Production agriculture is an important part of the North Dakota economy. North Dakota continues to work to diversify its agricultural fabric by targeting the development of value-added agriculture.

Definition of Value-Added Agriculture

Value-added agriculture is changes made to primary agriculture products (crops and livestock) that increase the product's value, thereby creating new economic activity and jobs in one of three ways:

• Process activities that create value for the product and/or introduce the product to new markets;
• Diversification and/or modification of primary agriculture products; or
• Pre-production modifications that increase yields, quality and uses

Value-added agriculture is not: on-farm production of crops and livestock; biotechnology and research and development activities focused on increasing primary agricultural production; human capital investments; agritourism; seed production; and transportation
 

Focus of Value-Added

North Dakota's initial focus in this area is to develop local markets for biofuels and its co-products working in cooperation with:

• State Agencies
• Commodity Groups
• Livestock
• Bio-energy
• New and Emerging crops
• Consultants of past projects
• Construction companies
• Engineering companies
• Investors

Links and Resources