![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/27bbcea17b6814965f2ca5ff796b5fbe.jpeg\"\/)
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McBratney has spent decades carrying out research on soil [Emlyn Crocket – University of Sydney]<\/p>\n
The scientist grew up in Dumfries and Galloway, on a farm called Claymoddie near Whithorn.<\/p>\n
“We lived among rolling fields, 18th Century woodlands, stone dykes, the shore, and big skies, with views stretching all the way to the Isle of Man on clear days,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Life revolved around the farm, the seasons, and the landscape.<\/p>\n
“There were ploughing matches, potato planting, gathering stones from fields, exploring woods, fishing, listening to Radio Caroline, and Saturday trips into town for freshly baked rolls.”<\/p>\n
McBratney did not realise it at the time, but growing up on a farm would lead to a lifelong fascination.<\/p>\n
“Soil was simply part of everyday life,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I knew every field by name, understood that some parts of the farm grew crops better than others, and learned early that the land was endlessly variable and full of surprises.<\/p>\n
“The adults talked constantly about weather, drainage, crops, and livestock, so the connection between people and land seemed completely natural.”<\/p>\n
It was not until he was 16 – towards the end of his “extraordinarly high quality” schooling at Whithorn Primary and Douglas Ewart High in Newton Stewart – that he discovered “soil science” existed.<\/p>\n
“In that sense, south-west Scotland did far more than influence my studies – it quietly laid the foundations for everything that followed,” he said.<\/p>\n
His subject took him to the University of Aberdeen then on to the Rothamsted Experimental Station, a world famous agricultural research institute.<\/p>\n
Soon afterwards, a distant land came calling, but why did he decide to leave?<\/p>\n
“The answer is surprisingly simple: Margaret Thatcher,” he said.<\/p>\n
“In the early 1980s, as I was finishing my PhD work, agricultural research in Britain was being cut back and scientific jobs were becoming scarce.<\/p>\n
“Australia looked exciting, adventurous, and full of opportunity, so in 1981 I packed my bags and headed south – about as far south as one can go without falling off the planet.”<\/p>\n
But what about the subject of his studies – soil – isn’t it, sometimes literally, a bit dry?<\/p>\n
“Soil has a public relations problem,” he admitted.<\/p>\n
“It sits there quietly under our feet while climate, forests, oceans, and wildlife grab all the headlines.<\/p>\n
“But soil is the ultimate backstage performer.”<\/p>\n
He pointed out that soil grows almost all our food, stores carbon and filters water – among many other things.<\/p>\n
“If soil went on strike tomorrow, civilisation would be in serious trouble by next Tuesday,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The remarkable thing is that a handful of soil contains more living organisms than there are people on Earth.<\/p>\n
“Once you start looking closely, soil becomes less like dirt and more like an entire hidden universe.”<\/p>\n
McBratney was “genuinely taken aback” when he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society.<\/p>\n
He was also proud that it was principally for his work in Australia – mainly with the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n
It was also “rather pleasing” to think that someone from a small farming community could achieve such recognition.<\/p>\n
“It proves that you never quite know where a fascination with soil might take you,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The truth is that I certainly never set out chasing honours.<\/p>\n
“I simply found something that fascinated me, kept asking questions, and was fortunate to work with wonderful colleagues and students along the way.”<\/p>\n
McBratney still returns to Scotland to a house in the Isle of Whithorn.<\/p>\n
“Memory has a wonderful habit of editing out horizontal rain, winter gales, and cold dark afternoons that seem to begin shortly after breakfast,” he said.<\/p>\n
“A few days back in a Scottish January is usually enough to remind me why I moved to Australia.<\/p>\n
“While a few weeks in the hot humidity of a Sydney summer is enough to remind me why I keep returning to Scotland.”<\/p>\n
He’s been cheering on both the country of his birth and his adopted homeland at the World Cup with matches on at “more civilised times” in Australia.<\/p>\n
The two countries have played their part in helping a boy from Whithorn enter an organisation whose previous fellows and foreign members have included Stephen Hawking, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.<\/p>\n
![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9b4617f38e04a145b77aa027911b7a3a.jpeg\"\/)
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