By Alex Jones
Alexander M. Jones holds an M.S. in Environmental Studies with a focus on sustainable agroecological systems and a B.S in Environmental and Plant Biology from Ohio University. He previously served as Director of Cultivation where he helped design an award-winning controlled environment agriculture facility. Prior, he managed production at an all-year tropical greenhouse and nursery specializing in rare and exotic plants.
While at Ohio University, Mr. Jones worked at the Botanical Research Center maintaining rare and exotic plant species and propagating research specimens and managed the Ridges Land Lab outdoor biofuel research trial plots from establishing new plantings through harvest and data analysis. Mr. Jones also managed an independent research group exploring interactions of fungi around abandoned coal mines and their interaction with metallic elements by organic chelation.
Previous research includes soil formation processes, water quality assessment, nutrient flow mechanisms and plant/nutrient response, plant productivity and water use efficiency, plant tissue composition analysis and cell wall biochemistry, biomass processing techniques for composting systems, sustainable crop production and limited-input farming, and hydroponics research. He has peer-reviewed papers about plant tissue composition analysis, developing plant productivity metrics, fungal microbiology and life-cycle analysis and co-authored a mitigation and management plan for the Hocking Conservancy District.
In his free time, he enjoys gardening, hiking, kayaking and hanging with his cat.