America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
From Oil Fields to Barley Innovations: Greg Kessel's Journey and North Dakota's Future Challenges
Ever wonder how a farmer transitions from the oil fields to pioneering innovations in the barley industry? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Greg Kessel, a North Dakota farmer and state senator, who shares his inspiring journey from the rugged oil landscapes to revolutionizing barley farming with a craft malting facility. Greg opens up about the evolution of the malting barley industry, navigating through challenges, and the innovative practices reshaping agriculture in North Dakota. With roots deeply planted in farming, he is a testament to how family heritage and personal experience can converge into transformative agricultural success.
As we explore another critical dimension of North Dakota, the episode sheds light on the complex terrain of tax reform and workforce challenges. We untangle the intricacies of nearly 60 legislative bills aimed at reforming property taxes, discuss the implications of the failed Measure 4, and examine Governor Burgum's daring proposal to eliminate income tax. We also confront the pressing workforce shortages and housing concerns, while showcasing the pivotal role of Career and Technical Education (CTE) centers in equipping students with vital skills for the technical trades. Discover how these education hubs, particularly in Dickinson, are nurturing the next generation of skilled workers and fortifying community ties.
In the realm of energy, Greg provides insights from his legislative experiences, emphasizing the importance of sustainable growth in energy production and management. We discuss North Dakota's potential to lead in emerging sectors like data centers and cryptocurrency mining, supported by the state's favorable climate and resources. The episode wraps up with a look at the promising future of data centers in the region, highlighting the need for strategic planning to balance infrastructure development with environmental stewardship. And, as a light-hearted finale, we celebrate the generational connections and community spirit with a nod to the upcoming North Dakota Bison championship game.
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Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm your host this Saturday morning, andy Murnau, piper's Auction, realty and Land Management and, of course, your host for America's Land Auctioneer. Thank you for listening on KFIRE 550, your favorite radio station, podcast platform or anywhere that you find. America's Land Auctioneer. Thank you for listening to us here once again on this great New Year's week. Joining us here today for our show is Greg Kessel, a farmer and operator right there in the Billings County area just outside of Bellfield, north Dakota, and also a current sitting senator for North Dakota's District 39. Greg, thank you for joining us here this morning.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, andy, you bet Just to give kind of our group of listeners a little background history of Greg Kessel and your operation and everything that happens around the Billings County area, go ahead and give us a little kind of a little history lesson on your, on your operation and how you got to where you are today all right.
Speaker 3:Well, basically kind of started farming back in 1980. But the lead up to that is my dad was a contractor and kind of grew up in that world a little bit and I worked for an uncle down in the H headinger area when I was in high school and stuff and kind of got the farming bug in me a little bit. And uh, when I got out of uh high school, new england st mary's, I went to wapton for a year, took uh machine tooling and and uh did a bunch of that kind of like building and fabricating stuff. 1980, the oil fields were running pretty hot and heavy so ag wasn't as shiny a penny as you wanted to look at. But came back and got started working in the oil field and as I was doing that I'd go and do my. My uncle was doing my taxes for me. He says you know, your dad's got a little piece of ground. You got to consider farming that a little bit and kind of play the farming game and get into you know, build a little equity and do all that. So kind of got started from that standpoint, worked in the oil field for 14 years or so and started farming and did both of them for a while. Burned the candle at both ends was a way to get started, made good money in the oil fields, plowed it back into the farm.
Speaker 3:In 1989, I married my wife Stacy. She worked for Cargill for 16 years or whatever. So I mean the brains and the money side of it came from her, I guess. But so, yeah, we farmed and then we kind of had the idea that we wanted to do things a little bit differently than maybe we had a different view of it. She came from the farm, from out of Fort Benton, montana, so she grew up in that background. So so through the 80s I was looking for a little value added, got in the seed business a little bit and I suppose the mid-90s in that area got started in and started doing a little bit of grain cleaning along with our seed side of the business, which evolved into maybe working on some unique genetics stuff that was relevant to our area, things like forage barley for the cattle producers. We dabbled in a little bit of food grade barley which is waxy hullace. We did that because the environment we live in out west here grew really well for us, which led into the malting side.
Speaker 3:I and and that that's another complete story, but I ended up being a county rep for for Billings County on the barley, for the barley growers, which led to a seat on the board for the North Dakota Barley Council, which I did for well, I was literally on the board for 12 years, but I was active for 16 years on that, which led me to chairman there for a while and I also I am still. My last meeting in February I'll be the past chairman for the National Barley Growers Association. My last meeting in February I'll be the past chairman for the National Barley Growers Association, which exposed me a lot to the craft brewing industry and a lot what went on there, which again led into vertical integration on the farm. In 2015, I partnered with the Stober Brothers over at Goodrich and we partnered, partnered up and we have two-track molting and over the past year or so, we expanded, we built a new facility and we're commissioning it as we speak. So we have a craft molting facility that we're doing as well.
Speaker 3:So, along with that, I have four kids on the farm. They all have other jobs as well, but it's a family run operation. Yeah, it's been a good run. I'm pretty happy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's your side of the. You know the progressive registered seed side is where our paths crossed here. You know a number of actually a couple of decades ago now not to put myself in the same age category as the rest of my family but we obviously did a lot of work back and forth over the years with different certified seeds and malting, malting barleys and different varieties that we tried down here in the Bowman side as well. How have you seen the impact of malting barley in agriculture in North Dakota over the last couple of decades? Is it steady? Is it growing? Has it been, you know, maintaining? Are we seeing any decline in that? You know it doesn't seem like we hear as many quotes for the malting side or, you know, trying to hit those specs like we were maybe 10 years ago.
Speaker 3:Well, from the quality of barley that we grow for the malting and brewing industry we've came leaps and bounds Two row varieties which we can grow out west. Acceptance rates that are, you know, what used to be in the 60 percentile is in the 90 percentile now. Yields have went up dramatically. But that hasn't painted a pretty picture for the barley industry in the state of North Dakota. At one time we were the number one producer in the US. Right now we are number three. With that being said, we've had our lowest acreage number since 1876 this year. That's not a good spot to be in it.
Speaker 3:A lot of carryover barley across the state. We just lost a big malt house over in Moorhead, minnesota. Anheuser-busch chose to close it down. A lot of people have backed off from drinking beer with all the seltzers and a lot of the new drinks that are going on out there. The craft industry you know we're pushing just under 10,000 craft brewers across the US right now. We were holding our own. That way, you know, we'd lose some, we'd gain some.
Speaker 3:But right now I think we're on a little bit of a decline on that side of it because of the you know economy and where we're at and obviously you guys know about some of the big brewers, the debacles they had in the media that didn't fare well for them. So barley in North Dakota has been at least on the malting side has been extremely challenging here the last several years. A couple of the bright spots in it are the pet food market has came to the table. I think about 30 percent, or maybe a little better, of all the barley grown in North Dakota is going into the pet food market right now, which is, you know, it's a good to pick up the slack kind of thing and it works very well if there's rejected barley coming out of the malt industry. So that side of it looks good. On the food barley side of things, pre-covid we had a steady increase in food barley into Japan, korea and some of the Asian countries that were utilizing it for the health benefits high beta-glucans, proteins what have you, covid, hit?
Speaker 3:and as hard as we worked on that market to make a gain on it. I mean when it quit it shut off right now and it hasn't picked up until this past year or so. We're finally starting to pick up and ship some of this back into Korea again, so we got interest back in it. We're going to gain some there. But the barley industry as a whole has been in a bit of a struggle. But you know we need to keep it relevant in the state of North Dakota.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there was a lot of craft brew. You know brew houses across the US that really gained a lot of steam in 2017 to 2020. You know, naturally, with all the, with the, with the, you know the United States economic shutdown with COVID, that took a, took a major role on. On private, you know small malt houses or brew houses across the countryside and you're starting to hear more of a shift towards, towards, uh, coffee houses or home, home-brewed coffee places, any more than you are on the brewery side. So there, I know there's that steady shift in that influx back and forth. Are we losing more in the northern side of the united states or is it just across the board?
Speaker 3:in general, well again, overall loss of craft brewers isn't I mean it's down, but it isn't a steady, I mean a steep decline. But they are losing. You've got to remember a lot of craft brewers out there. They're passionate about what they do. A lot of them guys make really good beer and it started out as a hobby.
Speaker 3:You start out as a hobby, you start doing this and that all of a sudden you go to a certain point and you know a lot of them struggle from a business plan standpoint. I mean it becomes real once you get to a certain scale and they struggle with it. You throw in you know the change in stuff that's going between seltzers and some of these mixed stuff that's going between seltzers and some of these mixed drinks that are going on now. And then you take in not North Dakota here, but you outside the state, and you start taking THC drinks and putting that into the mix. Now it's changed the dynamic quite a lot. And then other other drinks come into play, like you mentioned coffee, coffee houses and stuff like that. So you know, and if you're a brewer out there, how do you keep yourself relevant in that market?
Speaker 2:You know yeah, without a doubt, and I think the you'll continue to see those shifts. But as the whole you know, I guess culture that we live in today shifts from, like you said, from beer to a seltzer and then from you know, into gluten-free and organic products. There's a lot of agricultural products that we raise up here in the Upper Midwest or the Greater Upper Midwest that are always affected by these different economical trends or cultural trends. As we see. That's going to bring us to the end of our first segment here today. Thank you for listening for everybody. We are sitting here with Greg Kessel, sitting Senator District 39. We're going to be back right after these messages and talk about what's to be expected as we come into the upcoming and pending legislative session. Today's sponsor is Piper's Auction Realty and Land Management. Make sure you give any one of us a call for any questions you have about upcoming land or equipment auctions.
Speaker 1:We'll be right back after this, taking down $2,000, bit $2,000. Wear $1,750 here. Now do so. Where's the $1,750?
Speaker 2:and we're back. Ladies and gentlemen, on this fine saturday morning, I'm your host, andy murnag, with america's land auctioneer. Thank you for joining us again on your favorite podcast and radio station channels across the upper midwest and throughout the united states of america, as we talk about everything agriculture and everything that affects the uh, the land and equipment markets here in the greater Midwest area of the United States. It's a pleasure to be sitting here still with Senator Greg Kessel, district 39, north Dakota, and, greg, as we just kind of give a kind of a preview of your operation. Your operation and you know you guys have always been noted in western North Dakota as one of the you know premier and progressive farming operations, as you just kind of dabbled into into a lot of different aspects and, of course, you talked about your, your history of being both in the energy market as well as the the agricultural markets. Basically your entire life and and I think that that plays a huge role as to you know why you won your last election is to gain your seat in the North Dakota Senate. Here we are, january 2025, just getting ready for a new administration change, you know, on the federal level, and then, of course, we've got a new influx of new leadership here in North Dakota as well, with a new governor, and we're entering into the biennium season in your next legislative session, which I know you're heading to Bismarck here as soon as we get done and off the show here. So, greg, kind of give us a little rundown of where you see North Dakota politics and where we see what's going to happen in the legislative session.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of debate and talk basically this last election over how we're going to handle property taxes. Number one, how taxes are going to be viewed in North Dakota here over the next few months. One of the big measures, depending on what side of the equation you're on, but was it measure three or measure four? I forget what number it was, but the property tax. Measure four, property tax law, where they were going to abolish property taxes in North Dakota. That did fail. But are there any tax bills going to come up that are, you know, basically an impact of what you know how the North Dakota general public talked during that campaign?
Speaker 3:Well, there's been a lot of bills and from my understanding I think we're between 55 and 60 bills that have been introduced on tax Elimination or reform of some sorts. I just got an email, actually today, that there's one being tossed around with some very good language in it that has been negotiated between both chambers and I don't know if it'll become the law or where we're going to go. But there are some very, very good legislators putting an awful lot of hard work into this to try to get to where we we need to be. The. The elimination of them is probably not the best idea. That and I think the public seen that, but there are things that we can do from a legislative standpoint. More importantly is is tax reform and, depending you know, taxes in the city of Fargo versus the city of Bowman are a whole lot different, you know, and how then people spend their tax dollars and what's important to their communities and what they do with it, their tax dollars and what's important to their communities and what they do with it. So there is a lot of emphasis on it. The general public said this needs to be addressed. I think it's being addressed in a very good manner. Obviously, there are going to be people when we come out of this that still aren't going to be happy with it. But you know, as part of the negotiation process of doing it, if everyone walks away from the table not too happy, that must mean everyone did their job and negotiated it out and you know they came away with a compromise At least that's the hope. So, yeah, it's the taxing is, you know, front and center.
Speaker 3:Other things that in my mind that are pretty pressing is our shortage of workforce in the state. You know, if we could get some workforce up here, what we could do in the energy industry to get that kicked off again. We are short, a lot of people in that. Along with that, if we bring them young folks in, we've got a housing problem that we need to. How we need to deal with that. Along with that, if we bring them young folks in, we got a housing problem that we need to. How we need to deal with that. And you know, in today's world, if you got young people there, if they don't have decent schools and if they don't have daycares, it's pretty affordable because it takes a husband and wife both to bring enough income into to make it work nowadays. So a lot of challenges, a lot of challenges there. You know the idea that we're going to come out of a session. We're going to cure all these problems. I mean, we got to take steps at a time. You can't do it all in one one setting.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, and I I think the the more you listen to. You know everybody speaking, you know on both sides of the Measure 4 aisle back in October, november, really kind of what it comes down to, at least in my personal opinion. I probably shouldn't bring this onto the show at all. But North Dakota, as compared to, say, south Dakota or Montana right, if you want to compare our taxes to some of our neighbors and who wants to live where, for what reasons North Dakota has always had kind of a balance across the board. We get taxed at every turn, but it's taxed modestly at every turn where we have income tax, sales tax, property tax and affordable taxes across the board for the most part.
Speaker 2:Obviously, there's certain scenarios if you live in an excessive home or if you have a fixed income and in a new school district and you're getting a new school being developed or built or expanding their budget, which always seems to impact taxes or property taxes as much as anything out there, and as a school board member here in Bowman, we're always conscious to make sure that those expenses aren't a huge burden on our tax base.
Speaker 2:But if you take Montana and they don't have any sales tax, they're not even taxing the tourists that come into the western side of that state at all. It seems like that burden is picked up more and more by the property tax holders. Or in South Dakota you don't have income tax and it seems like that's picked up by every other tax, because South Dakota has got to find a way to balance that budget somehow. So now they introduce a goods and services tax, they have a sales tax on every good or item that's sold in the state and all of a sudden, comparatively the current operations, especially farm and ranch operations, are seemingly the ones that always take the largest hit of it, and that's why I've always been a proponent of the fair and balanced tax structure that North Dakota has. Do you think we'll continue on that same path, or or do we need to make a corrective adjustment?
Speaker 3:No, I think, I think that's a fair assessment. I think it's, you know, a little bit everywhere and not not a lot in any one place. It balances a lot out. You know, I know Governor Burgum had proposed, you know, elimination of all the income tax. That didn't make it through the last legislative session. I don't know if we're going to revisit that one again or not. You know, the fact of the matter is, north Dakota income taxes are really too bad for anyone in North Dakota. I don't know if it's really deterring people from the state. It may be. I don't see it.
Speaker 3:If we eliminate that, we also eliminate a lot of out-of-state people getting a tax break. They're the ones that are taking the revenue out of the state. We got mixed feelings. You know how that needs to be addressed. We did lower it and you know. So a lot of the low income wage earners and stuff. You know they really aren't paying much for income tax right now.
Speaker 3:You know, and the thing about a lot of this is is, you know we have a lot of industry when it came to the property tax that in lieu of to eliminate that I mean that was millions of dollars that we would eliminate it there and our oil and gas people weren't necessarily behind that. They you know the idea that they're paying tax and that we have a system in North Dakota that works, and you got to remember they're paying 10% on the gross production. Right now, a lot of money comes into the state. I believe it's close to 55 cents out of every dollar that we spend in our state comes from oil and gas. That's huge. So we need to keep the people here. We need to keep doing this. We're in changing times and when the point comes that we lose oil and gas, we lost a lot of revenue and if we eliminate too much and we lose that, we're going to have ourselves backed into the corner. That it's not going to be pretty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and especially here on the western side of the state, because we see the impact of both the influx of people when they're, you know, when the field's in full force and, of course, we see the impact on our school systems and our small towns, because there is a huge burden on these situations and you can't overbuild for the structure and spend all that expense and not have the ability to generate the income over time. That's actually the end of our second segment, greg, thanks, for I'm going to ask you to stick around for a couple more here as we finish out the morning. I'm Andy Murnock with America's Land Auctioneer and for everybody listening, thank you. Across the upper Midwest region of the United States and, of course, on your podcast, this episode is brought to you by Pfeiffer's Auction Realty and Land Management. Lots of sales coming up here in the spring of 2025. We all want to wish you a happy new year and, of course, glad everybody had a safe and happy holiday season.
Speaker 1:But as we enter into the 2025 year, there's a lot of prosperity to be expected, and hopefully we can talk about more of that right after this.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm your host this Saturday morning, andy Murnock, piper's Auction Realty and Land Management, based out of the Bowman Regional Office. We've had a lot of tremendous sales here over the past few months. The fall of 2024 was as rampant and active as we've ever seen in Piper's history, and 2025 sure seems to be coming in at the same pace. Lots of sales that are getting booked each and every day, Dozens of land and equipment auctions, full inventory details can all be found right at your fingertips on your computer, ipad or cell phone at piperscom.
Speaker 2:Again, we're sitting here this morning with Greg Kessel, belfield, north Dakota farmer and, of course, senator of District 39 through the North Dakota legislature. We're talking about what we're maybe seeing for bills that are pending or proposed as we enter into the legislative session here in 2025. We kind of talked about a little bit of there's 55 bills I believe you said there's 55 bills currently that are being proposed for either tax reform or tax structure, and one of the other dynamic segments, I guess, of what we're talking about here is we go into the legislative session. What you talked about was how to maybe affect or curb the problem that we're seeing with workforce in North Dakota and of course western North Dakota always seems to have this burden, because it's not as easy to get people families, maybe wives or children to move to some of these smaller communities. And what kind of legislative talk are we seeing that are going to try to help curb this small-town appeal?
Speaker 3:of talk. Are we seeing that are going to try to help curb this small town appeal? Well, there's, you know, a lot of. You know it's almost what comes first, the chicken or egg kind of thing. You know, in order to get people here, what do we have to provide? And obviously, if they come, they need to have a place to live and you know, in a good working living, wage you bring people up here in the future. I mean they have to have a quality of life too. If they're going to bring a young family comes up, they need to have. They want schools that they can go to and they want amenities.
Speaker 3:And you know, obviously, if you're up here in Western North Dakota and some of these other outlying communities, we struggle with some of that. So you know the workforce thing is challenging and there's a lot of moving parts to that, from housing to daycare to you know where they're going and are we providing. You know the opportunities for companies to go ahead and build out some of this infrastructure. You know the opportunities for companies to go ahead and build out some of this infrastructure. You know, in some cases, you know you can always throw enough money at something if you want to get it done, but are you doing it in a manner that you're building a community instead of just bringing people in and they're leaving again?
Speaker 2:They're taking their money and they're gone.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I think one of the you know, maybe one of the best kept secrets here in Western North Dakota is the amount of money and resources that have been spent on career and tech education and the opportunities for not only our high school students but our collegiate students, you know, both at Dickinson and Williston, minot, bismarck State College, you know, et cetera.
Speaker 2:I know there's some on the eastern side of the state that I'm not as familiar with, but we've spent a lot of money in western North Dakota getting the Southwest Area Career and Tech Educational Center up and running. In Dickinson, the Rough Rider Center running. We've got the new one that's been built and operationally functional now in Watford City operationally functional now in Watford City. There's a lot of money, a lot of support, a lot of resources that have been utilized to try to get more students, more people active, bringing people from outside of the state into our collegiate centers to really be focusing on some of the technical trades, and there's a lot of new technology that's been really utilized very well throughout the high schools and the college and universities here in the western side of North Dakota. How have you viewed these type of programs as they are impacting specifically western North Dakota.
Speaker 3:Well, I think the CT centers are absolutely fantastic and I'm especially fond of the one we have here in Dickinson. And you know I'm especially fond of the one we have here in Dickinson. You know what better opportunity could you have to take a $60 million facility and buy it for cents on the dollar and turn it into a career and technical center. And what they're providing there From the welding programs to the mechanics, to the construction, construction to the nursing, to the, to the ambulance thing you know, this is something that I think we need to. Not everyone needs to go to college and have a four-year degree and there's nothing wrong with that, but there are those that are want to enter into the workforce and we need them people in the workforce more than ever right now. And we need them at a younger age. And by putting these CTE centers in we're able to expose younger kids to this stuff and, you know, maybe they can focus on the path that they want to go down. You know I look at what goes on here Watford, williston, devil's Lake, those across the state the idea of that is, I think, just fantastic. I'll give you a good example that we're.
Speaker 3:I was just on a meeting with the North Dakota Emergency Services, fire state fire marshal and a bunch of fire chiefs and stuff. And we got to talking about the wildfires that took place up in Northwestern North Dakota this year and the impacts of what that had chiefs and stuff. And we got to talking about the wildfires that took place up in northwestern north dakota this year and and the impacts of what that had and the idea that we have rural fire departments out there that are lacking on staff. Um, these cte centers. We can get young high school kids and we can expose them to at the very least a minimum amount of training so that they can become, you know, pillars of that community and join the rural fire departments and get started that way and do it in a manner that they're not exposing themselves to danger. They got a little bit of training behind it and it might entice them to do more. So much so that we're talking that, if we can get it done, we'd love to expand that firefighter and airsoft and some of these other trainings, even at the minimal level in the rural communities across the entire state, because every one of these rural fire departments is struggling finding people to come in and be part of their departments.
Speaker 3:So you know, when I look at the CTE centers, depending on the area you go to, they can key in on certain things. In Dickinson, here they've keyed in a lot on the construction side. And let's not forget the participation we're getting from industry. I mean we got you know I'll name a few Bronco Brothers, Martin Construction. I see Hall Trucking. You know some of the local implement dealers. They're all participating in this. The ready mix people because they see the value of exposing them, people younger and getting to them and getting them entering into the workforce sooner. So I'm a huge proponent of these things.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And the companies that you just mentioned, they are. They are huge supporters of the CTE programs and they're already reaping the benefit of gaining employees directly as a result of their involvement in that program. And you know, again, sitting on the school board here in bowman, we talk about the uh, the ct center, specifically the southwest ct center there in dickinson that you're talking about, they've got a 10 acre sandbox for kids to learn how to, you know know they're going to learn out of the book and direct lessons on how they're going to, how they can operate equipment. But then they actually get to go get hands-on experience and run a dozer, they get to run a scraper, they get to run, you know, an excavator and a maintainer and they get to all do it right there on site, right at the CTE Center just on the north side of Dickinson.
Speaker 3:Well, I was over there not too long ago and walked in there and the simulators they got for equipment blow you away. I mean, it's like it's got to be these kids' dream. It's like video games on steroids there and it's the same thing. It gives you a real feel in your seat and what you're doing, and then you can go outside and run the real thing. You know, um again, I, I cannot, and I and that and them instructors and the people, uh, there that are, put that together. Um, I, I commend them because it it, it's impressive, it is. If anyone has an opportunity you want to go, look at that, go take a look it it, it'll blow you away.
Speaker 2:It's, it's really neat it is, they've got a.
Speaker 2:They've got a really progressive group of of people that are on those boards for both the Rough Rider and Southwest CT centers up there in Dickinson.
Speaker 2:And really you know, one of the key benefits specifically for high school kids is they can graduate high school with alternative certificates already in place.
Speaker 2:You know, you can have a certificate in pre-diesel, you can have a certificate in pre-construction. You can have all these certificates built in. So if you want to actually pursue another degree, either at DSU or at BSC or Wapiton or WyoTech or wherever you decide to go, those opportunities are kind of already have it in place and to lay the groundwork for you to enter that next step. You know, with boots on the ground and feet running full steam ahead, there's a lot of girls that enter the program that will come out of I guess anybody can enter the program coming out of the nursing programs that are also available in the CTE centers as well. But throughout Western North Dakota I think the majority of high schools are now partnered up with either the Dickinson or the Watford City or even the remote campuses, like you mentioned, in Minot and Devil's Lake as well. So a lot of great things happening there to curb kind of what you were talking about as far as the challenges that we're seeing in workforce and demand.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and you know, in my mind, them are the kind of things that we need to invest, invest in and try to expand on that, because the trickle down effect from that is we're creating a workforce, we're creating citizens that are going to be here a lifetime. They're the ones that are going to have the families, they're going to be our community people and you know they're not all in the big metro centers. The big metro centers, these are people that are going to, you know, fill the churches and the schools up in our smaller communities, which we need as desperately, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know I think probably the misnomer out there is also that it's strictly to support the oil industry and the energy sectors, and that's simply not the case. I mean the mechanics and, like we talked about health care and agriculture and all the other segments of North Dakota economy. That's simply not the case. I mean the mechanics and, like we talked about, health care and agriculture and all the other segments of North Dakota economy that's affected by these programs is extremely important and I'm sure you're going to have a few bills that will be proposed by probably one or multiple of those associations working together as they continue to work with the legislators as they enter and exit the upcoming and pending session, or the legislators as they enter and exit the upcoming and pending session. Greg, that third session went pretty fast here. We're going to be right back after the next break and talk about more of what's to be expected with the 2025 legislation session. I'll get it out eventually the legislation session that's coming up here.
Speaker 2:But again, this episode today is brought to you by Pfeiper's Auction Realty and Land Management, your lead source for land auctions, equipment auctions, real estate transactions and land management and anything that affects agriculture and the economy in the upper Midwest segment of the United States. We operate in North Dakota, south Dakota, minnesota, wisconsin and a lot of the surrounding states as well. A lot of great things happening. Just check everything out at piperscom, see you right there, get merged and straight by.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer. I'm Andy Murdock, your host. Host, it's Fine Saturday morning Again. We're going to continue on to our fourth and final segment with Greg Kessel, sitting Senator District 39, north Dakota, getting ready for the legislature and this biennium session. Greg, I know we're. I think you were elected. Correct me if I'm wrong if it was two or four years ago. You're still in your first term in the Senate, correct? I am Okay. And so, in the middle of your first term, I'd imagine they're going to just throw you right into quite a few committees, but give us kind of an idea of what committees that you currently serve on and what's to be expected as we enter this year's session.
Speaker 3:Well, so last session I sat on the Energy and Natural Resource Committee and I vice chaired the business and industry. On the last session, this session, I vice chair energy and natural resources and I sit on business and industry, which in my mind are I mean, that's the working mechanisms out there. In my mind, I mean that's the working mechanisms out there. Them are the places that we generate the revenue from, so to speak. You know we make policies for that and how we expand our economy here in the state. You know, and pretty important because we're coming out of you know again, energy is a big thing. We got a federal mandate coming from our new president that you know. He's got this idea drill, baby drill, and expand our energy and become independent again. And I like the idea that in the state of North Dakota our mantra should be build, baby build, because we need infrastructure. Our mantra should be build, baby build, because we need infrastructure. We need a lot of infrastructure so that we can continue supporting the oil and gas and the coal and the energy industries that we have out there, if it be wind power or whatever it is. We need transmission, we need pipelines, we need all of that in order to grow them economies we also got. We're rolling into a new age with, you know, power and where it's coming from, data centers, which take a lot of energy. We're sitting on a gold mine in the state of North Dakota with the energy we have and where we have it and the weather that we have and our security not being in highly populated areas. It might be data mining for cryptocurrency or it might be just data centers for, you know, ai and all this new world that we're proposing and we're entering into now, but we need to do it right. In the state of North Dakota, we got to be cognizant of what we're need to do it right. In the state of North Dakota, we got to be cognizant of what we're doing and do it right.
Speaker 3:I just come, a couple weeks ago, several of us legislators I think Representative Porter and Senator Patton and myself we were in Salt Lake City for the Energy Council and listened to what all the energy producing states have to say and where we're going, and they they brought people in to talk to us and I think one of my biggest takeaways I took from that is we sat there as North Dakota legislators and every other state legislators and every other state, and this didn't happen once, but this happened multiple times. When they're looking at policies within their state of what's going on, they look to North Dakota. North Dakota takes the lead on that. We do the work firsthand, you know, and we do it.
Speaker 3:We like to think we do it right all the time, because the models that we're building and the framework that we're putting in place is what they want to follow. If it comes to primacy, it comes how we're handling oil and gas and some of the pipeline stuff and transmission lines and maybe even wind farms and what have you. We're doing it. In their view, it sounds like we're doing it the way it should be done. So my hat's off to the legislators that came before us to lay the groundwork and for those that are working on doing it right in a continuing manner right now.
Speaker 2:One of the topics you kind of just touched on is the data centers, and there's not a lot of those in North Dakota and I always thought that there was probably some opportunity for those to expand. Number one for, you know, cheaper land. They had the ability to put these large infrastructure centers on property that doesn't cost what California taxes and surface rights cost. And then, of course, you know, you always hear about the Arizona and Nevada data centers and the amount of electricity that they take just to keep things cool. And we, you know, obviously we have. There's certain areas where they have reasonable I won't say cheap, but reasonable resources or access to water for cooling and of course, in our wintertime it certainly would take a lot less to keep these facilities cooler than it would, say, down 100 miles south of Phoenix. Are you starting to see some of these companies explore North Dakota for some of these options?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we are in somewhat of a big way in reality. I mean, you look at down at Ellendale, there's a big data center that they're looking at down there and you know, getting the it's on some major. They're trying to structure it that the power gets in there and gets there in a cost feasible manner. What we want to do, if we're going to do this, we have to do it with in mind that our citizens aren't going to get upcharged on their power because we brought data centers in. We need to take care of our citizens aren't going to get upcharged on their power because we brought data centers in. We need to take care of our citizens first before we do that.
Speaker 3:And I think we can do all of the above. We just need to do it in the right manner. And you know, and that's going to entail building some more power lines and you know, we got to get away from this nimby idea of not in my backyard and say, you know, in my backyard we want to do some of this in our backyard. We want the benefit of that, but let's do it in a manner that is, you know, let's take care of our state, let's take care of our environmentally, let's take care of our people and not tax our people because of it. It should be a benefit to our people, not a tax to them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think you guys will talk about that in your business and industry sessions. You know, I think you said last time you were vice, but this year you're sitting on that committee still. As you guys talk about that, I think the you know, probably always one of the concerns as a sitting, you know, resident taxpayer, when it comes to the whether I want it in my backyard or not, is, you know, number one how well it's controlled. If you know, maybe thinking of the unthinkable before it happens, you know, are they going to come in and have the ability to walk away from a project that maybe doesn't get finished if it's not finished, you know, kind of like the old reclamation laws, you start seeing some mining areas that were stripped and never had to be put back into place, you know. So, as long as those type of structures are in place ahead of time, I think it's very important that we try to explore the natural resources of North Dakota and try to, you know, capitalize on some of those outside money sources as much as possible.
Speaker 3:Agreed and we need to do all that and we need to worry about the next generation, what they're going to deal with. Just like you said, reclamation-wise, they should have addressed some issues when they did it. They didn't. In today's world, I think we address a lot of them, issues moving forward. I remember last session we talked something about an example being these wind towers and how we dispose of the blades and stuff from the wind towers. Those are the things that have been thought out as these industries grow and keep growing. Um, so, yeah, uh, there's there. There's a lot to do there and we've learned a lot, um, um. But I tell you what the place is filled with a lot of smart people. That that you know. Um I. I think they come up with the right answers in a lot of cases.
Speaker 2:You bet and you can read and follow a lot about North Dakota's legislative session coming up. Obviously, there's always groups that are following each and every one of the laws that affect their membership. You got the North Dakota Energy Council is obviously a big part of probably what you guys deal with in the energy and natural resources sector. You've got the school board administration and all sorts of different basically not lobbying groups, but groups in North Dakota membership groups in North Dakota that follow each and every one of your guys' moves as close as possible. Greg, thank you for joining us here today. It's a pleasure to always sit and visit with you. Very knowledgeable and one of of our great leaders here in Western North Dakota come from a real progressive farming operation just outside of Belfield, north Dakota, and we want to thank you and wish you the best of luck here as you enter the biennium of 2025.
Speaker 3:Thanks, andy. It's been fun. You know, and I'd be remiss to say that I remember dealing with your dad when you were a pretty young little guy running around, so I love the idea I see you young people coming full circle. I think that's just wonderful.
Speaker 2:Well, see, on purpose I kept this episode short enough so we couldn't get any of them old stories. Thanks a lot, Greg. Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to America's Land Auctioneer. I appreciate everybody for joining us here on this fine Saturday morning. Keep in mind North Dakota Bison championship football game is coming up on Monday, frisco, texas. Watch your North Dakota State University Bison. This episode was brought to you by Hypers Auction Realty and Land Management. We'll talk to you next week.