Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing, a maker of electronics components based in Killdeer, expand into Halliday and Hettinger. Additional expansion may also occur in other area communities. The group is also helping Hettinger and other communities in the region find ways to better use their existing labor force rather than try to relocate workers.

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Source: Tim Faller, (701) 567-4324, tfaller@ndsuext.nodak.edu 
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu