Boucher wants Hoeven to delay sale of Dakota Growers Pasta Co.

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BISMARCK — The Democratic candidate for North Dakota agriculture commissioner appealed to Republican Gov. John Hoeven on Wednesday to seek a delay in the proposed sale of Dakota Growers Pasta Co.

Merle Boucher, who is also the Democratic leader in the North Dakota House, said a three-month delay would allow for more public discussion of not only the sale’s impact on wheat farmers but also about public subsidies that helped the Carrington factory get started in the early 1990s.

“Most North Dakotans, for a fact, aren’t even aware of what has happened,” Boucher said.

Viterra Inc., a Canadian grain and food processor based in Regina, Saskatchewan, has offered to pay about $200 million for Dakota Growers’ common and preferred stock.

Dakota Growers has about 1,200 shareholders, most of whom are North Dakota farmers. They have until midnight May 3 to agree to sell their shares.

Hoeven said Wednesday he hadn’t reviewed the letter. Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple is one of Dakota Growers’ founders and largest shareholders and has served continuously as chairman of the company’s board of directors.

“This is a private company, owned by North Dakota farmers, and it’s up to them to make the decision,” Hoeven said.

Even with a sale to Viterra, Dakota Growers will remain in Carrington, “employing hundreds of people, buying durum from our farmers and having a huge economic impact,” Hoeven said.

Boucher is running against Republican incumbent Doug Goehring this fall. The agriculture commissioner is one of three directors of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, which has provided loans to Dakota Growers and investors who wanted to buy its shares.

Boucher said Wednesday that North Dakota’s state government, rural cooperatives and the city of Carrington should realize some benefits from the sale because of their role in helping Dakota Growers get tax breaks and favorable financing terms when it was starting up.

“I don’t think we’re going to turn the sale back,” he said, “but I would hope within the 90 days ... maybe the sellers and the buyers would realize that there is some type of financial responsibility that they have back to the state of North Dakota, and the community where that investment was made.”

Tim Dodd, Dakota Growers president, said the business had already provided ample benefits to the state and the Carrington community. The North Dakota factory has a monthly payroll of more than $1 million, and the plant pays about $140,000 in property taxes annually, he said.

Dodd said he believes delaying the sale would be pointless. “What it would do is delay our shareholders from getting their money,” Dodd said.

Dakota Growers, which began pasta production in 1994, was founded as a farmers’ cooperative. In 2004, its members voted to change its ownership structure to allow anyone to buy shares.

Dodd believes the acquisition by Viterra will help Dakota Growers expand its pasta business. Dakota Growers employs about 450 people at its Carrington factory and a separate plant in New Hope, Minn.

The sale also won’t affect North Dakota farmers’ ability to sell durum to Dakota Growers, Dodd said. Durum is a wheat variety used to make pasta.

“Our driveway has been open to every farmer in North Dakota,” Dodd said.

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