Louis E. Petersen, Jr., has been in the field of agriculture for three decades. As a student at the Charlotte Amalie High School, he became a founding member of a student-driven, school-based agricultural club where a variety of produce was grown and sold. The club’s activities eventually received public attention and recognition by Governor Cyril E. King who encouraged the members to persevere in their efforts to revive the agricultural industry in the territory and to consider professional careers in the field of agriculture.

Upon graduation in 1977, he enrolled at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) where he received a bachelor’s degree in Plant & Soil Science. Petersen later earned a master’s degree in Horticulture from Oklahoma State University and a doctorate in Horticulture – Plant Genetics from the University of Minnesota along with a minor degree in Plant Pathology.

His February 2007 appointment as Commissioner of Agriculture is not his first encounter with the VI Department of Agriculture. From 1995 to 1999 he served as Assistant Commissioner, based in the St. Thomas/St. John district.

For sixteen years, he worked at the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of the Virgin Islands where he became the St. Thomas-St. John District Supervisor in 1991. Dr. Petersen has worn many hats; he has served as a member of the School to Work/Career Council, the Sustainable Agriculture Program State coordinator for the USVI, past president, vice president and recording secretary of the VI Resource Conservation and Development Council, current Vice Chairperson of the State Executive Committee of Reinventing Agricultural Education 20/20, and presiding Vice Chairman of the local chapter of the Caribbean Food Crops Society.

Petersen is also the president of both the St. Thomas/St. John Agriculture and Food Fair Committee and the Agriculture and Food Fair Board of the US Virgin Islands. Most recently he was elected as secretary of the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture. 

As Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Petersen is responsible for the territory-wide oversight and the development of programs and policies to support and promote a local sustainable agricultural industry.

His vision for the department is to increase its collective resources through partnerships, grant writing and strategic initiatives to enhance its delivery of services and programs to the farming community.

He is married to Algem Petersen and they have one son, Dwayne.