Cresco, Iowa, Man Goes Global to Teach Meat Processing
Jul. 3–CRESCO — Respect must be earned. Dale Turnmire knows this. Even in retirement, he isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves to make a point.
Each year Turnmire, 73, travels thousands of miles overseas to teach meat processing practices to men and women with developing companies.
First, Turnmire tours meat plants. With help from an interpreter, he asks questions. He also offers solutions.
Some owners hesitate, overwhelmed, perhaps, by the prospect of change.
At home in his Cresco kitchen, Turnmire, mimicked the reluctant owners or managers, shaking his head ‘No.’
“Usually the heads went this way until I made a batch of sausage. And then they went like this,” Turnmire said, bobbing his head up and down.
This former owner of Puritan Meat and Puritan Ice Cream Co. in Cresco is passionate about teaching. He delights in passing on his knowledge about the flavoring, casing, packaging and marketing of meat. Turnmire gets to share his ag expertise — and experience different cultures for free — with the Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance.
“I was looking for something to do in retirement,” said Turnmire, former director of Cresco’s chamber of commerce and economic development for about 10 years. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Since 1993, Turnmire has taken 24 trips and visited 58 plants. His wife, Mary Ellen, 72, a retired life skills teacher, boasts 11 trips. She has helped with management and human resource services and demonstrated safe canning techniques.
“Teach people so they can teach other people,” Mary Ellen said.
Most projects were for the John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer Program through the United States Agency for International Development. The program offers technical assistance to farmers and ag-related groups in developing and transitional nations.
Volunteering has taken Dale Turnmire to countries including Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, producers in the newly independent nations faced challenges competing in business. Large factories crashed and many smaller plants sprouted up. Owners struggled to learn how to operate in a free-market economy. Marketing wasn’t necessary when the government bought everything.
Overseas, the Turnmires found different approaches to business. At least one person hesitated to put their company’s name on a vehicle, fearing the attention would lead to theft. In other factories, broken machinery sat unused because workers had never had to order their own parts.
The Turnmires also witnessed examples of ingenuity and flexibility. They still keep in touch with former advisees, now friends, and brag about successes like proud parents.
“Of course, the joy is when you either go back and visit or correspond, and they have gone ahead and done the things you said they should do to make a good, quality product,” he said.
Turnmire, who once had a sausage named the ‘Dalis’ in his honor, is quick to credit these businessmen and women for being determined and progressive individuals.
Volunteers like the Turnmires play an important role in international development, Diana Roach, senior recruiter for the Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance said. Agencies establish missions to be carried out by volunteers, paid staff and recipients of the aide.
“The missions help those in the countries determine how to best serve their needs for economic development,” Roach said. “The eventual, very long-term goal of all this … is hopefully the discovery of new trade partners for U.S. businesses and to help (developing countries) achieve a stable economy so they are more politically stable as well.
“It allows for peaceful situations.”
Iowans in the ag business have been generous with their time. Roach’s organization counts 600 volunteers, and a little more than one-third are from Iowa. About 135 spots in Farmer-to-Farmer were filled by Iowans during a six year span.
Retired Cresco farmer Lowell Sovereign is not surprised by Turnmire’s generosity or sense of adventure.
“I was impressed that he wanted to go ahead and do something,” Sovereign said. “He’s always been involved in local community affairs and probably always will be.”
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