The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) annually honors an individual who has contributed a great deal of time and effort in promoting the beef industry in Iowa. The 2022 recipient of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Hall of Fame award was Dr. John Lawrence, of Ames, IA. Lawrence was nominated for this prestigious honor by a group of producers and allied leaders for his service and engagement with many Iowa beef industry evolutions throughout his career.
Lawrence, vice president of Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, will retire in March. He’s been a livestock economist at heart—even when his title changed.
Always a cattleman, John was raised on a southwest Iowa crop and livestock farm. And forever an Iowan at heart, it’s been his home, except while he earned his Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, and served as Extension livestock economist in marketing and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN. In 1991, he returned to Iowa as the Iowa State University (ISU) Extension livestock economist and assistant professor.
John continued as Extension livestock economist as he advanced in his faculty position and began adding administrative responsibilities, which often overlapped. In 1998, he was named Iowa Beef Center director, a position he held until 2010. From 2004-10, he was assistant director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. In 2010, he became associate dean of Extension and Outreach for the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and director of Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension. Seven years later, he was named acting, then interim ISU vice president for Extension and Outreach, and the following year he was appointed to his current vice president position.
Along the way, he held several interim positions in addition to his full time role, including interim director for the ISU Beginning Farmer Center and Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and interim chair for the ISU Animal Science department.
The constant through the decades has been his dedication to working with people. From early days on Iowa farms and at producer meetings, to advocating for livestock industry members at the state, national and international levels, John has been a strong supporter of Iowa agriculture and its people.
“John is a true believer in engaging Iowans. Without question, his commitment to building strong, sustained partnerships like the one we enjoy with the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association make him worthy of hall of fame status,” said Wendy Wintersteen, ISU president. “For more than 30 years, John’s devotion to the power of ISU Extension and Outreach to change Iowans’ lives for the better has been unwavering.”
John and his contributions have made him an important piece of the beef industry past, present and future, and thanks to John, that future is bright.
The ICA would like to thank John for his commitment and sacrifice to Iowa’s cattle industry by inducting him into the ICA Hall of Fame. — ICA
