Dow Phytogen Adds Cotton Breeder to Research Team
June 19, 2009 Dow AgroSciences announces that Dr. Joe Johnson has joined its PhytoGen cottonseed research team as a full-season cotton breeder. The addition of Johnson signifies the company’s commitment to improving the cotton industry and building the PhytoGen brand.
Johnson, who holds a doctorate in agronomy from Mississippi State University, will assume responsibility for the full-maturity variety development project for PhytoGen. He will now spearhead research and breeding of full-season cotton varieties best-suited for the Southern and Southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and southern Mississippi.
“My goal is to develop the highest-quality, highest-yielding varieties appropriate for this market,” Johnson says. “I consider myself to be producer-oriented in developing cotton varieties. Coming from a farm background, I try to keep that in mind and work to create adaptable, performance-driven varieties.”
Prior to starting at Dow AgroSciences, Johnson was cotton breeder and station manager for Bayer Cotton Seed International. Previously, Johnson worked for Monsanto in its Cotton Trait Development group and the USDA Agricultural Research Service, where he specialized in the genetics of yield components and fiber quality in cotton.
Johnson’s hiring comes nearly a year after Dow AgroSciences purchased a 225-acre research station in Leland, Miss. That acquisition, along with the hiring of Johnson, broadens PhytoGen research and breeding programs to better serve cotton growers. Johnson’s predecessor, Frank Bordelon, is transitioning to a newly created corn product development role at the station.
Johnson has resided in Leland for the past six years with his wife and two children and has grown to love the area. “PhytoGen offered me the opportunity to stay here and continue to work in cotton breeding,” he says. “This is home now.”
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