The NDGGA awarded Bill Ongstad the 2016 Kernel Award for Farming, which is given to a member of North Dakota’s agricultural farming community who has shown outstanding service in North Dakota wheat and barley industries.
Bill is a lifelong farmer from Harvey, North Dakota. He attended Manfred Grade School and Fessenden High School before graduating from NDSU in Agricultural Education. He is the third generation on the Ongstad Farm with his wife, Anne, and four grown children. Their oldest son, Sam, is the fourth generation on the farm, which produces certified pinto bean seed, soybean seed and spring wheat seed along with commercial corn. Bill and Anne have three daughters. Susanna lives in Grand Forks, Rebekah in Rogers, Minnesota and Tabitha in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Bill has always been an active member of the community through his church, school board participation, Better Seed and Grain Association membership and 4-H leadership. He is a past president of the U.S. Durum Growers Association. Bill presently serves on the board of Farm Credit Services of North Dakota in Minot. He is also the Wells County Director of the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District and serves as a commissioner of the Agricultural Products Utilization Commission of the North Dakota Commerce Department.
