Innovation, irrigation and faith allow Forest River Hutterite Colony to grow
Oct. 15—INKSTER, N.D. — On a busy October morning during the potato harvest, Solomon Maendel thanks God for the year's bountiful crop. Throughout the day, dozens of semis will line up at the Forest River Colony, near Inkster, to be filled with potatoes.
"The good Lord has been good to us," says Maendel. "We put the seed in the ground, He makes it grow."
Members of the Hutterite community take shifts grading potatoes — picking out the clumps of dirt and debris — before the potatoes are shipped to Simplot in Grand Forks. The cleaner the potatoes, explains Maendel, the better the price.
Near the potato grading operation is a shop where the colony's welder repairs trucks and farm equipment. Up the hill, eggs laid by the colony's 70,000 laying hens are being processed. Inside the colony's school, 60 children under age 15 complete lessons in German and English. In a nearby kitchen, women process produce from the colony's garden to feed the community until next year's harvest.
The Forest River Colony is bustling with activity on this Tuesday morning during harvest. But it wasn't always that way, said Tony Waldner, one of the colony's spiritual leaders.
"Before we had irrigation, we were struggling to make a living," said Waldner.
The colony started irrigating crops in 1972. Fifty years later, irrigation and innovation have allowed the colony to grow. Now 160 strong, the group is preparing to start a new colony near McVille, North Dakota.
The Forest River Colony was founded in 1950 as a division from the New Rosedale Hutterite Colony near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The Hutterites are known for their deep religious views and communal lifestyle, and recognizable by their traditional garb. Though they live separately from the rest of the world, they are anything but cut off or behind on the times, especially when it comes to agriculture.
"Hutterites are very innovative when it comes to the farm," said Waldner. "In their dress and their religious ideas, they want to stay conservative."
When the colony started irrigating in 1972, it allowed it to start selling its potatoes to Simplot. Its irrigation systems draw from the Forest River, which runs through the colony. Today, the colony has 1,500 acres of irrigated potatoes, and Maendel estimates that this year, 1,000 semi-loads of irrigated potatoes will be shipped out of the colony.
The Forest River Colony also sells irrigation rigs and programming to other farmers. It owns Rite Irrigation, which sells Reinke irrigation systems and components. Reinke's motto is "More right than rain" — although Maendel does not agree with the wording.
"I've told the president of the company they should say 'more regular than rain,' because it's not more right than God's rain," he said.
Maendel's sons write all the programming for the colony's irrigation systems so the rigs can be controlled by smartphone, and they sell that programming for others to use. The colony's feed mill is also run by smartphone.
Along with potatoes, the colony grows sweet alfalfa, soybeans, corn and oats. Most of the corn and soybeans are used to feed the colony's livestock.
With irrigation, other business endeavors have fueled the colony's growth. Forest River Eggs can be found in grocery stores across the region. The colony runs a demolition and salvage service, and repairs wrecked semi trucks.
"We run (the trucks) ourselves a couple of years, and then usually the neighbors will see them and say 'I want that truck,'" said Maendel. "So within 100 miles, we've never had to advertise a truck, they just come and pick them up."
Outside of business, the colony operates with a thriftiness that saves money. Maendel's sons learned to install their own fiber-optic cables, a process that costs less than hiring a company to do it. The grain dryer at the feed mill was salvaged from a fire.
About two years ago, the colony purchased land near McVille to start a new colony. Already, 14 irrigation pivots and potato storage buildings have been built on the new property, and over the next decade, a school, mess hall, kitchen and housing will be built. Once the site of the new colony is ready, the Forest River Colony will split in half.
"Whoever goes there and builds will, of course, use their own innovation and their own style," said Waldner. "It won't be a carbon copy, but it'll be very similar."
Until then, irrigation and innovation will help the Forest River Colony continue to grow — in population and in the fields. Throughout the morning, Maendel repeatedly expressed his gratitude to God.
"We're blessed," said Maendel. "The good Lord has blessed us more than we deserve, all around."
