The Red River Valley Local Section covers North Dakota and north-western Minnesota. The Bois de Sioux and the Wild Rice rivers come together just south of Fargo to originate the Red River {of the North}. The river constitutes the North Dakota-Minnesota border and flows north into Manitoba, through Winnipeg, ending at Lake Winnipeg.
The Red River Valley is principally flat, extremely fertile farmland. Crops grown are high-value, short growing season crops such as sugar beets, durum wheat (exported to Italy for pasta), potatoes, and sunflowers. The soil is truely black; it competes well with the richest soils in the world, e.g., in Idaho and the Ukraine.
Two Graduate institutions (NDSU and UND), several excellent public and private Colleges and Universities and several research organizations reside within or near the boundaries of the Local Section.