The Pierce County Farmers Union held their annual convention the evening of Nov. 29 in the conference room of Rugby’s Farm Credit Services office.

President R Jay Paul presided over the convention, which began with a supper of Sloppy Joes, chips and pickles.

Four speakers gave presentations to the group of about 30 farmers from throughout the Pierce County area.

Amanda Olson, member relations specialist for the North Dakota Farmers Union, gave a speech titled, “Fairness for Farmers and Ranchers.” Olson, who farms with her husband in the Drake-Anamoose area, showed graphs tracking steadily decreasing prices for beef, crops and other farm products. In comparison, consumer prices for food showed a steady increase.

Olson also asked attendees to name businesses that had closed in their rural communities. She received several answers. Olson told the group North Dakota had lost 30 grocery stores in five years.

“As you think about those grocery stores that we’ve lost in five years, that’s a lot to lose,” Olson said. “We’re also creating food deserts. It gets harder and more expensive to get all the supplies that we need, whether it’s for the farm or ranch or just our general household needs.”

Olson said larger retailers know small town residents have to travel to their stores and are more likely to stock up on other items they could buy locally.

She also showed graphs of the market share owned by top four companies for farm supplies, food and other consumer goods.

Many of these companies are multi-national conglomerates, some of them from nations like China, Olson noted.

Olson recommended farmers and ranchers band together and organize to compete against large corporations. Olson used the beer industry with corporations such as Anheuser-Busch competing with microbreweries as an example of how smaller producers could successfully meet consumer demand. Olson noted small meat processing facilities had opened in North Dakota to help ranchers offer locally raised beef to consumers.

Bob Finken, board member of the North Dakota Farmers Union gave the group an update on activities at the state level. Finken, who farms in southern Ward County, said he brought drought-related concerns from farmers and ranchers to a virtual national “fly-in,” where the Farmers Union met with federal government representatives to discuss their concerns about monopolistic practices among food processors, as well as North Dakota’s extreme drought conditions in 2021.

Finken added attendees at the fly-in discussed climate change and other impacts to farming.

Finken also presented information on the Farmers Union Camp, a facility they purchased for educational outdoor activities in Jamestown. Money for the new camp came from donations as well as accounts from a former campground that had been transferred to the Farmers Union Foundation.

Other information Finken provided included news about prizes available for attendees and delegates to win at the state convention. Finken said the national convention would take place in Denver, Colo. Feb. 28 through March 2. Delegates for the national convention would be chosen from attendees at the state convention, according to Finken.

Finken also share information on risk management and financial tools offered to Farmers Union members.

Members also heard updates on health insurance benefits. Becky Tofte, Wolford, presented educational activities the Farmers Union put on every year for children. Tofte encouraged members to send their children to the Farmers Union camp program.

Also present was North Dakota Representative Jon Nelson, who told the group how District 14 had expanded to include Eddy County in the most recent legislative session, which redrew North Dakota’s legislative map to reflect 2020 U.S. Census information.

Nelson also shared information about how the state had targeted federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to build a natural gas pipeline along U.S. Highway 2 from the Bakken oil producing region east to Grand Forks. Nelson said since Rugby and Pierce County were on the pipeline’s route, accessing natural gas would be a possibility for the area.

Nelson said the pipeline would provide natural gas to a large wet corn drying facility in Grand Forks. Nelson said the corn-milling company “is owned by China, but it’s using North Dakota corn to mill. And the other ag-related possibilities for this, whether it’s sugar beets or something else, hopefully, there are other industries that will take advantage of this as well.”

Nelson also gave an update on health legislation and spoke on trends for long-term nursing home care in the state.

In other business, attendees approved the 2020 convention minutes and 2021 financials for the Pierce County Farmers Union.

Members re-elected Paul as president for another year. Members also elected Dave Teigen as vice president and Sheila Ostrem as secretary treasurer and director. Josh Stutrud was elected as a second director for the board. Members also selected delegates for the state convention to be held Dec. 10-11 at the Bismarck Events Center.