Dave Carter

Dave Carter serves as a Director of Regional Technical Assistance Coordination for the Flower Hill Institute, an indigenous-led nonprofit organization coordinating the technical assistance network USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has established to support producers seeking to create a more resilient, diversified, and equitable meat and poultry processing system in the United States.

From 2001 through March 2022, Carter served as executive director of the 1,200-member National Bison Association, where he worked to strengthen production and marketing systems for North American bison ranchers. He was a leader in the six-year campaign that resulted in bison being designated as the National Mammal of the United States.

Carter has a deep background in natural food marketing and agricultural public policy. His marketing experience includes work in natural meat, cheese, and pet food products. He is the former Chair of USDA’s National Organic Standards Board and later helped gain regulatory approval for non-GMO labeling of meat, poultry, and dairy products sourced from animals fed diets without genetically modified ingredients.

Dave and his wife, Sue, have a herd of bison operated in partnership with two other ranching families on the West Bijou Ranch, owned by the Savory Institute, east of Denver.