08/29/08 Wheat breeder Jones to head up WSU's Mount Vernon Center

Washington Ag August 29, 2008 Washington State University winter wheat breeder Stephen Jones has been named the new director of WSU's Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center at Mount Vernon. Dan Bernado, dean of the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences, who made the announcement, says Jones will fulfill his research and teaching responsibilities at Pullman and completely assume his new responsibilities in the spring of 2009. According to Bernardo, commodity scale research projects funded by the Washington Wheat Commission will remain at Pullman. Jones will take his projects in low-input wheat, perennial wheat, organic wheat and nitrogen use efficiency with him to Mount Vernon. WSU spring wheat breeder Kim Kidwell was appointed to an administrative position last year and that breeder position has not been filled. Now Jones will be moving on. Washington Wheat Commission CEO Tom Mick says; Mick: "The University is going to be meeting with the Washington Wheat Commission September 17th and 18th to discuss their plans to kind of revamp the whole breeding program at WSU and we are anxious to see what their proposal will be." I'm Bob Hoff.