Farming

Making Woodland Work for You: creation and funding

Supported by Central Scotland Green Network Trust

A practical event looking at the benefits of woodland creation and how to fund it, as well as how to manage existing woodland.

Sheep and beef farmer Andrew Barbour of Mains of Fincastle, Pitlochry, will be talking about his experience of planting trees.

Other speakers are from Forestry Commission Scotland, Woodland Trust, Scottish Woodlands and SRUC.

Come along to discover what trees can do for your farm business.

Free to farmers, foresters and land managers.

East Lothian Partnership Against Crime - launch event

The East Lothian Partnership Against Rural Crime (ELPARC) invite you to an on farm crime and fire prevention event in an effort to provide you with information and advice on simple solutions which may help deter criminal activity.

With high-value machinery, equipment and livestock on farms and rural businesses, you can be more susceptible and vulnerable, and it’s even more important that you take the time to review what security you have in place and look to make improvements. This free ‘walk and talk’ event is open to all farmers and land managers and no booking is necessary.

Local food and drink initatives across the country have been awarded grants from the second round of the Regional Food Fund.

Grants totalling £95,700 have been awarded to 21 projects including a harvest food festival in Castle Douglas, an Ethical Farming Conference to take place in Dumfries and Galloway and a Streetfood Zone at the Stranraer Oyster Festival.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has confirmed that hill farmers and crofters in Scotland's most remote areas will continue to receive support under the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme into 2020.

The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (LFASS) provides essential income support to farming businesses in remote and constrained rural areas.

Funding is used to:

Farmers across Europe are being asked to take part in an online survey about Precision Agriculture Technologies.

Precision Agriculture Technologies include the use of information technology, satellite positioning data, remote sensing and proximal data collection. The technologies can optimise production efficiency, improve working conditions, increase farmers’ income, and reduce unintended impacts on the environment. 

The 2019 Scotland's Finest Woods Award are open for entries.

This year's awards programme is the biggest ever, with the Farm Woodland category expanded and a unique one-off award to celebrate the centenary of the 1919 Forestry Act.

Scotland's Finest Woods Awards highlight all that is best in Scotland’s management of its woods and forests, and showcase how they contribute to the wealth and well-being of Scotland’s people. 

The 2019 Awards are:

The Scottish Rural Network (SRN) recently hosted a visit from a group of Estonian farmers and academics which saw them visiting projects and businesses across western and central Scotland, including Mull.

The SRN put together a programme of visits for the group based on their interests, predominantly sheep farming and slaughterhouses, as the group are in the process of setting up an abattoir on the Estonian island of Muhu.

Due to fewer applications coming forward than expected there is still approximately £150,000 available from Orkney LEADER for farm diversification/sectoral business support projects in Orkney.

New Entrants to Farming: Farm Diversification, Marketing & Adding Value (Angus)

The next instalment of the Angus New Entrants group will be a workshop based on diversfificaion within a farm business.  With margins tight on farm it is an ideal time to think about other options for diversifying that will work alongside the main business.  This meeting is aimed at new entrants to farming who would like to know about where to start if considering diversification or how to develop an idea into a product.

Fourteen projects across the UK have been awarded a share of more than £300,000 in the latest round of funding from the Prince's Countryside Fund.

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