Dr. Jim Barlow, Chief Agronomist

Jim Barlow holds a B.Sc. degree in agronomy from California Polytechnic State University. He is classically trained in soil science, soil microbiology and tropical agriculture, plus orchard, plantation and vineyard crop production practices. Jim has over 35 years of project development experience in Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Russia, Mozambique, Ghana, Cambodia, Romania, China and Panama.

Jim is the developer of proprietary organic biological treatment formulations that measurably enhance tree health and accelerate growth beyond the effects of fertilizers. Developed over decades of field research, these formulations are protected trade secrets, licensed exclusively to PURA for use across its plantation and sapling projects.

Between 2014-2017 Jim was involved with a major program of the Ministry Of Agriculture of Panama to help establish sustainable logging of native hardwood species on 1,000,000 acres of deforested watersheds.

In 2019, the US Department of Commerce placed Jim on a 35,000-acre agricultural project in Romania, engaged to resolve a range of regenerative agriculture production challenges to improve soil health and increase yields. 

Jim will be involved in site selection, planting oversight and deploying best practice in nursery operations, irrigation and fertilization protocols.