Borgen Inducted Into North Dakota Agricultural Hall of Fame

Tom Borgen was inducted into the North Dakota Agricultural Hall of Fame on March 10th during the annual North Dakota Winter Show Friends of the Winter Show Foundation event. Congratulations Tom!

Borgen is a retired farmer and past president of the Northern Canola Growers Association.This is how Borgen is described in the book “On Golden Plain” – “The man who has been involved in every aspect of introducing canola into the United States, and could well be called the father of the crop in this country.”

Borgen farmed near Langdon for many years and was a staunch supporter and leader in the agricultural industry. Barry Coleman, Executive Director of the Northern Canola Growers Association, says of Borgen “Under Tom’s leadership, the Northern Canola Growers aggressively promoted and developed the canola industry, obtained an FDA Health Claim for canola oil, secured many new crop protection products for canola and assisted in developing a new breeding program for oilseeds in North Dakota.”

Borgen grew up in Hannah, North Dakota.After working in the construction business in Seattle for a number of years, he returned home to farm with his father-in-law. One of the things he introduced to that farm was canola, an oil crop developed in Canada. Borgen initially delivered his canola to a Canadian crushing plant…the first U.S. producer to do that.

Borgen helped establish the canola crushing industry in the U.S. He was instrumental in getting canola included in federal farm legislation and in getting crop insurance coverage for canola.Borgen estimates he made at least 30 trips to Washington, D.C. and to various locations in Canada as the industry developed.

Borgen says all of my involvement was done while I farmed 1500 acres, plus doing custom work, cutting 3,000 to 4,500 acres of Canola per year.