Elemtex Ltd. manufacture and sell consumables for elemental analysers. They also sell consumables and spare parts’ for EA-IRMS systems. They ship globally from their headquarters in Cornwall UK.

We are delighted to be a corporate member of the BSSS network enabling us to offer high quality Elemtex products to support the research and analysis of all soil laboratories involved.

 

Ken Neal, Director at Elemtex

To learn more about their work visit:

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Honorary Membership cannot be requested by an individual; they must be nominated for the award. We expect the proposer to notify the nominee in advance that they are submitting the nomination.

Honorary Membership nominations will be reviewed by the Grants & Awards Committee in May and a maximum of two nominees will be proposed to BSSS Council. Following Council鈥檚 decision, members of the Society must vote on the proposal at the next General Meeting in July.

Both the nominator and the nominee will be notified of the outcome: either unsuccessful or the nominee being proposed to the next General Meeting.

If you would like to nominate an Honorary Member at the next General Meeting, please complete and return the聽听迟辞听admin@soils.org.uk听产测听Thursday 30 April.

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Van Walt Ltd designs, installs, supplies & rents equipment for environmental research and monitoring in the UK, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand and South Africa. With over 40 plus years of experience within the environmental monitoring industry, their team is armed with decades of knowledge, experience on site, and technical and hands on experience with the equipment they offer.

Van Walt has over four decades of experience with supplying soil sampling solutions. Our attendance at the Manchester BSSS conference was an affirmation of how dedicated and passionate this organisation and others are towards the future of soil science. We were especially pleased to see the volume of activity and dedication that the BSSS provides within the industry, and Van Walt are very proud to have become a corporate member. With our collaboration, we hope to continue to inspire future generations.

 

Van Walt

To learn more about their work visit:

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Established in 2006, FGP Surveyors Limited are RICS regulated Chartered Surveyors in Rural Practice. FGP specialise in professional advice to infrastructure developers including for Cables, Carbon Capture, Pipelines, Renewable Energy and Waterways. Their professional role involves acquisitions, GIS mapping, Project Management and Valuation, as well as advising on soil management, drainage, materials management plans and reinstatement of land. FGP Surveyors pride themselves on delivering Practical, Commercially Focused Solutions and advise on protection of soils and drainage during construction of projects.

To learn more about their work visit:

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BSSS is the UK鈥檚 leading body in the area of soil science with a global reach. We strive to secure the future of soils by promoting an enhanced understanding of the critical importance of soils in delivering the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and supplying knowledge through our science to support efforts to halt and repair soil degradation. We aim to make a positive difference in the sustainable management and long-term security of soils that is critical to solving the environmental and societal challenges we face today.

During their time as President Elect, the post-holder will be expected to play an active role within the Society and shadow the current President where required.

About the role

On becoming President (1 January 2029), the post-holder will be expected to:

• lead the trustees and members of the executive in the development of strategic plans for the charity
• provide leadership and support to the Executive Director and ensure that the charity is run in accordance with the decisions of the trustees, the charity鈥檚 governing documents and appropriate legislation
• ensure the business of the Society is discussed efficiently and effectively at Council, Board and Annual General Meetings
• represent the Society at functions, meetings and in the media in line with the agreed strategy
• maintain the trustees鈥� commitment to board renewal and succession planning, in line with best practice.

The applicant must be eligible to become a trustee and must be a Society member.

To see the full Job Description,

How to apply

We are accepting applications from the BSSS membership now and look forward to finding out who the next BSSS President Elect will be.

To apply, please submit your CV and a covering letter to admin@soils.org.uk

Deadline for applications: Friday 27 March 2026

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A Rich Programme

At our Annual Conference, we were delighted to welcome 200 delegates, building on our record total from the previous year. As you can see, it was a very rich and diverse programme which included an impact session, 4 discussion panel sessions, 2 keynotes, 28 oral presentations across 5 themes, 7 quickfire presentations, 60 posters with 3 poster sessions, 11 parallel sessions, an art and culture exhibition, the Soiols Use and Management anniversary networking event, 2 scientific and 1 cultural tour, and our EGM where we confirmed our new Early Careers Committee Chair. We also had high profile delegates and speakers such as Tony Juniper CBE (Chair of Natural England), Prof. Pete Smith (delivering the invited talk) and Dr. Nils Broothaerts (from the European Commission).

Integrated Perspectives

The Society is committed to the study of soil in its widest aspects and brings together those in academia, in industry, and all those working with, or with an interest in soils. The conference really is the embodiment of this. The five abstract themes of soils for people, soils for climate, soils for water, soils for life and advances for soils helped delegates to learn and understand more about soil in these wide aspects and allow them to take this into their own research and work. Poster sessions provided emerging researchers and practitioners the chance to share work on contemporary soil challenges, from microbial ecology to landscape-scale soil functions. The conference welcomed delegates from all over the UK and also internationally (from 4 continents), highlighting the importance and influence of the work that was on show. A popular highlight was our art and culture room that featured artworks, films, ceramics, a 鈥楽inging Compost鈥� set up and VR headsets.

Gala Dinner

At the end of the first day, we organised a Gala Dinner at Manchester Hall, where we were treated to music from musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music. We had 70 delegates at the event which featured a drinks reception and then a 3 course meal in the Goulbourne Suite, intertwined with Christmas and Manchester-themed music. We welcomed three guest speakers, all from our art and culture room. Daro Montag set the scene for the evening and explained about his work with Rothamsted and the Broadbalk archive. Later on, Karolina Trdlicova and Emma McKenna highlighted their social science projects and how scientists can engage the general public. The evening was lead by Prof. Paul Hallett and we presented our Outstanding Society Contribution Award or OSCA to Dr. Danni Robb for all her work for our Early Career members.

Scientific Tours

On Friday 4 December, we went on our scientific and cultural tours. The main scientific tour took place at Bold Moss in St Helens (part of the Mersey Forest) where delegates learnt about the soil management initiatives on the site. The tour was led by Professor John Handley, a peatland and habitat specialist, who shared his expertise on how healthy soils support biodiversity, store carbon and contribute to climate resilience. The second tour was at Manchester City Stadium where delegates got an exclusive look on the pitch from the head groundsman at the club, whilst also giving delegates a closer look at the state of the art equipment and seeing how it all works.

Outreach and Engagement

A key theme from both conferences was the social sciences element and how members can translate their science into something that the public can engage with. It was fascinating to see how art and culture could also fit into this space and was a different angle for people to consider. Prior to the conference, we were pleased to visit a local school in Manchester to provide an outreach session for Year 3 and 4 classes as part of their soils and rocks element of their curriculum. Lead by Dr. Lizzie Sagoo and Dr. Marta Cattin, we were able to engage the children by getting their hands dirty and learning about the importance of soil. The event was an opportunity to use one of our loan boxes and highlight the experiments that are featured.

Exhibitors and Sponsors

We had 3 headline sponsors, one of which was our journal, Soil Use and Management, that was celebrating their 40^th anniversary. We had 14 exhibitors, several of which also provided their own CPD parallel sessions which really enhanced our programme and was well received by the delegates. Thank you to all our partners and sponsors for supporting the event and providing further engagement for the delegates. It was great to be showcasing exclusive sessions at the conference such as the LandIS Open Access National Soils Portal Launch which was an important industry update for stakeholders and members alike.

Supporting Early Career Members

The start of the week featured an engaging Early Careers event with workshops and presentations to aid the development and learning of 100 Early Careers members. Sessions on Effective Communication, Soil Classification and Description, as well as Career Pathways in Soil Science equipped many aspiring soil academics and practitioners with the skills and advice needed to thrive in the industry.

Soils are increasingly recognised as foundational for global sustainability. With mounting policy focus on land use and soil protection, the BSSS Annual Conference provided a vital forum to share research, build partnerships, and inspire actionable solutions across sectors.

Researchers left with fresh ideas on:

• strengthening soil health monitoring,
• integrating soil data into environmental decision-making,
• and applying interdisciplinary approaches to complex soil issues.

Whether you鈥檙e a soil scientist or new to the Society, the conference reaffirmed a simple truth: healthy soils are indispensable for a resilient and sustainable future.

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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

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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.

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Soil judging is a soil description and classification competition where no prior experience is required as all training will be provided. Participants will develop practical soil description and interpretation skills and gain valuable international networks.

Competition Overview:

• Venue: Nanjing & Jurong, Jiangsu Province, China
• Dates: 2鈥�6 June 2026
• Team: 4 competitors + 1 coach (with option for a second coach)

The contest includes:

• Lectures and guided training sessions
• Field-based soil description and judging
• Group and individual pit descriptions
• Interpretation for land use, hydrology, erosion, and classification (WRB & USDA Soil Taxonomy)
• Awards for individual and team performance

Eligibility:

• Be registered students (undergraduate, MSc, or PhD) at the time of the competition or in the preceding semester
• And/or hold UK nationality
• Be available for the full duration of the competition

BSSS is willing to financially support a team of four (plus one coach) in participating. This support includes competition registration, accommodation and meals, a budget for travel and visas. The Society will also provide the team with training opportunities and resources prior to competition provided by Jay Ryan and Richard Hewison.

If you are interested in participating, please send an expression of interest to admin@soils.org.uk by Monday 9 February 2026.

To find out more information about the competition visit: .

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Dame Dawson has always advocated soil science as a career, encouraging students to follow her into what she sees as a ‘cool job’. She has been a dedicated BSSS member, serving as a council member of the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists (2009-2013) and as a keynote speaker.

Of her honour and the BSSS, Dame Dawson said:

鈥淚 am deeply honoured and immensely humbled to be recognised with a Damehood in His Majesty the King鈥檚 Christmas Honours List 2025. This award reflects the extraordinary contributions that I have made in the subjects of soil and forensic science. Soil science may sometimes seem an unsung discipline, but its applications 鈥� from underpinning sustainable land management, biological protection, producing safe nutritious food, enabling fresh water, to providing robust scientific evidence that supports the criminal justice system 鈥� make a real difference to society in the UK and across the world. I am grateful for the support of my professional networks, such as BSSS and the professional Institute of Chartered Science. I am also very grateful to the University of Aberdeen where I learnt my trade with a deep understanding of soil science which has helped me to develop and apply this pioneering work.鈥�

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