FARGO, N.D. -- John Rickertsen has been named a research agronomist at the North Dakota State University Research Extension Center in Hettinger. He will begin his new role Jan. 14.
Rickertsen, 49, has been an agronomy field specialist with the South Dakota State University Extension Service at Rapid City Extension Center for 18 years. He was a research associate for western South Dakota, doing crops research including variety testing for small grains and worked in herbicide trials and a rotation study in Wall, S.D.
He is originally from St. Paul, Neb., just north of Grand Island, where he grew up on a corn and feedlot farm. He got his bachelor's degree in agronomy and a master's degree in 1989 in plant breeding and genetics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He worked in the seed industry in various locations before going to SDSU.
Rickertsen expects his research at Hettinger to further existing variety testing for small grains, as well as for alternative crops including dry peas and lentils. Agronomic studies may deal with how to best use fungicides and fertilizers in the area. Rickertsen replaces Erik Eriksmoen, who took a similar position at the NDSU North Central Research Extension Center in Minot.
