The experience of the 1980s

     The economic trends that North Dakota experienced in the 1980s have been regarded as one of the major reasons for the economic development efforts that were undertaken in the 1980s (Bangsund and Leistritz).  Similar to many other agriculture-dependent regions, North Dakota went through a difficult time during the 1980s.  As Bill Patrie, the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives’ rural development director and a key figure in the state’s cooperative development, described it: North Dakota “experienced some of the toughest years imaginable” between 1979 and 1990 (Campbell).  According to Sarah Vogel, North Dakota’s Commissioner of Agriculture from 1989 to 1996, a sense of crisis emerged in the state as prices fell and production costs rose.  To make matters worse, North Dakota experienced sustained drought for several years, one of the worst on record (Vogel, November 1996).

     Federal farm program support became increasingly important to North Dakota producers.  In 1986 and 1988, government program payments to producers actually exceeded the state's total net farm income (Leistritz). 
 
 
 

    North Dakota's economy was extremely dependent on only a few industries, of which agriculture was the most important.  During the period 1980 to 1990, agriculture, federal activities, and energy accounted for 44 percent, 26 percent, and 17 percent of the state's economic base, respectively (Bangsund and Leistritz).
 

North Dakota’s farming community felt the effects of the agricultural downturn.  From 1980 to 1990, North Dakota lost 15 percent of its family farms (Vogel, November 1996). 
 
 

     According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, during 1980 to 1990 the population of North Dakota shifted from being predominantly rural to predominantly urban (Coon, Leistritz, & Majchrowicz).  During that time, the state’s total population dropped by almost 14,000 people (Coon and Leistritz).  The breakdown between metro and non-metro population provides a clearer picture of the shift from rural life: from 1980 to 1990, North Dakota’s non-metro population decreased by almost 37,000 while its metro population increased by 23,000 (Economic Research Service North Dakota Fact Sheet). 

     The effects of the farming crisis of the 1980s and the declining rural population led North Dakotans to look for ways to improve the state's economic situation.  Many felt that big businesses from outside the region would not be interested in investing in new ventures within the state.  North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad explained this sentiment: "Out-of state businesses have always looked at North Dakota in only two ways: One as a market for finished products made elsewhere, and two, as producers of raw materials for those products" (Nowling).  Cooperatives were seen as a method to help generate revenues and, since they are locally owned, these revenues were more likely to remain in the region rather than flow to external investors situated elsewhere. 

 
 

"I get angry when I think of how many millionaires North Dakota ranchers and farmers have created in other states by shipping their crops and livestock to others to add value to while we died poor out here on the prairie." - Ken "Doc" Throlson, President of North American Bison Cooperative
 

References

Next

Back to Factors Leading to Cooperative Activity

Home