Dr. J Benton Jones helped establish the Soil and Plant Analysis Council (SPAC) in 1972 and was the organization's first president and later served as its Secretary-Treasurer for a number of years. He established two international scientific journals, Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis and the Journal of Plant Nutrition, serving as Executive Editor of both during the early years of publication. It was through his efforts that the International Symposium on Soil and Plant Analysis (ISSPA) was established in 1989, of which there have been eighteen, held in more than ten countries.