In 2016, Amity Technology, an innovator in the sugar beet equipment industry, is marking 20 years in business. Based in Fargo, N.D., Amity Technology offers a full line of sugar beet harvesting equipment and markets its products worldwide, with special emphasis on North America and the former Soviet Union.

Amity Technology follows in the proud tradition of a family that has been involved in the manufacturing business in North Dakota for more than 70 years. Howard and Brian Dahl, the founders of Amity, are grandsons of E. G. Melroe, the founder of the Melroe Co., which developed the Bobcat skid steer loader. After that company was sold in 1970, Eugene Dahl and his brother-in-law, Les Melroe, bought control of Steiger Tractor. It became the leading manufacturer of 4WD tractors in the world and was sold to Case Corp. in 1986. Howard and Brian Dahl incorporated Concord Inc. in 1977, which became the leading manufacturer in the U.S. of air drills, used primarily for the planting of small grains and oil seed crops on large acreage. Concord had a particularly strong market in the CIS (former Soviet Union) and sold more than 600 Concord Air Drills into that marketplace. Concord Inc. was sold to Case Corp. in 1996.

Case did not purchase all the assets of Concord and the remaining assets were used to launch Amity Technology. The heart of Amity Technology has been its sugar beet equipment line, the leader in North America in harvesting equipment for sugar beets.

In 2001, Amity Technology became involved in the tillage business by purchasing, with other partners, Wil-Rich, a Wahpeton, N.D.-based company that has a reputation for building robust tillage tools, including field cultivators and chisel plows. Since getting involved with Wil-Rich, significant investments in engineering has allowed the development of a number of new and exciting products that are utilized throughout the world. The Wishek line of heavy, durable disc harrows was added to the equipment line in 2006.

In the summer of 2007, Amity Technology returned to its roots and entered the air seeding business once again through the acquisition of Fargo Products, a company that developed a very successful air double disc drill along with stainless steel air carts. With more than 30 years in the air seeding business, Amity introduced the Single Disc Drill in 2008 — the first new drill technology in 20 years.

In 2011, Amity Technology entered into a joint venture with AGCO for the development and distribution of air seeding and tillage equipment. AGCO-Amity JV LLC develops and distributes air seeding and tillage equipment under the Amity, Wil-Rich and Wishek brands, as well as Challenger, Sunflower and Massey Ferguson.

Today, the Amity equipment line includes sugar beet harvesters, defoliators and a beet cart. Over the span of these 20 years, Amity has produced more than 1,200 sugar beet harvesters for the domestic market, and almost 1,000 sugar beet harvesters have been exported to other countries. Amity has also received numerous awards, including Fargo-Moorhead’s Business of the Year, North Dakota Exporter of the Year and INC 500’s list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies. Amity was the first North Dakota company to receive SBA’s Region 6 Exporter of the Year.