A vegetable seen as a diet staple for centuries may help guide the Mon-Dak area into a more diversified financial future.

Chuck Stadick, president of Spud Viking Potato Consulting, said he has been working to bring a potato processing plant to the Williston area for four years now. However, the seed for the idea was planted long before that time while working for Simplot.

"We did a feasibility study of the area in the 90s," he said of plans to build a processing plant in the Williston area.

Stadick spoke during the first day of the Mon-Dak Ag Open, which featured a variety of speakers who discussed ag growing and processing opportunities for the region.

Though the plans for a potato plant did not come to fruition, Stadick said Williston could become a valuable player in the potato processing market due to the favorable amounts of rain the area sees yearly. However, the Williston area does have its downfalls.

"The Pacific Northwest is still the number one area," he said, citing companies such as McDonald's and Burger King prefer to have the potatoes used to make their fries to come from the western U.S.

However, not all the information he presented regarding potato growing in the western U.S. is sunny.

He also said residents of the Idaho and Oregon area have visited locally to possibly extend their potato growing farm base to Williston.

"They are looking for the expansion of their family farms for their sons and daughters," he said, citing the Mon-Dak area as a possible place to break ground on such plans.

Though growers are an important part of the equation, Stadick also hopes to woo potato plant owners and operators to this part of the state. Stadick visited San Antonio, Texas, in January to attend the 2009 National Potato Council's Potato Expo. He spoke highly of the event because it gave him a chance to get face time with growers and potato processors. He hopes to attend the event again next year in Florida to attempt to bring North Dakota into the spotlight for national growers and processors.

He believes the Mon-Dak area has a good chance of attracting a large potato processor due to Williston's close proximity to state colleges that are on the forefront of research and development with new varieties of potatoes. "Research is very important," he said.

The research helps processors due to the fact that potatoes will be of a better quality, shape and size when appearing on restaurant tables. Growers also benefit from the research because the potatoes can be bred to be more hearty and less susceptible to disease.

"One of the first questions (the processors) ask is if you have research facilities and if you don't they won't even look at you and we have two," he said.

Rick Fisch, president of White Cloud Inc., also spoke Tuesday to offer what could be a look at Williston's future by discussing a french fry producing plant built in 2003 about 45 miles west of Winnipeg. The $100 million project boasted energy saving techniques such as running hot water pipes leaving the facility past cooler water entering the facility in an attempt to warm entering water without using as much energy.

He also spoke highly of a device called an anaerobic digester. The device degrades potato peels in an attempt to create methane gas, which is used to help power 15 percent of the facility.

"It's a lot like a swimming pool but you wouldn't want to swim in it," he said.

The Mon-Dak Ag Open also featured owners with businesses in the area, such as Mike Bergman, president of Safflower Technologies. Bergman said safflower is used to produce birdseed, edible oils, livestock feed and bio-fuels. He said his company also researches new types of navy beans, black beans, green peas, safflower and soybeans.

"One of our visions is to align genetics with the farmer," he said.

Joe Murphy, ag specialist of Leonardite Products LLC, also spoke about how his company helps farmers. Leonardite, which is mined and processed at a plant on the east edge of Williston, is used in oil drilling to help with fluid loss control and in foundries to retain water. It is also used in fertilizer to improve texture, increase the amount of moisture the soil holds and help with pH stability.

"It buffers the negative effects of salt in the soil," he said.