Source: NCDA&CS, 5/24/18

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler has appointed Dr. Alexander “Sandy” Stewart of Carthage as assistant commissioner of agricultural services for the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Stewart replaces Dr. Richard Reich, who retired in February. Stewart’s appointment is effective May 29.

Divisions reporting to Stewart include Agronomic Services, Food Distribution, Marketing, Plant Industry, Research Stations, Soil and Water Conservation, Small Farms and an environmental programs specialist.

“I am excited to welcome Dr. Stewart back to the department and I know his experience in the area of agricultural research, along with his leadership, management skills and vision will be great assets to our department as we focus on moving agriculture forward to meet growing food needs globally,” Troxler said. “With Dr. Stewart’s extensive research background, I expect he will bring outside-the-box critical thinking skills to challenges our industry faces.”

Stewart has most recently served as a cotton development specialist with DowDuPont and their cottonseed business, PhytoGen.

“My goal is to work to the betterment of N.C. agriculture, and I am honored and humbled by the call to serve my home state and agriculture at this level and am excited to do so,” Stewart said. “DowDuPont and its cottonseed business, PhytoGen, is a great company. The people are dedicated and talented and work very hard to bring the best genetics and technology to US cotton producers. Working as cotton development specialist for PhytoGen is something that I have enjoyed very much.”

From 2011 until January of 2018, Stewart served as the director of the NCDA&CS Research Stations Division. That division is responsible for the management of the state’s18 agricultural research facilities, which operate in a unique partnership with N.C. State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University.

Prior to that, he was a research assistant professor and extension specialist with NCSU’s Crop Science Department, with responsibilities for pesticide residue testing on tobacco and statewide extension education programs. He also helped oversee numerous field trials on research station sites and on-farm locations.

Before joining NCSU in 2010, Stewart was a researcher and partner with AgriThority LLC, in Kansas City, Mo., where he managed contract research involving all major row crops, fruits and vegetables and forage sorghum across the United States and internationally for major agricultural firms. Prior to that, he served for eight years as an associate professor and cotton specialist with Louisiana State University’s Agricultural Center

Stewart earned a Bachelors of Science degree in agronomy from NCSU in 1995. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees in crop science from NCSU. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Sandhills Community College.

Stewart and his family live on their family farm in Carthage, which has been a working farm for more than 200 years. Stewart and his wife, Carol, have three children, Martha Grace, Virgie and Palmer Mac.