Author: Dustin Monke

Former newspaper editor. Now I market the best baked goods and donuts in America. But every once in a while, I write a cool story too.

ND farmers flying into D.C. to push for farm bill

Everyone has to eat.

That’s the motto southwest North Dakota farmers Jim Kerzman and Bob Kuylen have, and it’s the sentiment they’re taking with them to Washington, D.C., this week as part of the National Farmers Union’s annual fly-in event to lobby members of Congress to support the farm bill.

Sixty-seven North Dakota Farmers Union members are flying into the nation’s capital and Kuylan, who farms wheat and sunflowers near South Heart, said he hopes the delegation can put some faces to the farm bill.

“They like to talk to actual farmers instead of lobbyists,” Kuylen said. “We’ll tell them what’s going on out in the country, instead of someone being paid and curving it their way.”

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Tales of a typical North Dakota harvest

Combining south of New England.

Harvest in North Dakota can be a time of celebration, frustration and, if you get the crop in the bin or to the elevator, pure relief.

Once the crop is cut, there are no more worries about hail, thunderstorms or any other force of nature that can upset the fragile plants on which farmers’ livelihoods hinge. The stuff that makes the money is finally off the field and safely stored.

I spent eight of the last 12 days in August on what amounted to be a working vacation as I helped my dad and brother harvest their durum, spring wheat and canola crop. For those of you who don’t know my family or I, Monke Farms is located just west of the Enchanted Highway about 20 miles south of Gladstone and we farm land throughout northwestern Hettinger County.

Though my job here at The Press made me miss the start of harvest — my favorite part — I was able to experience more of it this year than I have since my first year of college.
Now any farmer will tell you that harvest doesn’t happen without hiccups. Ever.

This year wasn’t too bad though.

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School in August has never felt right

Tomorrow morning, kids in the New England Public School District will attend their eighth day of classes. By the time Labor Day rolls around, they’ll have been in school for 13 days.
In my mind, and apparently several thousand others, that’s ridiculous.

In fact, a group of parents from Bismarck and Mandan have come together in a grassroots effort to get North Dakota schools to start after Labor Day.

Within a month, the group will begin seeking signatures to get the issue placed on the November 2014 ballot in an effort to leave the choice of when school starts solely in the people’s hands instead of a group of school administrators.

I have long felt that North Dakota schools starting in August was absurd.

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Despite being away from Bakken, New England is experiencing a resurgence

Hundreds gather at New England’s Lions Park on July 30 for Burgers in the Park. New England, which was down to an estimated 460 residents not long ago but now believes it is closer to 700, has received many positive effects of North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom. Though it does not having a producing well within 15 miles of its city limits, as oil development continues its slow march south, New England officials are preparing for the possibilities that come with increased activity.

NEW ENGLAND — There isn’t a producing oil well within 15 miles of New England.
But just like many other western North Dakota communities, the small town in northwestern Hettinger County is seeing a revitalization thanks in large part to the economic impact of the Bakken oil boom.

Several new homes are being built, and the city’s population has increased from 460 a few years ago to an estimated 700.

Business isn’t exactly booming, but it has seen a noticeable uptick with more sales tax dollars being generated, longtime community businesses building new facilities and new businesses opening along a once-decaying Main Street.

All are great signs for a small town that only a few years ago seemed relegated to watching businesses close as its population grew older and dwindled.

“Main Street in New England hasn’t probably looked this good in 30 years,” New England Mayor Marty Opdahl said.

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Could Hyperloop be this century’s airplane? We can dream.

Last week, billionaire innovator Elon Musk revealed details about a secretive project he has been working on, which he claims could give humanity a “fifth mode of transport.”

The Hyperloop, as Musk calls it, is basically the same idea as pneumatic tubes used by banks to pass documents or money from customers to tellers at drive-through stations.

But instead of being 12 inches long and designed for inanimate objects, the Hyperloop would be solar powered and use forced air to move six human passengers in a capsule 4½ feet wide and a little over 6 feet tall at about 800 mph wherever its tubes run.

This may seem like something straight out of science fiction but it is a legitimate idea that, if it works and if it can be built, would change travel across the country and eventually the world.

Continue reading “Could Hyperloop be this century’s airplane? We can dream.”