North Dakota farmer reflects on nearly a decade of serving on North Dakota Dry Bean Council
When Kevin Regan's neighbor termed out on the North Dakota Dry Bean Council, he turned to Regan to fill the slot. Nine years later, Regan is happy that he jumped at the opportunity.
Regan farms about 4,000 acres around 20 miles northeast of Devils Lake, growing canola, pinto beans, corn and barley. He's the fifth generation of his family to farm the land, and said his father served on various water and elevator boards, and he picked up the same trait.
"I've always kind of been involved in serving on a board in some capacity or another," Regan said.
Regan served two terms on the North Dakota Dry Bean Council in which he was a delegate for the United States Dry Bean Council. He said in that time, he's learned a lot about the industry and domestic marketing, and through his work on the U.S. Dry Bean Council, his scope of knowledge stretched across borders.
"I learned a tremendous amount about international trade and how dry beans fit into that scenario, in a real niche sort of way, because dry beans are consumed basically all over the world," he said.
Regan's first trade mission was to Cuba shortly after joining the North Dakota Dry Bean Council, and the trips continued almost every year after that.
"I've been to Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Dubai, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, of course, which is our biggest market, and Italy," Regan said. "I never walk away from going on a trade mission where I don't feel like I've contributed to our industry in some fashion."
Trade missions are far from a vacation, Regan said. He said the usual group format for trade missions was one or two dealers and a grower who is led by an international representative for the specific region.
"The dealers specifically want to talk to the farmers, and they want to know what methods we're using, what type of beans we're growing, and what type of systems we use in growing the beans," Regan said. "Generally speaking, throughout the entire world, United States dry beans are basically known for the highest quality in the world."
Compared to other parts of the world, Regan said U.S. dry bean growers face higher costs of production.
"I think the biggest challenge is our costs are slightly higher in comparison to some of the other pulses such as peas and garbanzo beans or chickpeas," he said. "But my message has always been that nutritionally, we get more bang for the buck with dry beans."
Other ones may have positive protein, but dry beans have a "vast array of micronutrients" that some of the other ones don't, he said.
Serving on the North Dakota Dry Bean Council and U.S. Dry Bean Council opened Regan up to a lot about his industry he didn't know, and made him a better producer. He highly recommends the experience to other growers.
"If you can make it work with your family and whatnot, go out on a trade mission," Regan said. "I think it's eye opening for anybody to go on a trade mission and see how national commerce works and specifically how the dry bean industry works."
He also recommended young growers get involved with domestic marketing.
"We've got a tremendous domestic market promotion within Northarvest now, and are just getting legs under it, and it's growing by leaps and bounds," he said.
