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Dr James Irvine
Farmer, Physician, Publisher & Scientist

James Irvine entered Edinburgh University Medical School with a bursary to help pay his fees. At the end of his first year he won a further bursary in physics, and the trend of winning bursaries and prizes continued throughout his medical student days culminating in MBChB with honours and being the most distinguished graduate of his year. In addition, he gained a first class honours BSc in physiology, also at Edinburgh University.

Between graduating in medicine and starting his house physician resident jobs in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh he started a research project into the possible significance of autoimmunity as a cause of human disease, with particular reference to the thyroid. This led to the first of many publications and a career which combined clinical hospital medicine at the Royal Infirmary with an international career in medical research based on the rapidly expanding recognition of the importance of autoimmunity as a cause of many clinical disorders or as a contributory factor, as in Type 1 diabetes.

He held the post of consultant physician in general medicine and endocrinology in the NHS and for some years was employed by the Medical Research Council holding a programme grant for the study of autoimmunity in endocrine disorders (notably thyroid diseases, adrenal disorders and diabetes). This work led to his being awarded Fellowships of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Royal College of Pathologists of London, Institute of Biology London and the Institute of Directors London.

After many years of successful combination of clinical hospital medicine and clinical research, he felt that it was time for a change. He decided to expand his interests in scientific publishing and to purchase Cultybraggan Farm through his publishing company , Teviot Scientific, in 1988.

Cultybraggan Farm is described elsewhere on this website (see home page). Essentially it is a 540 acre cattle, sheep and barley farm at Comrie, west of Crieff, in Perthshire. Over the years he has developed a pedigree herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle, a pedigree herd of Limousin cattle, while the remainder of the 120 suckler cows are Aberdeen Angus and Limousin crosses in the attempt to produce high quality young stock. Most of the barley goes for malting for the production of whisky.

The advent of BSE in the UK just after he had taken over the farm, the statement by the government that BSE may be implicated in the development of what was described as a new form of CJD in man in 1996, and then the FMD crisis of 2001 has led to him taking a deep interest (and concern) in the application of science to farming. As a result he was asked to serve on the Royal Society of Edinburgh Foot and Mouth Inquiry, which he did from December 2001 to July 2002.

This website arises from his continuing concern about how science is currently being applied to farming and how the care of the countryside, that he so dearly loves, seems to be falling into the hands of single focus groups, academicians or politicians who may have little experience in practical land management. The so-called environmentalists seem to forget that the outstanding beauty and wildlife of much of the UK countryside, so keenly promoted by the tourist board, is due to the traditional care for the land by the nation’s farmers. Indeed farming is the bedrock of the care of the countryside yet present policies for all the hype seem determined to undermine it.

Contact: editor@land-care.zen.co.uk