ND Ag Hall Of Fame Inductees

Dr. Vern Anderson

Dr. Vern Anderson of Carrington, ND is married with two grown children and four grandchildren. Dr. Anderson has provided value to the North Dakota livestock industry by conducting numerous practical research studies with beef cows and with feedlot cattle using feeds available in North Dakota, and providing that information to livestock producers. There has been a state-wide, regional, national, and global demand for the information generated at the NDSU Carrington Livestock Research Unit that he manages; working with over 35 different international groups from around the world during his tenure. Plus, with the student engagement at NDSU with this unit, there was interaction with the students from three different departments in the NDSU College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources.         

Dr. Anderson is a retired Animal Scientist, and was the Beef Research Project Leader at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center for 35 years, as well as an Adjunct Professor with the NDSU Department of Animal Science. He continues to serve as a livestock consultant on a variety of cattle and bison projects around the world and was a founding partner of Global Beef LLC and Dakota Global Livestock Solutions, LLC.

In 1995, Dr. Anderson, received an FFA State Farmer Award with the SD FFA Foundation, the NDSU Feedlot School Excellence in Extension Programming Award in 1998, the Northern Pulse Growers Researcher of the Year Award in 2007, and the NDSU BBQ Boot Camp Excellence in Extension Programming Award in 2009, while in that same year, he also accepted an NDSU Agriculture Communicator of the Year Award.

Some of the many achievements Dr. Anderson attained include serving on the National Bison Association Science and Research Committee and several USDA grant review committees. Dr. Anderson initiated and organized the first NDSU BBQ Boot Camp Program and developed the Bison Nutrition Research Program at NDSU Carrington. He co-founded the North Dakota Feedlot School in 1998 and has been a lecturer since its inception. He also co-founded the statewide ND Beef Report in 2012.

When asked what the greatest reward is after the completion of a research project, Dr. Anderson stated, “Producers recognizing the usefulness of the information and making changes in their enterprises. Additionally, the positive feedback from stakeholders, repeated support of commodity groups and other granting agencies, and visitation/tours by producers and international groups are especially rewarding. There is great satisfaction in simply completing projects with new, interesting, and useful research findings.”

Year Inducted: 2020