Agri-Trend Agrology is pleased welcome Dr. Jim Beaton as our newest Senior Agri-Coach
Agri-Trend Agrology is extremely excited that Dr. Jim Beaton has agreed to join our Senior Agri-Coach bench. For many of us in the agrology business, his textbook Soil Fertility and Fertilizers, was a well thumbed and much highlighted “bible” of soils.
Jim Beaton was born in Vancouver, BC and has a family background in heavy construction and dairy farming. He obtained BSc and MSc degrees, majoring in soil science with minors in chemistry and geology, at the University of B.C. and a PhD in the same discipline at Utah Sate University. His career path included; research and teaching in soil fertility, soil microbiology, and soil-plant relationships at Univ. of BC, researching soil fertility and soil-fertilizer reactions research at Agriculture Canada, fertilizer research and market development with company restructured to become Agrium Inc., S-fertilizer market development in North America with the Sulphur Institute, domestic and international P and K market development and program administration at the Potash & Phosphate Institute (PPI) and Potash & Phosphate Institute of Canada (PPIC) and served as Senior VP of PPI and President of PPIC. Since his retirement in March 1994, Jim has had 4 short-term consultancies plus 5 long-term consulting appointments.
Some his major achievements include:
o Instrumental in acceptance of urea in western Canada and the development of Forestry Grade urea, impregnation of urea for “weed and feed”, development and evaluation of high-analysis (water degradable) granular elemental S-fertilizers, forest fertilization and research on reactions and behaviour of fertilizers in soil
o In 1993, initiated the program of “Agronomic Testing and Introduction of Potassium Chloride (MOP) in Pakistan” which resulted in President Banazir Bhutto removing the ban on its use in October 1996
o Co-authorship of the 4th (1985) to 7th (2005) editions of the widely used university textbook Soil Fertility and Fertilizers
o Founding partner in a liquid fertilizer plant at Standard, Alberta, now owned by Agrium Inc.
o Adjunct professor at the Universities of British Columbia and Saskatchewan
o President of the Western Canada Fertilizer Association 1977-79
o Correspondent Member of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) 1995/96 to present and member of the panel for selection of the recipient of IFA’s International Fertilizer Award 1996-2000
o Delivered technical papers and seminars in Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Mozambique, Nicaragua
