Yorkshire accountant ditches the calculator for a career in soil science

He is keen to understand how farmers can learn from what has, and has not, worked on other farms to improve soil health so that farmers can avoid making mistakes that have already been overcome by others.

As part of his Scholarship studies, Tom plans to visit France and Australia where established networks of farmers, academics and government are sharing soil knowledge and data in ways that are not yet happening in the UK.

He also hopes to visit the US and will travel throughout Yorkshire and elsewhere in the UK on his fact-finding tour.

Mr Scrope said: “I’m really looking forward to learning new things during my Scholarship and working out what’s applicable to bring back to Yorkshire and the rest of the UK."

Last year, he stepped away from a career in accounting and co-founded the forward-thinking data analytics start-up, Soil Benchmark with Ben Butler, a former Digital Soil Scientist at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen.

Their innovative software venture interprets complex farmland data to produce soil health action plans for farmers, agronomists and advisors, helping farms to position themselves to benefit from the Government’s new

environment-based farm payment schemes.

However, Tom believes there needs to be a greater network for knowledge exchange to speed up the adoption of best practice.

He added: “What I want to understand is what sort of networks we need in England to make sure knowledge exchange happens at scale, to unlock the true potential of farmland soils. Through Soil Benchmark, we have found that agronomists are usually well-placed for disseminating knowledge, but what are the other routes?

“Better soil health is critical if we are to get to the NFU’s net zero ambitions for the industry by 2040, but it’s also about more than net zero emissions. Good soil health can bring about benefits for water quality, it reduces costs to a business through the need for fewer inputs, and it increases financial resilience.”

Since 1980, farming charity the Yorkshire Agricultural Society has sponsored Nuffield Farming Scholarships which provide the opportunity to study and travel abroad, meet like-minded people and explore cutting edge developments in the agricultural industry.

Mr Scrope plans to set off on his international tour in Summer 2024 and would welcome recommendations from those in the industry on anyone he should visit, both in the UK or abroad. After his trip, Tom will present a report to the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust in 2025 when his findings will be published and shared with the wider industry.

He can be contacted on [email protected]