1996 marks MAWG’s 20th Anniversary

Home

E-Mail

Back

Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association

According to historical records compiled by Kris Versdahl, assistant director of the MAWG, the momentum to form a wheat grower organization in Minnesota started in January of 1976, when a delegation of farmers including Terry Fladeland, Rick Baird, Dave Steuart, and Jorgen Knutson attended the NAWG convention in Billings, Montana.

In March of that year, the MAWG was officially incorporated; bylaws drafted and the first officers elected. Fladeland was elected president; Baird, first vice president; Knutson, second vice president; and Steuart, secretary-treasurer.

In August, 1976, Charlie Rhoades was hired as the MAWG’s first full-time employee. In December of that year, the first MAWG convention was held in Alexandria.

A statewide referendum established the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council in June, 1977. Groundbreak-ing for the MAWG building in Red Lake Falls took place in October, 1978.

The North Dakota Grain Growers Association, formerly North Dakota Wheat Producers, incorporated in 1965. South Dakota Wheat Inc. was formed in 1958.

December 1995