The Northern Great Plains Rural Development Commission: An Update and Overview of the Activities of Northern Great Plains Inc.

Presented by:

Jerry Nagel Northern Great Plains Inc.University of MinnesotaCrookston, MN

Northern Great Plains Rural Development Commission

• The US Congress passed the Northern Great Plains Rural Development Act in August 1994.

• The Act established the Northern Great Plains Rural Development Commission for the purpose of preparing a rural development strategy for the Northern Great Plains region.

• The Commission submitted its report to Congress in March 1997. The report contained 75 recommendations for action of which twenty recommendations were identified as priority actions.

• The Commission was sunset in September 1997.• The Northern Great Plains Inc. was subsequently established to

work on implementing the recommendations of the Commission.

Regional Themes

• Shifts in Global Trading Structures• Changes in Agriculture• Youth• Changing Role and Functions of Government• Native Americans• Regions within Regions

Commission Priority Recommendations – Project Activities and Policy Uniformity

• Business Development• Agriculture• Telecommunications• International Trade• Health Care• Civic and Social Capacity

Commission Priority Recommendations – Business Development:

• Deploy throughout the Northern Great Plains region a microenterprise loan and community-based training program.

• Make the marketing, merchandising assistance, and business start-up advisory services of the Nebraska Food Processing Center available to the entire Northern Great Plains region.

• Congress should exercise its powers under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to end the use of subsidies and preferential taxes by states to compete with one another for jobs and businesses.

Commission Priority Recommendations – Policy Uniformity in Business Development

• Simplify and standardize small equity placement filings within and among the five states in the region to better meet the capital needs of growing companies.

 

 

Commission Priority Recommendations – Agriculture:

• State legislatures should modify current cooperative law to allow investment in agriculture cooperatives by interested parties, other than the producing farmers) i.e. small town merchants and professionals vitally interested in the success of agriculture).

• USDA must modify its export promotion spending priorities within its new International Trade Strategy to give substantially greater emphasis to value-added agricultural export promotion and less to raw commodity export promotion.

• Establish a coordinated curriculum among the higher education institutions in the five-state region that trains post-secondary students for value-added agricultural careers.

Commission Priority Recommendations – Policy Uniformity in Agriculture:

• The legislatures of the five states should review existing laws and modify or propose new legislation to insure opportunity for farmers, local investors, and entrepreneurs to establish and participate in business structures that benefit from value-added enterprises, including operations that capture economies of scale.

• State legislatures should implement new legal and financial structures that will enable inter-generational transfer of farms and ranches, including reform of capital gains tax and state inheritance tax.

• State legislatures and regulatory agencies should provide for reasonable uniformity and also reciprocity among states in meat, dairy, and other food inspection programs.

Commission Priority Recommendations – Telecommunications

• Develop both a regional interagency strategy and a federal interagency strategy to provide direction, coordination and support for Native American telecommunications. Initiate policy inquiries on Native American telecommunications and invite active participation from tribal governments, state regulators, private companies and others.

 

 

Commission Priority Recommendations – Policy Uniformity in Telecommunications

• Initiate and urge regional collaboration on telecommunications regulations and other issues of common concern. Involve the five state public service/utility commissions and state telecommunications leaders in regular discussions to focus their agendas on regional telecommunications issues of infrastructure, access and sustainability; seamless interoperability of an interactive voice/data/video infrastructure between and among the five states; existing regulatory anomalies among the states which discourage or prohibit cross-border initiatives; and assurance of affordable pricing across the region.

 

Commission Priority Recommendations – Trade:

• Replicate the Pacific Northwest Economic Region’s Catalyst business and trade lead opportunity system within the Northern Great Plains region.

• Create a Northern Great Plains Trade Research Institute.• The Northern Great Plains region should develop a long-term trade and

transportation infrastructure strategy for ensuring that its export products are able to get to market.

• Establish a regional chapter of the Export-Import Bank of the United States City-State Cooperator Program to improve access to export finance for firms throughout the Northern Great Plains.

 

Commission Priority Recommendations – Health Care:

• A region-wide wellness transition demonstration and dissemination program should be established.

• The five states in the Region should explore the creation of a multi-state health insurance purchasing cooperative.

Commission Priority Recommendations – Civic Capacity:• Initiate a discussion among philanthropic organizations in the

region regarding strategies for increasing civic philanthropy in the region that supports rural development.

– Ongoing Organization:

• Establish an ongoing, neutral organizational to implement the Commission’s recommendations.

Northern Great Plains Inc.

The NGP serves the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota and the province of Manitoba.

Northern Great Plains Inc. woks to develop and implement regional solutions to issues and concerns that are either regional in nature or are region-wide and can best be addressed through regional action.

Current Major Activity Focus

– Agriculture and Natural Resources

– Information Technologies

– Strategic Analysis in Support of Regional Economic Growth and Vitality

– International Trade in Support of Regional Economic Strengths

Agriculture and Natural Resources – Producer Alliances– Diversification of the agricultural production base– Development of a diversified processing sector– Development of strategies to bring traceability to

NGP agricultural practices– Native species and multi-functional land use– Strategic analysis of global market opportunities– Agriculture leadership and the global eBusiness

economy

Information Technologies

– eCommunities and Community Portals– Information Utilities– The Northern Great Plains eTech Network– Women Entrepreneurs in Business Portal– Workshops and Training

Strategic Analysis in Support of Economic Growth and Vitality

• “Transportation, Trade and Economic Development: Maximizing Future Opportunities in the Northern Great Plains”

• NGP Region state & provincial policy uniformity• Strategic actions to address workforce transitions in

a resource based economy• Emerging global regions• Impacts of global NGOs on local policy making• Prairie Café

International Activities in Support of Regional Economic Strengths

• Research & education• Technology transfer• New market development• New project development• US – Canada trade development

Innovation and Change Process

Institute for Agriculture and Trade PolicyWorld Future SocietyRUPRI, ILSR, NGP

Northern Great Plains Inc.• Manufacturers network• eCommunities• FarmConnect

Private Industry

The Future of Agriculture

“Agriculture lies at the heart of the important considerations in the shaping of our world in the 21st Century:

– health and food safety, – increased life expectancy, – expertise in plant and animal biotechnology and– environmental care.”

Georges-Pierre Mapel, Managing Director Cerealiers de France

The Drivers of Change

• Changes in processors understanding of quality.• Advances in testing technology to understand what

processors need.• Development of crops exhibiting specific traits (GMO,

non-GMO).• Concerns about food safety and security• Needs of industry for traceability in the food chain.• The CONSUMER

How is the Industry Responding?

“Quality starts at the field not at the cereal plant door, if we are to obtain the productivity we need we must be connected to the farmer.”

Ron Olson, VP Grain Operations General Mills

The Field to the Fork

Farm Journal, July/August 2000

Identify Preserved is focused on processing quality and efficiency. The traits are defined by the customer.

Traceability is focused on food safety, consumer confidence, and defined source. The traits are defined by the consumer.

“Marketing will precede production. No seed shall be sown, no animal shall be raised if they have not already been sold….Integration in a production system will thus be an essential element of farmers’ risk-management strategies.”

Harry Cleberg, Past President of Farmland Source 1998 Feedstuffs Magazine

Agricultural Producers ?

Buyers/Processors?

A Disconnected System

A Connected System

Agricultural Producers

Buyers/Processors

Producer Alliances

Agricultural Alliances

• Agricultural producers working together to develop market opportunities.

• Not limited to specific commodities• Benefits are closed to members• Participation is optional• Contracting is common• Usually structured as Cooperatives

Producer Alliances Support Rural Development Efforts

• Alliances allow producers to:– Work directly with the buyers and end users– Develop the ability to work together to identify

specific needs and supply for the need– Obtain additional value for their products– Understand market trends– Partner with existing companies or start new

companies to respond to market opportunities

Connection to Resources

Agricultural Producers

Buyers/Processors

CommodityGroups

Depts. of AgNGP

USDAUniversity Research & Extension

other rural dev. groups

AURI

State TradeOffices

Coordination of Producer Alliances

2 1 s t C e n t u r yA l l i a n c e - K a n s a s

A gV e n t u r e s

A l l i a n c e

2 1 s t C e n t u r yA l l i a n c e -

M i c h i g a n

S o u t h D a k o t a A g P r o d u c e r

V e n t u r e s

P r o d u c e r sA l l i a n c e

I n c .G o l d e n O v a l E g g s

“eBusiness in Rural Communities – Building a Model for Participation in the Information Economy”

The purpose of this project is to meet the eEconomy training, follow-up support, and business and employee retention needs of a pilot “network” of 12 rural communities of interest in the five states of the Northern Great Plains.

Project Goals1.1. To work with innovative rural community-based To work with innovative rural community-based

eEconomy development projects.eEconomy development projects.

12 rural communities of interest will be recruited and selected to participate in the project. All will develop a community-based portal representing the business, educational governmental, and social, activity of their constituency/members.

The first seven communities of interest will be engaged within the first three months of the project. Work for the second five will commence in the sixth month.

Project Goals

2. To provide a series of training activities that will lead to an understanding of eEconomy technologies and development of skills to assist with business and employee retention.

Business owners and employees from 12 rural communities of interest will complete the eBusiness curriculum as developed to support the goals of this project.

To support the continuing development of eEconomy solutions, participants completing the eBusiness curriculum will have access to the professional and student staff at the “Rural Technology Support Center” for the term of the project.

Project Goals

3. To assist businesses (home-based, mainstreet, and industrial) in the development of transactional websites capable of capturing new customers and business partners.

4. To develop and strengthen a collaboration structure within the five NGP states as they work together to provide quality information technology services at the local community level within the region.

Project Goals

4. To develop and strengthen a collaboration structure within the five NGP states as they work together to provide quality information technology services at the local community level within the region.

After consultation with Information Technology and Workforce Development professionals, an advisory committee comprised of representatives from organizations such as the state Workforce Development offices, Rural Partner organizations, and Economic Development offices will be assembled to guide the project execution. This advisory group will meet regularly using distance collaboration conferencing tools and twice at a central meeting location during the term of the project.

Project Goals

5. To create a shared advanced technology center that will create “community internet-mall” products and deliver services across the five states of the region.

The NGP technology team will equip and install the software necessary to operate a model “Rural Technology Support Center” capable of hosting eBusiness applications and providing technical support services within the first two months of the initiation of the project.

What results do we expect to achieve by the end of the funding period?

1. The completion of comprehensive information and transaction portals for each county or community in the project.

2. The completion of websites that will meet the needs of the businesses involved in the project.

3. The expanded capacity of each community to deliver eBusiness information services through a skilled IT workforce.

4. The development of a “Guide to Developing a Community eBusiness Ready Portal” that can be shared with communities across the region.

Transportation, Trade and Economic Development: Maximizing Future Opportunities in the Northern Great Plains

• An Overview of Transportation Infrastructure and Services in the Northern Great Plains

• Trade Patterns and the Economy of the Northern Great Plains: A Baseline Report

• Final Report – current and future issues impacting trade and recommendations for transportation policy actions and infrastructure investments

Figure 1.2 - U.S. NGP Gross State Product by Sector, 1997 (percentage)

18.7%

8.3%7.8%8.6%

17.0%

18.2%

11.6% 4.3%4.9% 0.6%

Agriculture, forestry,and fishingMining

Construction

Manufacturing

Transportation andpublic utilitiesWholesale trade

Retail trade

Finance, insurance, &real estate Services

Government

Additional Information

Northern Great Plains Inc.Northern Great Plains Inc.Valley Technology ParkValley Technology ParkUniversity of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaCrookston, MN 56716Crookston, MN 56716

On the Web – On the Web – http://www.ngplains.org By phone at – 1-218-281-8459 – Fax at 1-218-281-8457By phone at – 1-218-281-8459 – Fax at 1-218-281-8457Email – Jerry Nagel at: Email – Jerry Nagel at: jnagel@ngplains.orgjnagel@ngplains.org