Co-Op, R-Calf Projects Fail
To Garner North Dakota Funds

BISMARCK, N.D. —(AP)— Two large projects aimed at helping cattle producers have failed to get state funding.

Dakota Beef Development Corp., which wanted to form a producer-owned beef processing and marketing enterprise, had requested $84,000 from the state Agricultural Products Utilization Commission.

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Foundation, or R-CALF, an effort to raise money for a lawsuit to reduce the competition from Canadian cattle, had asked for $100,000.

APUC chairman Kevin Pifer said the commission, which meets four times a year to consider grants for developers of North Dakota farm products, wasn't satisfied that Dakota Beef Development's plan was much different from that of the failed Northern Plains Premium Beef co-op.

Dakota Beef formed earlier this summer after Northern Plains, which wanted to build a producer-owned beef processing plant in South Dakota, came up short in two equity drives.

"We didn't see any compelling evidence ... that indicated that the project had really changed much," Pifer said.

Keith DeHaan, adviser for Dakota Beef, acknowledged that being associated with Northern Plains hurt the new group.

"Anything we do is probably going to get associated with Northern Plains Premium Beef from the standpoint of it being producer-involved, or producer-directed," he said. "But how we get there may be entirely different. In some cases, it's probably an unfair attachment."

DeHaan said the venture is still in the infancy stage, and organizers haven't yet decided what the business structure will look like.

Pifer said the commission supports R-CALF's lawsuit but does not feel it fits into APUC grant categories, which are aimed at promoting raw farm products or byproducts.

The nonprofit R-CALF is hoping to raise $1.5 million to fight what it believes is the dumping of cattle south of the border by Canada. Phillip Cyre, a Hazel, S.D., rancher, said the group wants to initiate a lawsuit with the International Trade Commission and has already raised about $700,000 through donations.

"We're talking about (Canada's) ability to subsidize beef, bring it down here and dump it at less than what it costs to produce," he said.

Other grants awarded by the commission last week included:

— $25,000 to the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association for a study on the feasibility of a processing plant in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

Russ Staiger, president of the association, said the study is for a large company in the food industry, although he declined to name it. He also would not say what crop would be involved.

— $48,485 to the North Dakota Pork Producers to form a cooperative to supply hogs to Cloverdale Foods.

— $35,000 to the Horse Head Valley Irrigation Committee in Hazelton to study the feasibility of irrigating up to 60,000 acres of land.

— $30,000 to Valley Specialty Foods in Drayton for a national marketing plan.

— $20,000 to the North Dakota State University Extension Service to study the marketability of alfalfa products.

— $19,500 to NDSU to promote North Dakota-produced beef.