Sir John Bennet Lawes, 1st Baronet, FRS (28 December 1814 – 31 August 1900) was an English entrepreneur and agricultural scientist.

A year or two later the experiments were extended to crops in the field[4] in order to free farmers from relying on animals to produce fertilizer.

[citation needed] In 1839, an ostrich belonging to him escaped Rothamsted and caused a bit of property damage, although the only person it hurt was the first one to try and capture it.

[1] In the succeeding year he enlisted the services of Joseph Henry Gilbert, with whom he experimented for more than half a century in raising crops and feeding animals,[1] activities which have rendered Rothamsted famous to scientific agriculturists.

He was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church, Harpenden with his wife Caroline (née Fountaine), who predeceased him (1822- 29 November 1895).