Howard Dahl, president and chief executive officer of Amity Technologies of Fargo, talks about what he is learning from business associates and friends in Ukraine and Russia. Dahl has traveled to the countries numerous times over the past 30 years
Fargo, ND. - Some North Dakotans see Russia and Ukraine as Howard Dahl, and he doesn't like what he sees.
Dahl, 72, is the chief executive officer of Amity Technology LLC of Fargo, North Dakota. His family farm equipment lineage includes Bobcat skid-steer loaders, Steiger tractors and Concorde grain drills.
Amity sells carts for sugar beet harvest, soil samples and silage, and other products. He is in Russia is a leader in bringing Grain Air Seeder and Beet Equipment. The market has sometimes been counter-cyclical to US markets, making his company stronger for clients on both sides of the world.
Dahl has traveled to Russia 93 times in the 30 years since he first moved there in 1992. In 2011, Agavik traveled with Dahl to Russia and Ukraine when times were good.
As the Russian offensive rages, Dahl says he is concerned about many of his friends and allies, and about his employees. "I don't fully understand the mystery of prayer, but I ask people to pray for Ukraine. Pray for peace. It could turn into a very bad situation and hundreds of thousands of people could die."
Make peace
Unlike war, Dahl's business suggests peace to all.
Concorde Inc., which was started in 1977 to manufacture air seeders, worked for minimal and no tillage farming. Dahls sent him to the U.S. and in 1991, Howard sold five in Russia and Kazakhstan just before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dahl wore shoe leather while expanding Amity's business there. Since 2007 the company has shipped hundreds of beet harvesters and defoliators to countries, with the top years in 2013.
"We shipped at least 200 containers a year over a 10-year period," Dahl said.
During a 2011 visit, Ryan Offut of RDO Equipment in Fargo visited Krasnodar, the Agro-Construction Technologies, "ACT," John Deere dealership in the world-famous "black soil area" for Agweek. Dahl said ACT remains the largest Russian dealer of Amity equipment.
"We have eight beet harvesters they want and we don't know if we'll be able to send them," Dahl said.
Today, Amity has about eight employees in Russia and manages a large supply of parts for customer care. He has a full-time employee, a service manager in Ukraine. The two countries account for about 10% of the Amity business. In the Far East of Ukraine, in the territory occupied by Russians since 2014, there is no sugar beet.
Amity recently had "several containers" with equipment on its way that were returned, and they expect the new equipment to be sold in no countries this year.
"We are certainly deeply, deeply concerned about any future business," he said.
Astarta holding
In a largely separate business, Dahl is chairman of the board of Astarta Holding, a Ukrainian agricultural and industrial holding company. The company is based in Kyiv and has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2006. Astarta's main productive assets are in Poltava, Vinnytsia and Khmelnitsky Oblasts in central Ukraine.
Astarta controls six sugar beet factories and 700,000 acres of farmland, and is the No. 1 sugar company in Ukraine with approximately 100,000 acres. It is an important exporter of a variety of crops including soy and produces food and oil. It produces sugar, corn and wheat and some rapeseed for domestic use but not for export. The country has reduced sugar beet production by 75% in the last 20 years.
"I'm sitting in the comfort of my home in Fargo and receiving briefings regularly," Dahl said. "One of (Astarta's) concerns, I believe, is to take care of its 8,000 employees."
Fighting the Russians in the east, many of Astarta's employees are killed. Many workers in one form or another served in the Russian resistance. Most of the pro-Russian people have moved to Russia.
2022 crop
Beyond his Russian/Ukrainian ventures, Dahl is concerned about the potential human cost of the war.
The 2022 winter wheat crop was planted last fall. Other crops should start in the next two weeks. With the war going on, he thinks it will be a "massive nightmare" to get all the seeds, fertilizers and other inputs for the crop.
"If Ukraine doesn't get its crop or let's say only half of its crop, with food stocks depleted, it could - especially for the world's poorest of people - raise food prices. There may be an increase,” Dahl said.
The western part of the country was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which lasted from 1867 to 1918, before World War I.
Dahl is a student of Russian religions. Putin has used religion as a justification for war. The Russian Orthodox Church is loyal to Moscow. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has similar beliefs, but many Russians view them below. The Greek Catholic Church in the West has a loyalty to the Roman Catholics.
"It is ironic, that Putin in his speech - when he called Ukrainians 'Nazis' - also said, 'We are going to restore the Orthodox Church to its rightful place,'" Dahl said. "I didn't pretend to know what was on his mind and heart when he said that."
Despite his knowledge of the area, Dahl did not think there would be an invasion. A week before that happened, he was delighted by letters written by retired Russian generals who had recently warned Putin of an attack. Two-three oligarchs have condemned Putin. They have arrested 7,000 civilians.
It is not clear how ordinary Russians would get information about the conflict. Facebook and Twitter were shut down in Russia on Monday, February 28, 2022. But Russians can still receive emails.
“Now, Telegram is the main social media outlet,” Dahl said.
Dahl said the best-case scenario for Putin would be "the Damascus Road experience", where his eyes open, as in the Bible with the Apostle Paul.
"I think he's not going to back down," said Dahl seriously. "I think it's going to put a lot of people around him under tremendous pressure. I don't think he has a full sense of how willing the people of Ukraine are to defend their country, and Do whatever is necessary for this."
Story Ag History
Dahl is part of a one-story farm equipment development and manufacturing family in North Dakota. His grandfather, E.G. Melroe founded Melroe Manufacturing in 1947 in Gwinner, North Dakota. Melro developed what would become known as the Bobcat Skid-Steer Loader. Melrose sold the company and invested in the Steiger Tractor Company, a company that originated in the Thief River Falls, Minnesota, area, and specialized in high-horsepower farm tractors with oscillating, articulated frames.
Dahl's father, Eugene Dahl, was chairman of Steiger's board from 1970 to 1986 and CEO from 1970 to 1979. Steiger filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 1986 and eventually became part of CNH Industrial.
Meanwhile, in 1977, Howard and his brother, Brian, developed and marketed the "Concorde" air seeding drill. The exercises were successful, and the brothers sold the company to Case-IH, now CNH. After the sale, Howard and Brian renamed their company Amity Technology. He acquired the WIC beet and Wishek tillage lines. In 1992, Dahl traveled to Russia for the first time.
In 2011, Amity and AGCO Inc. formed a joint venture with AGCO-Amity Joint Venture LLC (AAJV) based in Wahpeton, North Dakota to sell Will-Rich, Wishek Tillage and Concorde Air Seeders worldwide. He sold the joint venture to Swedish family-owned company Vaderstad AB in 2021.