North Dakota
North Dakota edible bean farmer hosts international visitors to his farm
Building international connections is an important aspect of the agricultural industry.
This year, farmer
Rudy Dotzenrod
hosted visitors from the Big Iron International Visitors Program to his farm to showcase his crops and Reinke irrigation systems.
Jed Brazier / Northarvest Bean Growers Association
“They were looking for a place to kind of showcase some of their swing-arm technology at the end of their pivots,” Dotzenrod said. “I’ve got a couple of them here, so they wanted to come.”
There were visitors from all of the world, including Turkey, Guatemala and Africa.

Ariana Schumacher/Agweek
“We bring in anywhere from 50 to 150 international visitors every year,” said Lindsey Warner, deputy director of the North Dakota Trade Office. “The goal of that is, first and foremost, have agriculture machinery buyers learn more about North Dakota, our agriculture, our agriculture practices, the machinery that’s manufactured here.”
They got to see every part of the farming operation.
“I took a lot of them, and we walked around the farm, we went to different buildings and we looked at all sorts of different kinds of machinery, you know, from getting the ground ready, to planting, to spraying it, to harvesting it, just kind of looked at everything,” Dotzenrod said.
With Dotzenrod also being a black bean grower, that was beneficial to the visitors from Guatemala.
“They were very interested in irrigation and black beans,” Warner said.

Jed Brazier / Northarvest Bean Growers Association
However, most were interested in his corn production.
“I was kind of surprised, I thought there may be a few more questions on edible beans, but it was mostly in corn,” Dotzenrod said.
Bringing international visitors directly onto the farm is a big part of the tour.
“We live in a global world. A lot of the commodities that are produced within our state are exported outside of the U.S., so I think it’s really beneficial for people to see where their food is coming from, whether they are North Dakotas or they are international consumers of these products” Warner said.
“People kind of want to know where their food is coming from, you know, and if they can try and put a face on that or an environment, that gives them a better understanding of where it’s at,” Dotzenrod said. “A lot of this is beyond the economics of it. It’s relationship based. If they feel like they’re buying something from somebody they like, I think it makes it a lot easier for them to go ahead and do that.”
North Dakota
Pepperdine hosts North Dakota State following Koenen’s 22-point game
North Dakota State Bison (8-2) at Pepperdine Waves (7-2)
Malibu, California; Tuesday, 5 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: North Dakota State visits Pepperdine after Avery Koenen scored 22 points in North Dakota State’s 83-55 victory against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
The Waves are 4-0 on their home court. Pepperdine is 1-0 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents and averages 18.2 turnovers per game.
The Bison are 3-0 on the road. North Dakota State scores 77.4 points and has outscored opponents by 15.3 points per game.
Pepperdine averages 8.1 made 3-pointers per game, 2.8 more made shots than the 5.3 per game North Dakota State gives up. North Dakota State averages 6.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.1 fewer made shots on average than the 7.3 per game Pepperdine allows.
TOP PERFORMERS: Seleh Harmon averages 2.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Waves, scoring 10.4 points while shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc. Elli Guiney is shooting 47.3% and averaging 14.4 points.
Molly Lenz averages 1.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Bison, scoring 7.8 points while shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc. Koenen is averaging 18.2 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 steals.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
North Dakota
North Dakota lawmakers from West Fargo announce bid for reelection
WEST FARGO — Three incumbents from West Fargo will run for reelection to their state legislative seats.
North Dakota Sen. Judy Lee and Reps. Jim Jonas and Austen Schauer, all Republicans, announced Sunday, Dec. 14, that they would campaign to represent District 13 in the state Legislature. The district covers much of north West Fargo.
Special to The Forum
Lee was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1994. Jonas and Schauer have served in the state House since 2023 and 2019, respectively.
The three ran unopposed in the 2022 election. The next election for their seats is in 2026.
Forum file photo
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.
North Dakota
Bids awarded for construction of Highway 85
WATFORD CITY, N.D. (KUMV) – The North Dakota Department of Transportation awarded more than 150 million dollars in bids to continue expanding highway 85 south of Watford City.
More than $83.8 million will go to Park Construction out of Minneapolis for one segment. It covers about five and a half miles south of the Long X Bridge, going through another section of the badlands. It’s expected to be a three-year project due to the rough terrain.
The next segment covers 12 and a half miles south from the badlands to the highway 200 intersection. The winning bid went to Strata out of Grand Forks for $61.7 million. It will be a two-year project.
Funding for these projects were provided by both the state and federal government.
Copyright 2025 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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