While the 2014 Winter Olympics begins to wind down from an exciting few weeks in Sochi, there is one North Dakota resident who has been watching with extra care and attention. Howard Dahl, President and CEO of Amity Technology, has a special place in his heart for Russia. After all, he’s been there seventy times.
Howard Dahl and his brother, Brian Dahl, created Amity Technologies in 1996 after their former company was bought out by Case. Case had no interest in their sugar beet line, so the brothers kept it and transformed Amity into what it is today – a flourishing, well-developed business that provides its customers a variety of farming equipment, such as air seeding equipment, sugar beet equipment, and other crop management tools.
In 1991, Dahl traveled to Russia in order to join his company with Russia’s agribusiness. It was a tense time to connect with the former Soviet Union, but that didn’t stop him. “Hardly anybody was there. We sold 600 air seeders before John Deer sold their first one. We were way ahead of the big companies.” With a weather temperament much like the Upper Midwest, Amity’s machinery fit well into the large fields of the former Soviet Union.
Business with Russia in the early 90’s has gone through dramatic changes in the past two decades. “In 1991, nothing was privatized.” Dahl said. “No company had an income statement or a balance statement. Trying to privatize was very chaotic. Today there’s still a lot that needs to be done, though for most people, the rule of law contracts are enforced. A lot of the business we do is pretty routine. We have a contract, get paid, and deliver the equipment. People we sell to are agricultural companies trying to be efficient and make a profit. They’re very large operations for the most part, but for agriculture, the rule of law is very real.” Some of their best companies are farms of 500,000 acres and above.
In 2007, 40% of Amity Technology’s sales were based in the countries formerly a part of the Soviet Union. The number of sales has climbed as Dahl continues to develop the company’s relationships with farms overseas. “We’ve done a joint venture with AGCO and with our tillage and seeding companies; it’s a 50/50 joint venture with the purpose of growing the business. Our goal is to expand to a large part of the world very quickly.”
And Dahl has expanded, in more ways than one. In September, he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Upper Midwest to the Republic of Kazakhstan. “It is an honorary position, so there’s not any pay for it. NDSU has a number of exchange initiatives working with Kazakhstan, and ND cattlemen are shipping cattle over there.” It’s Dahl’s job to be a champion for more and more business exchanges between the US and Kazakhstan. “A lot of it is done here, hosting Kazakhs who will be visiting the area periodically.” When asked how long he will hold the position, Dahl laughed. “You know, I’m not really sure. We’ll see!”
When Dahl visits Russia, he is met with extreme cultural differences. “There’s not as much as with the younger Russians, but the older Russians growing up in the Soviet system have a fear of taking initiative and risks. It’s a difficult adjustment. Having said that, from a cultural standpoint, in the whole of the Russian population there is such a deep appreciation for ballet and opera and classical music, more so than we have here. It has a very, very rich cultural history of music, poetry, and literature.” Dahl will be returning to Russia this spring after the Olympics are over, adding more stamps to his well-worn passport.
The driving force behind this globe-trotting businessman is simple and genuine: “My primary motivation is that I want to honor God in all that I do. That’s a challenge at times. I want my employees to have a really good life. I want the farmers that we sell to to be helped, that their equipment makes them more successful, and that they feel good about it. I want to continue to create interesting and innovating products that are meeting needs; ideally, products that others are not doing.” For Howard Dahl, it’s about making his community and the world a better place, and he’s doing just that – one air seeder at a time.