CEDC Hires Communications Specialist
Common Enterprise Development Corporation, Mandan, has hired Rachel Brazil as Communications and Reporting Manager. Brazil received her dual master’s degree in American Studies and Environment &...
View ArticleWhy Cooperation Works- The Quest for Equality
How humans cooperate, rather than compete, has often been studied. Often students will study an existing model of human cooperation. In trying to understand something – we as humans use a working...
View ArticleUnderstanding the Value of Equity
In a cooperative all members are equal, regardless of how much business they do with the cooperative. That means that the governing board has to insure that one group of members is not subsidizing...
View ArticleCEDC hires new Executive Director
Common Enterprise Development Corporation, Mandan, is pleased to announce the hiring of Cheryl Ann Kary as Executive Director. Kary holds a PhD in Communication and Public Discourse from the University...
View ArticleUnderstanding the Value of Solidarity
There are five International Cooperative Alliance values that commonly agreed to by cooperatives around the world. In previous columns, the values of equality and equity have been discussed. Equality...
View ArticleThe Value of Self-Help: Inspiration in Action
The International Cooperative Alliance has adopted five values. In previous issues we have discussed Equality, Equity, and Solidarity. This week the value we are thinking about is self-help....
View ArticleSelf-Responsibility: A Foundation for Democracy
The International Cooperative Alliance has adopted six cooperative values, which include self-help, self-responsibility, equity, equality, democracy and solidarity. In previous issues of this column I...
View ArticleThe Value of Democracy
Perhaps everybody already knows the last cooperative value to be discussed today. It is democracy. In rural North Dakota we are full of democracy—some people think we have too much. We elect...
View ArticleThe Principles of Cooperation
There are seven cooperative principles that can be used to understand how cooperatives are supposed to operate. Operating principles are different from the six cooperative values. Values are the...
View ArticleConcern for the Community
The seventh cooperative principle is “concern for the community”. This wasn’t much of an issue in the 1700’s when Ben Franklin created a mutual fire insurance company in Philadelphia. At the time...
View ArticleThe Principle of Education
The cooperative principle today is Education, Training, and Information. You will rarely hear cooperative members say, my cooperative communicates with me too much. Most cooperatives don’t overdue...
View ArticleVoluntary and Open Membership
The first cooperative principle is voluntary and open membership. This principle had a difficult beginning. As civilizations developed and currency became a medium of exchange, ruling individuals...
View ArticleCooperation among Cooperatives
For those of you keeping track, I have been writing about the cooperative values adopted by the International Cooperative Alliance. There are six values, self-help, self-responsibility, equity,...
View ArticleThe Everyday Challenge of Cooperation
Cooperation beyond organizational identity is a serious challenge in our society today. Some business schools teach aspiring managers how to create “brand equity”. Brand equity is a big deal in the...
View ArticlePotlucks bring people together, through Cooperation
Nothing says human cooperation better than “potluck”. Before there were catering services, before there was any money available for a meal budget, there was potluck. A masterful example of group...
View ArticleEquality, the self-evident truth
We celebrate the day the Colonies declared independence from England on the 4th of July. The actual document might have been signed on the 5th of July in 1776. Independence Hall still stands, and...
View ArticleCompetition and Cooperation
A defining characteristic of capitalism is competition. Adam Smith believed that when a significant number of people wanted the same good or service, individuals or companies would compete with each...
View ArticleCooperation and Education
There is a wonderful organization known as ACE—it stands for the Association of Cooperative Educators. ACE is over 50 years old and meets once a year for a Cooperative Institute. The organization is...
View ArticleMemories of Rural Cooperation
Rural life is full of stories of cooperation. My Aunt Beulah Long’s funeral was last week in Bowdon. She was just a month short of reaching 100 years. Much was said at the family gathering at the...
View ArticleA State of Cooperation
Twenty five years ago Senator Quentin Burdick of North Dakota and Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas introduce legislation that created a domestic cooperative development program. The legislation...
View ArticleThe Tale of an Impossible Dream
Twenty years ago this summer Northern Great Plains ranchers embarked on an impossible dream. These ranchers dreamed of owning their own slaughter plant and identifying every cut of beef all the way...
View ArticleCourage for Community
This past week I attended a work shop on the basics of building community put on by USDA Rural Development and NDSU Extension. Those two agencies have spent a great deal of money, expertise and time...
View ArticleBelieve in the Future
The Future Farmers of America, now just the FFA, have a creed. It starts with “I believe in the future of Agriculture”. It is sure a good thing, if you intend to be a farmer, to believe in the...
View ArticleThe Difficult Task of Choosing a Leader
One of the reasons I think that I talk so much is because I have had so much time to think about things. I drive from Bismarck to Fargo often. Most of the time by myself. During that three hour...
View ArticleThe Greatest Political Motivator
It is easy to see that people are angry. A clerk in Kentucky is angry that same sex marriages are now legal in the United States. She is convinced that such relationships are sinful. She thinks that...
View ArticleA Measure of Life
It was 48 years ago that I graduated from Fessenden High School. I had bet myself that I could still name all of my classmates. I thought I was in a class of 33 and I wrote down about 28 names. I was...
View ArticleA Take-It or Leave-It Kind of World
If you spend time thinking about it, it will cross your mind that people with money are the ones who control American politics. In 1995 Kevin Phillips published Arrogant Capital-- Washington, Wall...
View ArticleAgriculture in a Changing World
It is a simple thing to say that people should live in harmony with nature. It hasn’t been that long since Native Americans had lived in homes made from skins or earth lodges. Natives had learned to...
View ArticleA Common Humanity
It is hard to know the long-term impact of Pope Francis’ visit on the people of the United States. I don’t know how many people saw him in person and on television. But I know people were sure...
View ArticleWhen a good idea comes along...
It is hard to overstate the power of good ideas. They are enduring. They last and last until a better idea replaces them. Using horse for locomotion was an enduring idea. When my dad was born in...
View ArticleThis Place that We Live
How did the earth get here? No one knows, there are only theories. Some creation stories are so popular many English speaking people recognize Adam and Eve as the first two people on the earth....
View ArticleNorth Dakota Booms Overtime
Understanding good and bad of an economic boom at the same time is hard to do. Most people just choose one or the other. Take the example of Bakken oil. The folks who see it as good have plenty to...
View ArticleThe Real Old School
Perhaps nothing defines North Dakota better than a school house. A school remains the heart of a community. In many towns the school is on Main Street, or sometimes the anchor at the end of the...
View ArticleIn the Beginning
“In the beginning” are the first three words in the book of Genesis. Those same three words are the title of Alister McGrath’s book, “In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible.” McGrath...
View ArticleSticking to it
My mother said there are worse things than being dead. She wanted me to understand that sometimes life prepares you for death, and death can be the best option. She also told me that it takes a lot...
View ArticleGratitude and Thanks
Across America people are celebrating the National Day of Thanksgiving. Many presidents had proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving. President Washington was the first, in 1789, thankful for winning...
View ArticleWhen we sing "Que Sera, Sera"
I was cleaning the office this past week. The three of us who work in the Mandan office take turns each week and it was my turn. As I was vacuuming near the door, I sucked up a box elder bug. I...
View ArticleThe Peace Garden State
I often wonder if people outside of North Dakota know that we call ourselves the “Peace Garden State.” Outsiders tend to confuse us with South Dakota— “You have the faces don’t you?” North Dakota is...
View ArticleCEDC Hosting Meeting for Local Meat Producers to Discuss Collaborative...
Common Enterprise Development Corporation (CEDC) is hosting a meeting for area ranchers interested in selling finished meat products direct to the consumer. The meeting will be held at 2pm on Saturday...
View ArticleRecipe for Greatness
Lots of people I talk with are afraid. The rise of Donald Trump to prominence in the Republican primary is scaring some long-time party faithful. I have also talked with people who think Trump is...
View ArticleWhen technology changes...
Knowing what to keep and what to throw away is not always easy. When a way of doing things gives way to a new technology, the people who were proficient in the old way lose their status. When I...
View ArticleShooting Straight and Moving Foward
I blame my inability to throw things away on the fact that I grew up poor. As a farm kid, we kept old machinery we no longer used, if for no other purpose than scrap iron. Today, it is difficult...
View ArticleGoodbye, Neighbor
On December 28th, 2015, my neighbor Herman Muhlbradt died at age 84. He and his wife Janet had been our neighbors for 20 of the 23 years we have lived here. Herman lived life with the safety shields...
View ArticleCelebrate Solidarity
I spent the first 15 years of my professional life being an economic developer. In 1985, Governor Sinner thought I was good enough to lead the North Dakota Economic Development Commission. Most folks...
View ArticleWealth of Rural Places
I have a question for each of you, "Do the future of rural places depend on wealthy people investing in them?" I was curious when I saw the title of Hunter Lewis's 2007 book, “Are the Rich Necessary?...
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