Tom Batey, passed away, aged 92 years, peacefully after a 4-month illness on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, beloved husband of Beth, loving dad to Dan and to his late eldest son Jamie and grandad to Ewan and Elena.

Tom was raised on a tenant farm in Northumberland at Broomhill Farm in West Woodburn until moving to Gilchesters at Stamfordham in 1939. He studied agriculture specialising in soil chemistry at King鈥檚 College, University of Durham in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. While working on the home farm, he completed a Ph.D. at King鈥檚 College on the productivity of hill land in Northumberland, including the Fell Sandstone soils near Rothbury and the Andesite soils of the Cheviots.

He started his career working at ADAS (NAAS as it was then) in 1959 as an Advisory Soil Scientist initially based in Cambridge.聽 He rapidly gained a reputation for the field examination and diagnosis of soil problems, with special interest in soil structure, soil compaction and crop nutrition. In 1964, Tom was promoted to head of Soil Science in southern England, headquartered in Reading, where land restoration, assessment of land quality and nitrogen requirements were his main interests.

In 1971 he moved to the University of Aberdeen as a Senior Lecturer in Soil Science teaching soil management and land use at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He spent two months teaching a postgraduate course at the University of Santa Maria in Brazil, plus a short scientific visit to lecture in Uruguay, in 1974.聽 He also spent 6 months in New Zealand with his family in 1980, taking sabbatical leave to teach at the University of Canterbury.

After early retirement from the university in 1988, he began working independently as a soil management consultant to industry and farming, with particular emphasis on land restoration, land use and the management of arable soils. CM writes – Having learnt my soil management from Tom, I was still truly surprised at the kind of detailed advice Tom was able to give when we gave a joint course to onion growers in East Anglia 鈥� both on identifying problems and how to manage wet or damaged patches.

During this time he worked for major farming groups in Eastern England, the Czech Republic, and Poland. The assessment of soil compaction directly in the field became a specialty, particularly related to the installation of gas and oil pipelines throughout the UK. Installers needed advice on how to avoid soil damage when inserting pipes and farmers needed legal support where there was soil damage due to poor installation or inadequate storage or replacement of soil. His work also took him to Australia running workshops for farmers and advising on the production of irrigated cotton and dryland grain crops.

In 1988 Tom published 鈥�Soil Husbandry: A practical guide to the use and management of soils鈥� and over his career wrote over 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. He also wrote a fascinating booklet about his early years entitled 鈥�A Country Bairn: Experiences of life and work on a family farm 1933-1959鈥�. Tom noted in this latter publication that 鈥楬is career as a soil scientist took him to many countries but always close to those who gain a living from the land.鈥�

Tom was active in the 快猫短视频 and a keen advocate for the establishment of Soil Use and Management in 1985, also serving as an assistant Editor. He served as President of BSSS in 1993-1994, where he helped smooth the transition of the house Journal of Soil Science to the European Journal of Soil Science and helped in the development of the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists.

Tom had a great interest in the visual evaluation of soil and its application. He was active within the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation (ISTRO). One of his most impactful achievements for ISTRO was pioneering the establishment of 鈥榃orking Group F: Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation鈥� within ISTRO in 1983.

He collaborated with David McKenzie (after 1996), Bruce Ball and Lars Munkholm (after 2003) on the development of visual soil examination techniques. This work in promoting field examination methods for describing soil quality allows farmers and advisors to track the progress (improvement/degradation) of soil structure as a function of soil management. Pat Hulme continues to promote Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) (Ball et al. 2007) as an extension tool for Australian farmers and advisers. 聽BB is indebted to Tom for his wise advice in developing ideas and methods over their 50 years of knowing each other. VESS is extensively used in Brazil where it is actively promoted by the current convenor of the Working Group F: Visual Soil Examination and Evaluation, Dr Rachel Guimar茫es.

In his later years he loved to meet and share with fellow retired soil scientists over coffee and continued to referee papers. Tom will be sadly missed by his many friends and colleagues, but particularly by his beloved wife Beth and their son Dan and his family. Tom was a kind, practical, articulate and inspiring man who will be long remembered for his exceptional ability to clearly explain to farmers and their advisers how to recognise and profitably manage the physical constraints to topsoil and subsoil function.

Bruce Ball, Chris Mullins, Bryan Davies and ISTRO working group members

Publications (selected):

• Batey: Soil Profile Description and Evaluation 2000: Ch15 in 鈥楽oil and Environmental Analysis Physical Methods. Taylor & Francis Group.
• Ball, B.C., Batey, T. and Munkholm, L. 2007. Field assessment of soil structural quality 鈥� a development of the Peerlkamp test. Soil Use and Management 23: 329-337.
• Soil & Tillage Research Volume 127, March 2013: Special Issue, 鈥楢pplications of Visual Soil Evaluation鈥�. Eds. LJ Munkholm, BC Ball, T Batey.
• 鈥榁isual Soil Evaluation: Realising potential crop production with minimum environmental impact鈥�, CABI, 2015. Eds. BC Ball and LJ Munkholm.
• Batey, T. 2009. Soil compaction and soil management – a review. Soil Use and Management 25: 335-345
• Batey, T. 2015. The installation of underground pipelines: effects on soil properties. Soil Use and Management 31: doi:10.1111/sum12163

The post Obituary – Dr. Tom Batey appeared first on 快猫短视频.

A leading soil expert鈥檚 life remembered

Professor Anthony (Tony) Young, a long-time member of BSSS, who has died aged 93, was one of the most influential soil scientists of his generation. Through his pioneering work on land evaluation, soil survey methods and tropical land management – and not least as a teacher – he shaped how scientists and policymakers across the world understand, assess, and care for the land.

He was the only child of Sidney Michael Young (born 1900), a lawyer who became Assistant Solicitor General in the Inland Revenue, and Joan Berrett Lack (born 1899), a gifted professional accompanist who broadcast on the BBC. Tony attended St Christopher School in Letchworth, where he paid special attention to his Geography master, Oscar Backhouse. Like many of his generation, he was educated to run an empire and, after National Service, read Geography at St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Much more importantly, on a survey field course in the summer of 1953, he met Doreen Rolfe. In his own words: 鈥渢he start of a lifetime of bliss鈥� but Tony regretted that he was unable to match L Dudley Stamp鈥檚 dedication to his wife after his years in Burma: 鈥淔or bullock-cart days and Irrawaddy nights鈥�.

Tony鈥檚 scientific foundations were underpinned at Sheffield University (1954 -1958). Serving as a Research Demonstrator, he completed a PhD in geomorphology with exhaustive field research that involved surveying slope profiles and digging and describing soil pits. In short, he learned to read the landscape. He distilled this research in his first academic book Slopes in 1972 but, before that and: 鈥渢he foundation for the rest of my career鈥�, he secured a post as a Soil Surveyor in the Colonial Service in Nyasaland (Malawi) (1958-1962). Tall and athletic, he was almost immediately drafted into the police service during the Nyasaland emergency which was not unconnected with agricultural practice, soil erosion and colonial ways of dealing with it. When calm was restored, he and agronomist Peter Brown co-authored Agro-Ecological Survey, pioneering a method to link soil types with crop performance and fertiliser recommendations.

Returning to academia, Tony joined the University of Sussex (1963-8), developing an option in Soil Survey and Land Evaluation, and then he joined the ground-breaking School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich (1968-82). Paul Harding (a student of Tony鈥檚 at UEA and now Chair of the Tropical Agriculture Association International) remembers the opening line of Tony鈥檚 course on Tropical Soils: 鈥淎ll tropical soils are red 鈥� except when they are brown, yellow, black or white鈥�. Tony became a prominent figure in the field of land evaluation, co-authoring the influential FAO handbook, A Framework for Land Evaluation (1976), with Robert Brinkman and Soil Survey and Land Evaluation (1981) with David Dent.

Soil survey for agricultural, or any other kind of development, faced three problems. The first was too many acres and too few surveyors. Both Tony and I were independently engaged by UN organisations, Hunting Technical Services and the great civil engineering companies at the leading edge of development so, when we teamed up at UEA, we set out to train a new generation with a postgraduate course that attracted students from all over the world, supported by the newly developing technologies of photogrammetry and air photo interpretation that lifted our viewpoint from six feet above the ground to the perspective of an eagle and, with infrared-sensitive cameras, even keener sight; then the wonders of repeating imagery from earth-observation satellites, digital elevation models and digital soil survey.

The second and much more difficult problem was to carry soil information into planning, policy, and action on the ground. In those days, we all believed in planning. Tony鈥檚 expositions were always lucid, very well-informed (as well as being a keen observer, he knew the literature and could draw on unrivalled tropical travels) and delivered with gentle humour. The work seemed to come easily to him but he was very competitive, not just on the tennis court, which ruffled a few feathers, and he hankered after a top job on the front line of development while he still had the energy and physique. So, in 1983, he joined the nascent International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Kenya, serving till 1991. He did for ICRAF what he did best. He wrote. And he was able to broaden the concept of agroforestry to encompass maintaining soil fertility and livelihoods, resulting in his acclaimed book, Agroforestry for Soil Conservation (1989).

In the event, he need not have worried about his capacity or his posterity. Returning home to Norwich, he wrote the books that no one else could. Continuing collaboration with Robert Brinkman, by then Chief of FAO soils, we anonymously compiled FAO鈥檚 Guidelines for Land Use Planning (1993) and Tony went on to write Thin on the Ground (2007, 2017). The title from a line in a student鈥檚 essay decades earlier: 鈥渋n parts of Africa, soil surveyors are spread thinly on the ground.鈥� Having narrowly escaped just such a fate on more than one occasion, it seemed a fitting tribute to that generation of hardy individuals who faced too many acres and wrote too little. His autobiographic Semper Juvenis (2016) is entertaining and insightful. In all, he wrote 18 books and over 150 refereed journal papers, every line beautifully written and well worth reading.

Digging holes is hard work and a soil surveyor does not dig to ascertain the kind of soil but to confirm his or her model of what the soil will be. That model is built up observation by observation, tested mercilessly, but until recently, held only in the head of the surveyor. Soil surveyors drew the paper maps that they were contracted to make but never wrote down their landscape models, so the maps could never be reproduced or updated. That was the third problem of soil survey: now rectified and supported by computing power and machine learning that was unavailable to Tony Young鈥檚 generation; and bearing fruit in SoilGrids and a phalanx of digital doppelgangers for policy development and management.

He is survived by his wife, Doreen, and their family.

The post Obituary – Prof. Tony Young appeared first on 快猫短视频.

Dr. Brian J. Chambers made a profound and lasting impact on the field of soil science through nearly three decades of dedicated research and mentorship. Brian鈥檚 journey began with a first-class honours degree in soil science from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne which gave him a foundation for his career at ADAS that spanned almost 29 years. He began as a junior scientist in Wolverhampton and then escalated to his appointment as Head of Soils and Nutrients in 2009.

He is a respected figure in both the UK and European soil science communities. Over the course of his career Brian published over 300 scientific papers and played an active role in numerous societies and organisations. He served as President and Fellow of the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists (IPSS) and was instrumental in achieving Chartered Status for members of the 快猫短视频, helping to establish soil science as a recognised profession alongside other chartered disciplines.

The acknowledgement of Brian鈥檚 work is held through a grant established in his name by the 快猫短视频. This is open to students, early career scientists, and professionals based in the UK whose positions require the knowledge of soil science, nutrient, or manure management is key to sustainable agriculture. The most recent grant was awarded to a student in Dehradun, India. With this support, the student was able to attend the VIIIth International Forestry Summer Course in Indonesia, making an incredible impact on their studies. They participated in lectures, workshops, and field activities. Key highlights included field visits to Indonesian tropical forests, guest lectures by leading environmental scientists, hands-on workshops on carbon accounting, and interactive cultural exchange sessions.

The Brian Chambers Grant also helps fund participation in our 鈥淲orking with Soils鈥� training courses. A Practical Introduction to Soils in England and Wales is a two-day course held at Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire. This course is designed to build students鈥� confidence and knowledge of soils through both practical and theoretical study. Attendees are provided with valuable resources, such as The Fragile Skin and the Soil Survey Field Handbook, to support the theoretical aspects of the course. By the end of the course, participants should understand the nature of soils and how they develop, be able to produce soil profiles, understand the structure of the national soil classification system, and more. Another two-day course we offer is A Practical Introduction to the Role of Soils in Catchment Management, which focuses on the application of soil science to improve water quality. Like our other courses, it combines presentations, fieldwork, and guided practical sessions.

To learn more about the courses, click here.

Brian also has an award to commemorate his time as a council member at the International Fertiliser Society; this award is received annually by scientists who have presented outstanding research relevant to agriculture. The 鈥楤rian Chambers award鈥� has been an active award since 2015 shortly after his passing.

Brian鈥檚 journey began with a first-class honours degree in soil science from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where his passion for Newcastle United football club grew at an immense rate. In 1985, he was awarded his PhD following his research on 鈥楲ime Requirement Evaluation and the Effects of Lime on Soil Physical Properties鈥� from Aberdeen University, this was shortly followed by his start at ADAS where he studied a vast range of topics for a variety of funders.

Brian鈥檚 early work included research on the physical properties of horticultural composts and assessing the extent of soil water erosion in lowland England and Wales, following on from this he then dedicated his time to assessing the environmental impacts of a range of organic materials recycled to agricultural land in terms of nutrient losses to water ammonia volatilization, nitrous oxide emissions and pathogen behaviour. Another area Brian studied was the nutrient value of manures, as well as other research interests including heavy metals in manures and biosolids, the impacts of organic materials on soil quality and fertility, the effects of soil structural degradation on agricultural production and flooding risk, and the soil properties important in determining the plant species composition of lowland grass and heaths together with the management required to recreate and maintain these diverse communities.

His deep knowledge of farming pushed him to solve complex challenges within sustainable agriculture, he had the aim of harvesting food production while reducing the pollution of soil, water and air. His passion for practical, applied research made him a well-respected scientist, and his contributions continue to shape the future of soil science today.

References

Other references

Brain Chambers Soil Fund – Forestry Summer Course – 快猫短视频

Brian Chambers Soils Fund – 快猫短视频

The post The Legacy of Brian Chambers appeared first on 快猫短视频.