The Jefferson City headquarters of the Missouri Argiculture Department have been officialy dedicated in honor of a Missouri-born scientist who helped revolutionize the field of agriculture. An executive order signed by Governor Matt Blunt in February renamed the Missouri State Office Building the George Washington Carver State Office Building. Civil rights leader Benjamin Hooks was among the guests invited to today’s dedication ceremony. He spoke of how George Washington Carver had emerged from slavery to become one of the greatest contributors to agriculture in Missouri, the United States, and throughout the world. Carver is credited with stressing the need for soil conservation through diversification of crops and crop rotation to help revive soil that had become unproductive due to long-term cultivation of cotton. He went on to discover almost 300 uses for the peanut, and developed various paint, dyes and medicinal treatments from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.