Neal Fisher

Tom Borgen

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Neal Fisher and Tom Borgen will be inducted into the North Dakota Agricultural Hall of Fame on March 10th during the annual North Dakota Winter Show Friends of the Winter Show Foundation event inside the Valley City Eagles Club. A brief biography of the two men is listed below.

Neal Fisher:

As Administrator of the North Dakota Wheat Commission, Neal Fisher is responsible for implementing producer-funded programs intended to increase the total use of North Dakota wheat.  Fisher works directly in the areas of export market development, research, transportation, trade policy and other issues to improve the global competitiveness of North Dakota producers of hard red spring, durum and other wheat classes.

His work for the Wheat Commission is a worldwide effort via U.S. Wheat Associates and the Cooperator Programs of USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service. Fisher coordinates North Dakota Wheat Commission policy positions and actions on issues affecting wheat producers, and serves on numerous committees and boards involved in trade policy development and wheat research.  He is a member of the Joint Trade Policy Committee of the National Association of Wheat Growers and US Wheat Associates, and the Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., serving at the pleasure of the President and the Secretary of Agriculture.

Fisher is a member of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute’s Advisory Council.  He previously served on the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education assisting with the prioritizing, budgeting and policy-making associated with the research projects and initiatives of the N.D. Agricultural Experiment Station and NDSU Extension Service.

Fisher joined the Commission in 1978 as a marketing specialist, became deputy administrator in 1983, and was appointed administrator in 1998. He is a graduate of North Dakota State University, where he earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in agricultural economics.

He continues his interest in the family farming and ranching enterprise near Tappen, N.D, where his son Josh is the principal owner/operator. Fisher and his wife Deborah have three grown children and three grandchildren.

Tom Borgen:

Tom Borgen is a retired farmer and past president of the Northern Canola Growers Association.  This is how Borgen is described in the book “On Golden Plain” – “The man who has been involved in every aspect of introducing canola into the United States, and could well be called the father of the crop in this country.”

Borgen farmed near Langdon for many years and was a staunch supporter and leader in the agricultural industry.  Barry Coleman, Executive Director of the Northern Canola Growers Association, says of Borgen “Under Tom’s leadership, the Northern Canola Growers aggressively promoted and developed the canola industry, obtained an FDA Health Claim for canola oil, secured many new crop protection products for canola and assisted in developing a new breeding program for oilseeds in North Dakota.”

Borgen grew up in Hannah, North Dakota.  After working in the construction business in Seattle for a number of years, he returned home to farm with his father-in-law.  One of the things he introduced to that farm was canola, an oil crop developed in Canada.  Borgen initially delivered his canola to a Canadian crushing plant… the first U.S. producer to do that.

Borgen helped establish the canola crushing industry in the U.S.   He was instrumental in getting canola included in federal farm legislation and in getting crop insurance coverage for canola.  Borgen estimates he made at least 30 trips to Washington, D.C. and to various locations in Canada as the industry developed.

Borgen says all of my involvement was done while I farmed 1500 acres, plus doing custom work, cutting 3,000 to 4,500 acres of Canola per year.