About my new job ..

Since I am sure everyone is wondering about this job that motivated us to move up here, I will elaborate. Officially my title is “assistant facility manager”, and because they have never had one of these before, the job description is a work in progress. I basically am trying to learn as much as I can about the mill, the crop, the growers, the pulse markets, Viterra’s corporate ‘system’, and the staff. My boss has been operating this elevator since the early 80’s and has worked under several different companies. The elevator has handled many different commodities during those years; wheat, durum, barley, sunflower, safflower, canola, mustard, lentils, dry peas, and dry beans. Today the pulse industry in North Dakota has grown to the point where we can focus entirely on lentils and dry peas (mostly lentils). We now process 20,000 bushels of lentils per week. Once they are delivered we clean them, using screen cleaners and gravity tables. We then package them in either 2000 lb totes, 100 lb bags, or load them into hopper railcars. It seems to be a simple and straightforward process, but there are a lot of factors that complicate things such as picky customers, equipment break-downs, unreliable rail service, ever-changing shipping schedules, slow grading service, osha regulations, corporate red tape, etc. We also have a fair amount of competition in both selling lentils and contracting acreage. Here in Williams County more lentils are grown than any other county in the US which means we have a great base of growers to work with, also our elevator was also one of the first to work with pulse crops in North Dakota, which means our growers are experienced and know how to produce quality lentils. The lentils are grown in a dryland rotation with either durum or spring wheat and has proven to be a great rotation for the farmers, due to their ability to utilize atmospheric nitrogen. This means that after growing lentils (or other legumes) for a year the soil will have better structure and nutrients than if it was rested. Wheat grown following pulses generally yields better and has higher protein with less need of commercial fertilizer. We ship most of our product overseas to places like Peru, Cuba, India, Turkey, France, and Mexico, but also sell some to domestic buyers for canning. The industry has seen dramatic growth in recent years and 2010 looks to be another year of record acreage in the US. I am excited about the challenges I will be facing and the people I will be working with. It is also humbling that I will eventually be responsible for a business which has been an important part of the community.