Supporting the Success of 400+ Primary-Sector Companies
Supporting the Success of 400+ Primary-Sector Companies
Minding Our Own Business(es)
A Long-Term Approach to Power a Growing and Vibrant Economy
The GFMEDC’s business development efforts center on one goal: growing a strong, diverse regional economy by helping primary-sector companies start, expand, and succeed in the Greater Fargo-Moorhead area. That work includes existing company support, new industry recruitment, site development, targeted industry sector development, industry analysis, and entrepreneurship—all built on collaboration and data-driven strategy.
Through our “Minding Our Own Business(es)” existing industry program, we meet directly with local companies for strategic conversations to identify opportunities, challenges, and industry trends shaping the region’s economy.
This engagement produces actionable insights that guide resources, inform partners, and lead to real results.
This year, the GFMEDC completed 152 strategic company engagements and provided direct assistance to 90 companies, including connecting businesses to financing, workforce pipelines, and visibility that help fuel their growth.
Direct Business Assistance that Drives Long-Term Regional Growth
While the GFMEDC’s support of business often focuses on workforce needs or business expansion projects, the assistance goes well beyond those two areas. The team provides primary-sector companies with a wide range of support. These smaller assists happen regularly over time, and the support provided to companies paves the way for expansions and job creation down the road.
In 2025, we completed 90 assists (against our goal of 75) with the top five themes of the assists being:
- Primary-Sector Certification & Recertification Support
- Workforce & Talent Development Programs
- Capital Access, Financing & Incentives Guidance
- Business Connections, Introductions & Ecosystem Navigation
- Marketing, Visibility & Media Features (e.g., Fargo INC)
Turning Business Intelligence into Better Decisions
The Minding Our Own Business(es) program continues to evolve to meet the demands of primary-sector businesses throughout the region. In 2025, the GFMEDC team developed and implemented a new benchmarking system for manufacturing companies, which shares customized reports comparing a company’s responses to the aggregated datasets of their industry peers and all primary-sector companies over the past year.
“Businesses want to make data-informed decisions, and a deeper understanding of current market conditions empowers them to confidently choose to expand and grow in this community,” said Joey Ness, GFMEDC Vice President of Business Development.
The benchmarking reports provide manufacturing companies with actionable data insights, enabling them to compare performance and growth potential against industry peers and the broader primary-sector market. The reports include analysis of potential capital investment, job creation, and real estate expansion, alongside insights into workforce satisfaction, hard-to-fill positions, employee attraction and retention strategies, and community-driven barriers to growth. The flip-side of the Industry Benchmark Report also includes commonly accessed programs and a link to our Smartbook.
What our BRE Data is Telling Us
In 2025, the GFMEDC surveyed 85 primary-sector companies and found that 60% of the companies have expansion plans within one to two years. While that percentage is down from 77% in 2024, the majority of companies expanding is positive on the whole and is further proof that our region is resilient and growing.
The optimism for this region’s continued growth can be seen through potential expansion project impacts. Of the 51 companies who shared they may expand in the next two years, their projects could result in almost $200 Million in Capital Investment, more than 400 new jobs and more than 1 million in increased square footage. That compares to almost $160 million in capital investment plans in 2024 across 68 companies.
Our organization also evaluates workforce factors as they relate to companies’ needs. In 2025, we evaluated workforce availability on a 7-point Likert scale with one being poor or low up to seven being good or high, and we noted a statistically significant increase in employer satisfaction in the availability of talent for their businesses. These results are encouraging but still show there is a lot of work left to accomplish in this space.
Finally, our BRE surveys ask companies their top challenge or barrier to growth. Using AI, we gathered the top five themes.
Top Five Themes
- Workforce availability and skilled labor shortages
- Rising labor costs and wage pressure
- Property availability, construction costs and space constraints
- Interest rates, capital access and financing limitations
- Infrastructure, utilities and transportation constraints
In support of the Innovate28 initiative, the GFMEDC’s BRE program leverages its outreach and strategic data collection to bolster the FMWF Chamber’s public policy initiatives through vetting key legislative or public policy insights ensuring they support the needs of our region’s primary-sector companies. This will enable greater market intelligence on the needs of primary-sector businesses and equip the Chamber with compelling data and potential targets for legislative testimony that can positively influence public policy outcomes for our region.
Supporting Manufacturing Growth
Aligning Partners, Programs, and Policy to Strengthen Industry
The Leaders in Manufacturing Roundtable event held in 2025 reflects the GFMEDC’s ongoing commitment to supporting the manufacturing sector through its Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) Program. By bringing together manufacturers and key partners, the event strengthened connections that help primary-sector companies navigate challenges, access resources, and position themselves for continued growth.
Manufacturing plays a critical role in the regional economy, driving job creation, innovation, and export activity. The roundtable provided a forum for collaboration among organizations that regularly support manufacturers, including the Minn-Dak Manufacturers Association, Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce, Job Service North Dakota, Impact Dakota, the Bank of North Dakota, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the North Dakota Department of Commerce.
By convening these partners, the Manufacturing Roundtable helped align workforce, financing, infrastructure, and policy efforts that are essential to a competitive manufacturing environment. These coordinated efforts support business expansion, talent attraction, and long-term economic resilience—benefiting not only manufacturers, but the region’s economy as a whole.
“As a small manufacturing company dealing with some of the same challenges as larger manufacturers, it’s helpful to get the same access to resources and connections in the area,” said Allison Klein, Director of Operations, International Marketing Systems.
SMART BOOK
To provide companies with a comprehensive overview of local, regional and state resources and programs, the GFMEDC offers our SmartBook, sponsored by Gate City Bank.
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