Business report leaves us with anxieties

But future still looks bright for Marshall region

While scanning my inbox last week, I noticed an email from The Minnesota Chamber Foundation Grow Minnesota! Program. It was releasing its annual "State of business retention and expansion in Minnesota" report.

I had a few minutes on Thursday to finally review the report. It highlighted business investment across the state, while identifying challenges.

The first quote in the email: "Minnesota continues to attract and support business investment, and that is encouraging," said Jennifer Byers, executive director of the Minnesota Chamber Foundation. "At the same time, this year's report shows that Minnesota lost nearly 5,000 net jobs in high-wage sectors so far this decade, indicating broader headwinds in industries that are key to the state's economic competitiveness. Expansion announcements to other states are troubling, as Minnesota faces a growing imperative to compete for investments and good jobs."

After reading the report, I gave Brad Gruhot a call. He is the president of the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce. I asked if I could come down to this office so he could connect the dots for me between this report and what is going on in Marshall and the surrounding region.

One of the first things he asked me was, did I check out his Chamber Connection article in the Thursday Independent that highlighted October is Manufacturing Month?

"Marshall boasts a diverse array of manufacturing businesses, ranging from food processing and agriculture equipment to advanced materials and precision machining," Gruhot wrote in the Connection that appeared in the Independent’s Thursday edition. "Companies like Schwan's Company, a national leader in frozen foods, and Ralco, a producer of animal nutrition products have roots in Marshall and continue to expand both their reach and their impact."

Next, Brad pulled out the Minnesota Chamber Foundation's 2026 Business Benchmarks Report and opened it up to a page that showed bar graphic showing Minnesota ranks 41st in net domestic migration this decade.

"We’ve had the net domestic population gone down 20 out of the last 24 years," Gruhot said. "We keep losing people to other states, and you can kind of even see here which states have been doing well and which ones haven’t been doing well as far as who is coming into each state. You know Minnesota’s a high tax state. We are top 10 tax state in everything. We see a lot of the good things that the taxes pay for. But do we need to be a top 10 tax state in everything? I don’t think so."

Gruhot also pointed out it's challenging to retire here because "it’s expensive."

"So we see a steady stream of individuals that are going over to South Dakota to retire,” Gruhot said. “We are seeing international people move here, but they don’t have the same kind of income that the people that are leaving Minnesota. Eventually, those families will get there, but not right now. So that’s kind of hurting the economy a little bit."

Besides the taxes, Gruhot blames a heavy dose of rules and regulations in the state.

Going back to the Grow Minnesota report, it lists these challenges:

• Minnesota continues to rail regional peers in business expansion activity

• Manufacturing establishment growth has weakened

• Employment has declined in Minnesota's above-average-wage industries

• Employment losses have been particularly significant in tradeable industries where businesses face greater competitive pressure with other states

Despite those challenges, the report found some highlights:

• Business expansion counts remain elevated

• Minnesota continues to add business establishments

• Several advanced industries are experiencing notable investment and job growth

• Employers are investing jin workforce training and upskilling

Gruhot also finds some highlights here in the Marshall region that leaves him optimistic.

Right off the top, he mentioned the recent announcement by Southwest Minnesota State University that the Schwan’s Corporate Giving Foundation was donating $5.5 million for the development of an indoor sports and recreation dome.

"You know, it’s going to bring 250, 300,000 more people (visitors) in town per year. That’s not only going to bring extra people into town. That’s going to get people to move to town," he said.

"I just had a meeting at Avera today. Avera’s got the largest amount of jobs here in Marshall now. So they are going to partner with SMSU in a nursing program, so that’s super positive. So agriculture is huge, but we also have manufacturing and we have health care, which is great. And then just kind of your main street jobs," he said.

And what about the Marshall Public Schools Career and Technical Institute.

"The CTI center is critical for a community like us because it helps out with those trades. So they’re doing auto mechanics, they’re doing welding, and they’re doing CNA. I know they want to expand. I know when they want to expand into carpentry and construction. You know how to build a home. So I know they want to expand on that at some point. But you know the trades definitely are needed in order for us to build homes in Marshall," Gruhot said.

And the CTI opportunities lead to many employment opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

"We’re lucky to have ATZ manufacturing. We’re lucky to have Runnings. We’re lucky to have Schwan's. We’re lucky to have these manufacturers, and we’re super lucky to have Avera. We’re lucky to have the Cancer Center here. All those things bring people to town," he said. "Eventually, the Solugen (500,000-square-foot biomanufacturing facility) will happen, and that’s going to bring engineering jobs to town, which is going to be great for Marshall."

While reports like the one conducted by the Minnesota Chamber Foundation can leave us with plenty of anxiety, there are a lot of positives for the Marshall region.

"I think we got a lot of positive momentum," Gruhot told me. "If you look up and down Main Street, there’s not very many openings. There’s some openings on College Drive that are going to probably be filled here in the next year, so that’s positive. Our infrastructure for transportation after the road project is over is going to look great on College Drive. ... The public schools are doing well. The college is doing really well."

Yes, often times we feel our state leaders throw nothing but roadblocks at us when it comes to getting ahead economically. Many in our business community are not fans of the Minnesota paid leave law. Gruhot says business leaders in town are not opposed to paid leave.

"It was jammed through (the Legislature) without any fiscal responsibility. Now it's costing more," he said.

However, Gruhot is still positive when he talks about Marshall's future business climate.

"I'm excited. I’m excited for the next 10 to 15 years what this community is going to look like. To see what Solugen does for Marshall and what that dome is going to do for Marshall," he said.

Meanwhile, streamlining the nation's legal immigration would also area businesses a boost. But that's a hot potato for perhaps a future column.