701-566-9300All Agricultural producers know too well the many factors out of their control. Today the NDSGA testified in favor of a couple of institutions to exercise as much control as possible affecting our roads, research and marketing. Those entities were the Northern Crop Institute (NI) and Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI). If you have never visited or heard about NCI, I would urge you to stop by. They work to educate visitors – many from foreign countries – on the qualities of the many crops grown in North Dakota with at least two goals in mind; teach them the utility of the crop and develop a market for it. The North Dakota Soybean Council alone this past fall brought over 60 companies to tour NCI from over 10 nations.
And just as briefly, the UGPTI has helped transform road assessment and therefore expedited the ounce of prevention roads need to avoid pounds of cure. We consume approximately a billion dollars of roads and bridges per year in North Dakota, so we all know some that could use work. We do not fund at the rate needed to fix them all or even keep up, which makes the asset management system developed by UGPTI and its funding by the Legislature so important. NDSGA will continue to encourage our lawmakers as they face the difficult choices during these next four months. There have been several NDSGA board members in attendance this week to testify as well as listening to committees and attending the two agricultural receptions held in the Capitol. Your presence makes a difference.
