DATE: 3/2/07

CONTACT: Kathy Moore, 864-656-2300; kmr@clemson.edu

WRITER: Diane Palmer, 864-656-4741; spalmer@clemson.edu

Clemson adds faculty to Ag Service Lab

CLEMSON -- Clemson University’s Agricultural Service Laboratory has hired J. Benton Jones Jr. to review and revise soil fertility recommendations.

“We want to ensure that the recommendations meet the needs of the agricultural community in South Carolina,” said Kathy Moore, director of Agricultural Service Laboratory. “With the help of Dr. Jones, we hope to have the new soil fertility recommendations in place before the end of this year.”

The revision process will incorporate yield goals and removal rates, add new crop codes, new crop varieties, include more precise soil codes, and integrate cropping conditions and organic fertilizer applications.

Jones received his Ph.D in agronomy from Pennsylvania State University. He served as assistant professor of agronomy at Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center where he established the Ohio Plant Analysis Laboratory. As a professor of agronomy and plant sciences at the University of Georgia he established and managed the Georgia Soil and Plant Analysis Laboratory.

He is president and consultant for GroSystems Inc.

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