Delaney B. Johnson of Vicksburg has been named state soil scientist.

He is part of the Mississippi Management Team of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Johnson began his career as a student trainee in the Andalusia, Ala., Soil Survey Office. He also worked as a soil scientist at Union Springs, Pell City and Butler.

In Mississippi, Johnson was soil survey project leader for the Jackson County Soil Survey Office. He was a soil scientist with the Mississippi Delta Regional Wetlands Team in Vicksburg.

Johnson graduated in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in soil science from Alabama A & M University. He and his wife, Barbara, have three daughters.