Keith Alverson District 2

---

Keith Alverson grows corn and soybeans in a farming partnership with his dad and uncle near Chester, S.D. Their operation dedicates 85 percent of the acres to corn each year between irrigated and dry land acres. Alverson was elected to the SDCGA board of directors in January of 2010.

 

Alverson began farming part-time, while attending college, when an opportunity presented to rent 280 acres from a neighbor in 1998. In 2002, with a bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from South Dakota State University in hand, Alverson began farming full time.

 

“I’ve wanted to farm as long as I can remember,” said Alverson. “My parents and other family members in the operation have always shown a positive attitude towards farming and my dad was always bouncing ideas and opportunities off of me as I grew up. The sense that I was involved and his enthusiasm towards farming made my ‘ultimate decision’ to farm full time after college, a ‘non-decision.’”

 

In addition to his service on the SDCGA board, Alverson was also a director for the South Dakota Corn Utilization Board from 2007 to 2010. He is also on the NCGA Ethanol Committee for which he is vice chairman.

 

He believes marketing is one of the most important factors in producers’ profitability in farming.

 

“Understanding the markets and taking advantage of the opportunities it presents us to grow corn more profitably each year is one of the key challenges producers face,” said Alverson.

 

Alverson and his wife, Kari, have one daughter, Kennedy. In his spare time, Alverson enjoys playing softball, working on cars and watching baseball.