Today in History: Nov. 6, 1963 - More than 200 attend first malting barley convention

By Staff reports Today at 12:01 AM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Today in History revisits the Nov. 6, 1963, edition of the Grand Forks Herald and highlights a story of the first annual convention of the National Malting Barley Growers Association, held in Grand Forks. It is the nation's newest farm commodity organization. More Than 200 Attend Malting Barley Session More than 200 farmers from 17 North Dakota and Minnesota counties gathered at the Grand Forks Armory Wednesday for the first annual convention of the nation's newest farm commodity organization, the National Malting Barley Growers Association. ADVERTISEMENT F. O. Ottem of Osnabrock, N. D., was elected president of the new organization at a meeting of county directors just prior to the Wednesday session. George C. Howe Jr., Casselton, N. D., was elected vice president, and Elmer Bredlie of Eldred, Minn., will serve as secretary-treasurer. Ottem chairmaned the 17-member steering committee which in little more than a year transformed the organization from an idea into a 1,400 member unit with separate county organizations throughout the Red River Valley. In a morning program headed by John Dean, steering committee member from Hatton, N. D., George Wilkens, executive vice president of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, predicted an increase in profits for malting barley growers in the next five years. Wilkens based his prediction on two changes which he feels will be effected during the next few years. One is the use of hopper-style railroad cars for grain shipment rather than the present use of boxcars. Wilkens pointed out that the hopper-style car can haul nearly twice the capacity of the boxcar and can be unloaded in a matter of minutes. The other change he sees is a widespread acceptance of new automatic sampling devices which will set a standard of sampling acceptable to growers, buyers, and all others concerned with the commodity sampled. Thanks Growers Billy Martin, for eight years a star performer for the New York Yankees baseball club and now sales promotion agent for the Minneapolis Brewing Company, thanked the growers on behalf of the beer industry for their efforts in increasing the quality of malting barley. Martin went on to entertain the group with several stories concerning his life in baseball. The afternoon program was devoted to the adoption of the constitution and by-laws of the new organization. Also on the afternoon program was Irven Hagen, assistant director of the State Seed Department at Fargo. Hagen spoke on grading and federal standards affecting malting barley growers. ADVERTISEMENT Attend Meeting Among those attending were the members of the steering committee. They were Ralph Elliott, Drayton, N. D.; Ed Gudajtes, Minto, N. D.; John Dean, Hatton, N. D.; Ole Sundeen, Lakota, N. D.; Floyd Jerstad, Finley, N. D.; Jerome Holter, Hatton, N. D.; George C. Howe Jr., Casselton, N. D.; Nils Skovholt, Mooreton, N. D.; Roy Pershke, Crary, N. D.; A. W. Larson, Bisbee, N. D.; Ted Jensen, Hallock, Minn.; A. O. Hamnes, Stephen, Minn.; Elmer Bredlie, Eldred, Minn.; James Wiedermann, Sabin, Minn.; Bennet Aarsted, Halstad, Minn.; and Art Larson, Rothsay, Minn. After a welcome to Grand Forks by Lloyd V. Hillier, city council president, and a response by F. O. Ottem, new president of the organization, the morning speaking program got under way. Varieties Described The first speaker was Lars Jensen, North Dakota State extension agronomist, whose topic was "What About Trophy and Larker Barley Now." Jensen said that the varieties, both developed during the past few years at NDS, have added $10,000 to farm income in the barley producing areas in North Dakota and Minnesota. He said about 60 per cent of the North Dakota barley acreage in 1963 was in Trophy or Larker and that per-acre yield increases and quality increases accounted for $5,000 additional income each. Addresses Gathering Mike Sfat, president of Rahr Bio-technical Laboratory, Manitowoc, Wis., spoke to the gathering on the malting process. Banquet speaker Robert W. Dibble, manager of sales operations research department of International Harvester Company at Chicago, used as his topic "The Challenge of Change." ADVERTISEMENT Dibble said more has been accomplished in agriculture in the past 50 years than from the year 1 A.D. to the start of that period. He sees the next 25 years as possibly more productive than the past 50. Role Traced He traced the part that farm machinery has had to do with the continuous progress in farming. He said population increases are being made at such a rate that today's productivity would possibly not even "feed everybody breakfast" in future years which will see greatly increased populations. Dibble said the future holds many changes in all phases of farming and that the next 25 years might even find people actively "farming" the earth's ocean areas. He said that present productivity of the farmer must be increased to meet future needs, and that he would rather see a 5 per cent surplus than a 5 per cent deficit of farm products. BEING ADVERTISED Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags FROM THE ARCHIVES TODAY IN HISTORY By Staff reports Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of "staff." Often, the "staff" byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story. 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