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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Governor Jack Dalrymple was on hand to say a few words about this years North Dakota Agriculture Hall of Fame inductees Ronald Offutt and John Bollingberg during the 78th annual North Dakota Winter Show.

Dalrymple said John Bollingberg is more than worthy of this honor with his six decades of service in the agriculture industry in North Dakota.

Dalrymple said Ron Offutt has made so many contributions to the agriculture industry including the employment of so many people in the state of North Dakota for decades.

Offutt of Fargo was nominated by the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association. Offutt is the founder of the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association.

Offutt is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the R. D. Offutt Company, the nation’s largest producer of potatoes. The company is comprised of a variety of businesses divided into three separate operating units: agriculture, food processing and retail equipment. Its cornerstone is a nine-state 190,000 acre farming operation, with the majority of its 60,000 potato acres under center pivot irrigation.

Part of the farming operation includes a 34,000 acre farm and dairy operation in Boardman, Oregon, which consists of three dairies, milking 25,000 cows. The company also operates food processing manufacturing plants and markets its crops through relationships with major processors, such as Simplot, Con-Agra/Lamb-Weston, McCain Foods and Frito-Lay.

Internationally, RDO formed a joint venture with Calbee Corporation in 2006, to build a plant in Boardman, Oregon, to source potato product for snack food in Japan and other markets. This has expanded to the formation of Calbee North America and an additional plant in Fairfield, CA.  RDO operates a 22,000 acre farm in Krasnodar, Russia as well.

Offutt founded RDO Equipment Company in 1968, this company owns the largest network of John Deere construction and agricultural equipment dealerships in the country. Vermeer, Topcon and Volvo and Mack truck centers are also integral operations of the company, which now have over eighty U.S. locations, in ten states.

Offutt, a native of Orrick, Missouri who grew up on his family’s farm in Moorhead, Minnesota. He attended Moorhead High School and graduated from Concordia College in 1964, with a degree in Economics. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Regents of Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, where he has served his Alma Mater for over twenty years on its board.

Offutt is one of 41 recipients of the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, which recognizes North Dakotans who have achieved national excellence in their fields of endeavor. He has also received numerous other regional and national awards for his contribution to agriculture. He and his wife, Karen, have six children and eleven grandchildren. 

 

John Bollingberg family and Governor Dalrymple on the far right. Photo by Steve Urness.

 Now meet John Bollingberg from Bremen, North Dakota. He was nominated by the N.D. Farm Bureau.

For more than six decades, John has been working for agriculture. Born and raised on a family farm near Bremen, North Dakota he earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in 1955 from NDAC, currently NDSU.  After graduating, he returned to the family farm and became actively involved in community and state relations.

John was a founder of Northland Seed Company and a long-time member of the ND Ag Coalition, representing the ND Edible Bean Growers Council. In 1986, he was part of a select group of ND agricultural leaders who met privately with President Ronald Reagan, to discuss trade issues with regard to edible beans.

He has served on numerous state and national boards, including the ND Farm Bureau, National Corn Growers Association and American Oat Association.

In addition he has served on many local boards, including the Bremen Elevator, Wells County Crop Improvement, Wells County Farm Bureau, Bremen Elevator and Bremen School Board. He has been a consistent supporter of agricultural youth groups and served on the Commission on the Future of Agriculture as well.

Since retiring in 1998, John continues his support of agriculture by serving on the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education as a Nodak Mutual Insurance Company Director and on the Atmospheric Resource Board.

In 2006 he was honored with NDSU’s Harvest Bowl Agri-Business Award. He and his wife, Margaret, have six children and eighteen grandchildren.