Ron Rowan
Retired Director of Risk Management – Beef Northwest Feeders
Ron was raised on a small purebred beef cattle operation in Weiser, Idaho where both his parents were veterinarians. He graduated from the University of Idaho with a BS in Ag Economics and continued his education at Colorado State University earning a MS in Ag Economics in 1981. His career in the cattle feeding industry began as a grain merchant for AgriBeef in Boise, ID. This gave him the opportunity to deal with most of the cattle feeding operations in the PNW. In 1983 he started with the JR Simplot Company’s Land and Livestock Division buying grain for the feedlots and getting involved in grain and cattle marketing projects over the course of 12 years as Commodity Marketing Manager.
In 1995, Ron joined Beef Northwest as Director of Risk Management. Over the course of 28 years the company expanded from 1 feedlot in Nyssa, Oregon to a multistate cattle operation feeding 300k head per year. Under Ron’s leadership, Beef Northwest has developed a sophisticated and successful risk management program for cattle and grain. Ron retired from full time work with Beef Northwest in December 2023 and is now consulting for the company on a part time basis.
Ron has been involved in many leadership roles in his community and in the agricultural industry over the course of his career. One area of focus has been to develop young leaders in risk management. He has been on the Barker Capital Management board of directors at the University of Idaho for the past 15 years and is currently serving as vice chairman. This program, through the College of Business and Economics and the College of Ag and Life Sciences, gives students the opportunity to trade with actual money as they hone their skills at trading and risk management. It’s been a successful program and Beef Northwest hired Ron’s replacement as Director of Risk Management from the program.