James (Jim) Taylor Batchelor was born in Newport, Arkansas in 1946 to his parents, James H. and Lee Batchelor. Jim was reared on a large family farm which had been either Batchelor or Taylor land in the Black river delta dating back to the late 1800's. As a boy and young man he recreated and spent countless time with his parents and other family members on and around this bottomland and upland farm.
Jim was an only child but his favorite cousins were Mary Louise Richardson and William Crockett. He also had many schoolboy, college and professional friends...too many to list but spent lots of time with Tommy, Hal, Rick, Shep, Chris, Mark, Sarah and Billy.
The love of his life was his wife, Carol Ann, who he met and married in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They traveled the world together but the favorite places were the Vatican in Rome, Italy; England; Australia; New Zealand and the beautiful Mountain and Far Western USA. They were loyal and loud Razorback fans and had many great times attending Razorback games. Jim and Carol Ann retired on Greers Ferry Lake near Shiloh. There, they fished and played on the lake with family and friends. Jim had been going to Greers Ferry Lake with his father since the lake was formed in 1964. Fishing there in the 60's and 70s was spectacular.
Jim graduated from Sewanee Military Academy in 1964, attended UT (Knoxville, TN) and joined the army in 1966 and spent three years as a surgical technician. He received his BS Agronomy degree (With High Honors) in 1975(U of A, Fayetteville); MS Agronomy degree in 1978 (U of A, Fayetteville) with emphasis on soil physics and soil fertility; and PH.D. Agronomy degree in 1980(U of A, Fayetteville with emphasis on soil fertility and crop physiology. Jim was then hired as a U of A state agronomist located at NEREC in Kaiser, AR. Making a tough decision he left U of A in 1982 to become Vice President of the National Fertilizer Solutions Assn, and launched the Fluid Fertilizer Foundation (FFF) and became its first Research Director. FFF research projects were established across the US at Land Grant Institutions and in Great Britain to develop practices that improved efficient use of clear liquid and suspension fertilizers. Jim got to work closely with leading Land Grant soil scientists across the US. A highlight of his career was to fund and learn from Purdue's famous and published soil chemist, Dr. Stan Barber. He got to know many other agronomists as well: Welch and Hoeft at U of III; Westfall at CSU; Ally at Va. Tech.; Rehm at U of Minn.; Johnson at Ohio State; Touchton at Auburn, Shields at TVA and others who researched formulation, placement and co-chemigation of fluid fertilizers. Jim was recognized nationally in 1985 for the contributions he made for the development and use of fluid fertilizers.
Jim was an executive with Southern Farmers Assn. (SFA) for 11 years, leading the technical services and eventually the agronomy departments. He was also President of SF Technical Services (SFTS), the crop consulting arm of SFA. At its peak SFTS had 60 crop advisors contracting with farmers on approximately 460,000 acres of agronomic crops. In 1993, Jim and Dr. John Gilmour, organized the Arkansas chapter of the national Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) program, a program endorsed by USDA. Jim served as chairman of the CCA board for the first two years. It became a widely accepted educational program across the US and attempts to hold crop advisors to a high standard. Jim also served as president of the Arkansas Plant Food and Education Society (APFES). He was elected as the first president of the inaugural Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Alumni Society, and served two terms.
SFA consolidated with Farmland Industries of Kansas City in 1998 and Jim became Director of Seed for WilFarm, an LLC, of Farmland and Wilber Ellis. He led distribution of WILFARM and other prominent agronomy seed crop brands across North America. In 2000, through more consolidation WILFARM seed merged with Land O' Lakes (LOL). Jim helped organize and integrate seed sales through all associated retail coops in the US. LOL became the largest distributor of seed to farmer owned coops by 2002.
Jim worked the final leg of his career by moving back home to Arkansas in 2002. There, he became General Manager of Tri-County Farmers Assn (TCFA) headquartered in Brinkley and served 10 years. He and his dedicated employees grew a small coop business to one of the largest farmer owned local coops in Arkansas. During this time TCFA, under Jim's direction, became the most technology advanced coop in Arkansas. TCFA adopted second generation GIS, variable rate fertilizer equipment, and got on board with new digital spray technology. Jim use to say, "He didn't want to offer farmers cutting edge agronomy but just behind the edge" so TCFA could better manage farmer's risk taking. His career focus was to help farmers be successful by sharing the understanding of proven practices and products. Jim was a starter and leader while his teams made contributions to the advancement of agriculture for 32 years. The education he received from the U of A and professional relationships provided him with the knowledge and faith that he could achieve and contribute significantly for family and agriculture he so loved.
James (Jim) Taylor Batchelor died at his retirement home on September 10, 2024 at the age of 77. He was preceded in death by his parents and many favorite uncles and aunts. He is survived by his wife, Carol Ann and son, Zach (Vickie) Batchelor.
Read More
