Brian is Head of Environmental Farming in the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs. His remit includes Agricultural Water Quality and Nutrient Management Policy and he is Policy lead for the Nutrients Action Programme. Brian has worked in this area over a long period from policy development to implementation and ongoing review.

He has been involved in the design and implementation of some major schemes and initiatives. These include the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme, the Manure Efficiency and Technology Scheme. the Environmental Farming Scheme, the Sustainable Catchment Programme and Research Initiatives on Utilisation of Poultry Litter and Livestock Slurry.

Brian has been Policy lead for a range of Agri environmental research projects undertaken by the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) covering nutrients, catchment science and sustainable agriculture.

Dr. Rachel Cassidy is a catchment scientist in the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Belfast. Rachel is currently leading the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme project taking place in Northern Ireland. 

Her areas of expertise lie in:

– Monitoring of diffuse contaminants in agricultural catchments.

– Catchment hydrology

– Critical source area modelling using LiDAR elevation models.

– Hydrogeology and near-surface geophysics.

– Agricultural pressures on freshwater systems

Drop-in session led by Natalie Coles – BSSS

Professionals accept responsibility for the maintenance and enhancement of their levels of knowledge, skills and professional competence. The BSSS CPD Programme gives members the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the continuing development of their overall professional competence and to maximise their ability to contribute to society, through application of the skills acquired throughout their professional life. 

From 1 January to 31 March 2024, we will be encouraging Full, Fellow or professionally active Honorary members of the Society to voluntarily submit a record of their 2023 CPD activities. From 1 January 2025, it will be mandatory for all Full, Fellow or professionally active Honorary members to submit a record of their CPD activities on an annual basis in order to retain the M.I. Soil Sci or F.I. Soil Sci designation. 

If you have any concerns or would like to discuss this update in more detail, join us at the CPD workshop during the Society’s Annual Conference with support from the Professional Practice & Development Committee. It is not too late to register for the BSSS Annual Conference, which will take place at the Assembly Conference Buildings in Belfast on Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 December, and will be a fantastic opportunity for you to find out more and ask any questions that you may have. 

Rachel Boulderstone heads up the Soil Health and Contaminated Land policy team within the General Environment Directorate of Defra. Rachel has led on soils for the last four years, but with over 20 years’ service at Defra on a wide range of policy areas including waste management, flood management, sustainable drainage systems, environmental targets and now soils. In particular, developing policy for the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, the Agriculture Act 2020 and the Environment Act 2021, the Environment Improvement Plan as well as numerous secondary legislation amendments.

Rachel has a particular interest in surface water flooding due to soil erosion and compaction on both agricultural and urban soil and promotes the importance of encouraging the right practices relevant to soil type and land use that support production, environment and biodiversity.

James Cooke leads the Peatland, Soil and Agricultural land Use Planning team within the Environmental Sustainability Directorate of Welsh Government. James has led on the development of the National Peatland Action Programme since 2019.

His wider team covers a wide range of evidence, policy and technical advice including the Soil Policy Evidence Programme, development of a Soil Policy Statement for Wales, and representing soils through the planning systems in Developments of National Significance and mineral extraction cases.

Dr Sallie Bailey, FICFor is Deputy Chief Science Advisor for Scottish Government for environment, natural resources and agriculture and leads the Science Advice Unit, bringing scientific & evidence to the centre of decision-making in government.

Previously, she’s held leadership roles in the state forestry sector; as regional manager for Forestry and Land Scotland, in environmental regulation as Conservator for South Scotland; and, in the Forestry Commission (GB) advising Government with provision of science and evidence to inform policy development (including soils, water, biodiversity, protected species and natural capital).

She has worked with UK Government’s Statutory Nature Conservation Agencies promulgating use of spatial data and GIS. Following completion of her PhD at the University of Nottingham, she completed a post-doctorate at Stanford University on forests and ecosystems in the tropics of Costa Rica, arid ecosystems of Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, Colorado.

 Mary grew up on dairy farm in Co. Wexford. Mary has a keen interested in agriculture and the environment which led her to study Agri- Environmental Sciences in UCD. Mary joined the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine in 2022, working in the Nature and Land Use Division in Johnstown Castle, Wexford as part of the Agricultural Inspectorate team. Previous to this role Mary worked in Teagasc, as a research technician on Agri-SOC and the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory (NASCO). Mary’s current work in DAFM involves the design and implementation of the National Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme along with National and EU Soils policy.

Brian is Head of Environmental Farming in the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs. His remit includes Agricultural Water Quality and Nutrient Management Policy and he is Policy lead for the Nutrients Action Programme. Brian has worked in this area over a long period from policy development to implementation and ongoing review.

He has been involved in the design and implementation of some major schemes and initiatives. These include the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme, the Manure Efficiency and Technology Scheme. the Environmental Farming Scheme, the Sustainable Catchment Programme and Research Initiatives on Utilisation of Poultry Litter and Livestock Slurry.

Brian has been Policy lead for a range of Agri environmental research projects undertaken by the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) covering nutrients, catchment science and sustainable agriculture.

Recently appointed to the EU’s Soil Mission Board and a special advisor to the UK’s Agriculture Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), John Gilliland, is a willow and livestock farmer from N. Ireland, whose farm has independently been verified to be “Beyond” Net Zero, today. He is also the Professor of Practice in Agriculture and Sustainability at Queens University Belfast; and chair of the innovative, EIP-Agri funded, farmer led, carbon farming project, ARC Zero.

John has been an award winning farmer in Ireland; President of the Ulster Farmers Union; a Non Executive Director of the Scottish Rural College (SRUC), and an Energy Regulator in N. Ireland; while at the same time, he has been a policy adviser for Devolved, National and European Governments on Biotechnology, Climate Change and Sustainability. In particular, John chaired the UK’s Rural Climate Change Forum, reporting directly to the Secretary of State of DEFRA, London, and supporting the UK at COP15 in Copenhagen.

For seven years as Director of Agriculture and Sustainability of the Irish livestock nutrition company, Devenish, John led the development of the their research farm, the Lands at Dowth, transforming it into both a Lighthouse Farm for WUR’s (Wageningen University & Research) Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, and a Living Lab, in a project called Heartland, with five PhD students, in partnership with WUR and UCD, and funded by the EU’s Marie Curie Programme. Alongside this, John chaired the writing of the N. Ireland Sustainable Land Management Strategy which led to the recent opening of N. Ireland’s Soil Nutrient Health and LiDAR Scheme, which is a World first and an investment of £45m to baseline all fields’ soil, trees and hedges in N. Ireland.

Scientific tour led by Suzanne Higgins (SSSI), and Rachel Cassidy and Alex Higgins (AFBI).

Delegates will have an opportunity to take part in a field tour in County Down, where 132,700 fields were soil sampled in 2022/23 as part of the 4 year NI Soil Nutrient Health Scheme. Delegates will see how whole-farm soil sampling, innovative reporting formats (including nutrient runoff risk maps) and local water quality monitoring are being used to optimise crop nutrient applications and to improve environmental performance.

The tour will include a visit to a catchment with fully instrumented water quality monitoring equipment, with an opportunity to hear from local farmers how the scheme has benefited their own farm.

Led by expert local guides from DC Tours, the city walking tour will introduce you to the ‘Best of Belfast’. The tour starts and finishes at the Assembly Buildings Conference Centre and will be the perfect introduction to Belfast and its unique past.

Along the way you will discover fantastic street art, beautiful architecture, amazing history and the unique stories of Belfast’s citizens throughout the centuries. From the point where Belfast first got its name over 1,300 years ago, to historic landmarks such as St. Anne’s Cathedral, the Customs House, and the Albert Clock, you will hear stories of some of the most intriguing people who have called Belfast their home over the centuries.

The tour takes you through the heart of the city and also the cultural hub of the Cathedral Quarter and along the waterfront, with views of the river Lagan. You’ll also see Samson and Goliath, the iconic yellow cranes in the Harland and Wolff shipyard where the Titanic was built over 100 years ago, and the memorial in the grounds of city hall to those who perished on its maiden voyage.

You’ll also discover the challenges Belfast has faced and hear how we came through our most recent conflict with resilience and the benefits of our peace agreement.

Workshop led by Natalie Coles – BSSS

Professionals accept responsibility for the maintenance and enhancement of their levels of knowledge, skills and professional competence. The BSSS CPD Programme gives members the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the continuing development of their overall professional competence and to maximise their ability to contribute to society, through application of the skills acquired throughout their professional life. 

From 1 January to 31 March 2024, we will be encouraging Full, Fellow or professionally active Honorary members of the Society to voluntarily submit a record of their 2023 CPD activities. From 1 January 2025, it will be mandatory for all Full, Fellow or professionally active Honorary members to submit a record of their CPD activities on an annual basis in order to retain the M.I. Soil Sci or F.I. Soil Sci designation. 

If you have any concerns or would like to discuss this update in more detail, join us at the CPD workshop during the Society’s Annual Conference with support from the Professional Practice & Development Committee. It is not too late to register for the BSSS Annual Conference, which will take place at the Assembly Conference Buildings in Belfast on Monday 4 and Tuesday 5 December, and will be a fantastic opportunity for you to find out more and ask any questions that you may have. 

David Wall is a Research Officer at Teagasc.

His research interests include: 

• Improving the precision of fertiliser advice
• Predicting soil nitrogen supply through soil N mineralization
• Soil phosphorus dynamics and plant and animal P nutrition
• Nutrient cycling and sustainability of farming systems
• Soil pH and lime –interactions with nutrient efficiency
• Organic manure management
• Remediating heavy metal contamination in soils and produce

He is also the editor of Teagasc nutrient recommendations for agricultural crops.

Soil Health abstracts (1) – Assembly Hall

1. Nikki Baggaley – Developing a soil monitoring framework for Scotland
2. Hannah Binner – Comparative geochemistry of urban soils in the south of Ireland
3. Chris Feeney – Development of soil health benchmarks for managed and semi-natural landscapes across Great Britain
4. Felicity Crotty – Investigating soil health during conflict

(Chair – Saoirse Tracy, SSSI)

Soil Carbon abstracts (1) – Ground Floor Conference Room

1. Jonathan Holland – The response of soil respiration to long-term nutrient inputs and soil tillage in an improved grassland ecosystem
2. Jonah Prout – Degraded arable soils in England: How much manure to restore?
3. Blair Ruffing – ADAPTForRes: Partitioning Soil Respiration in Irish Forests for Better Climate Models
4. Non Williams – Estimating the soil carbon stocks on Welsh farms

(Chair – Sharon O’Rourke, SSSI)

Nutrient Management, Water Management, And Technology and Innovation Posters

Soil Health Abstracts (2) – Assembly Hall

1. Rose Boyko – A review of useful soil health indicators for Scottish agricultural soils
2. Luci Corbett – Linking soil health measured by enzyme activity and oak tree health
3. Angeliki Kourmouli – Impacts of mineral-based construction and demolition waste on soil functions and ecosystem services
4. Ruth Wade – FixOurFood: The impact of regenerative farming on soils in Yorkshire

(Chair – Saoirse Tracy, SSSI)

Nutrient Management and Water Management Abstracts – Ground Floor Conference Room

1. Isobel Lloyd – Greenhouse gas fluxes from winter wheat fertilised with treated and untreated pig slurry
2. Rebecca Hall – Geospatial modelling of soil phosphorus fractions and sorption indicators from heterogeneous landscapes
3. David Clarke – Crop Simulation Modelling to Support Precision Nitrogen Management
4. Xiaoxia Cao – Municipal Solid Waste Compost and Wastewater Recovered Struvite as a Chemical Fertiliser Replacement in Irish Grasslands: Spatiotemporal Impacts on Soil Phosphorus

(Chair – Suzanne Higgins, SSSI & AFBI)

Soil Carbon Abstracts (2) – Assembly Hall

1. Pippa Chapman – Sequestering soil organic carbon by planting hedgerows in agricultural landscapes
2. Laura Bentley – National trends in arable top-soil organic matter over 40 years from the UK Countryside Survey
3. Amey Sudhir Tilak – Modelling CO2 and CH4 fluxes from a Rewetted Irish Peatland Previously Drained and Forested with Sitka Spruce
4. Dafydd Elias – Soil mineralogy, litter quality and microbial community controls on the formation of mineral associated organic matter

(Chair – Sharon O’Rourke, SSSI)

Technology and Innovation Abstracts – Ground Floor Conference Room

1. Silvia Arpano – Testing soil profiles to support calcareous grassland habitat creation
2. Nikolaos Vavlas – Remote sensing of cover crop legacies on soil health and main crop N-uptake dynamics
3. Shayan Kabiri – X-ray fluorescence core scanning for high resolution geochemical characterisation of soils.
4. Felipe de Santana – FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics to map lime requirement from unknown samples covering large-scale heterogeneous areas

(Chair – Paul Hallett, BSSS)