August 23/Sacramento/PRWire - Stevia First Corp. appointed Dr. J. Jeremiah Mann Ph.D. to the role of senior agronomist and vice president of operations.

Since 2011, Mann has held the position of agronomist with the U.S.D.A., Natural Resource Conservation Service, at the California Plant Material Center in Lockeford, Cal. In this role, he managed all farm operations at the center while providing state-wide consulting services to NRCS field offices on agronomic, re-vegetation/restoration, and vegetation management topics. Previously, he conducted graduate research at UC Davis and was a consulting scientist at the Solano Resource Conservation District, Dixon, Cal., specializing in restoration management techniques. Over the course of his career to-date, he has held a variety of positions including as an instructor and staff engineer at Humboldt State University, as a botanical technician with McBain and Trush Engineering, and as a research assistant at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Col. He has also served as an arborist, firefighter, and teaching assistant. He began his affinity for agronomy in the late 1980s while working on a walnut farm in Gustine, Cal., and on several tobacco farms in Tennessee.

Mann holds a number of relevant professional certifications, is an accomplished lecturer, author and a member of several industry associations as well as the recipient of a number of scholarships and awards in his field. He earned his Ph.D. Horticulture and Agronomy, at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis, Cal. (2011), M.S. Horticulture and Agronomy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Davis, Cal. (2009), and a B.S. Physical Science, College of Natural Resources & Sciences, Humboldt State University, Arcata, Cal., (2005).