Farming

Farming Scotland Conference

A half day conference including lunch, featuring a range of speakers from different organisations, all of whom will provide their views as they relate to agriculture in Scotland.

Rob Clayton, Strategy Director (Potatoes), AHDB - Growing potatoes in an island nation.

Trudi Sharp, Deputy Director for Agriculture and Rural Development, Scottish Government - Scottish Agriculture Policy - current and future issues.

Marion MacCormick, Meat Buying Director, Aldi Stores - Local sourcing and Scottish consumer expectations.

Angus delegates, interested in driving forward rural skills in Angus, participated in a learning visit to Fife Rural Skills partnership recently.

It was really useful to hear how the work of the partnership has developed over the last few years and a number of new connections were made.  

One Angus delegate said:

"I was inspired by today's visit and see many opportunities for work to be developed in Angus."

The SRUC Rural Policy Centre has launched its Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 report.

The report provides a fast-track to up-to-date evidence and commentary on key topics of rural and national importance, in order to inform policy, practice and research.

Rural Scotland in Focus 2016 is the fourth report in the series, and was launched at an event in Edinburgh on 29 November attended by over 90 people.

Over 100 members from Young Farmers's Clubs across Scotland gathered for the third annual Agri and Rural Affairs Conference recently.

The 'Cultivating Excellence' event run by the Scottish Association of Young Farmers' Clubs took place from 19 to 21 November in Aberdeen.

Mike Strachan from Forestry Commission Scotland reports on the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) workshop on 'New value chains from multi-functional forests held in Vienna on 10 and 11 November 2016.

The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) aims to bridge the gap between Research and Practice in Agriculture, Food and Forestry across Europe.  I was fortunate to be invited to attend the workshop in Vienna where I helped to lead discussions on the role of Agroforestry in supporting value chains. Eighty participants from 21 countries attended.

Small dairy, livestock and mixed family farm businesses in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire can now express an interest in taking part in this year's Prince's Farm Resilience Programme.

Each year, the programme is run in 15 locations around the UK, with Ayr, Ayrshire and Lanark, Lanarkshire the Scottish locations for this year.

A new report outlines a plan to increase the number of starter opportunities for new entrants to farming.

The ten-point action plan aims to kick start a new generation of farmers by dramatically increasing the number of starter opportunities on public land.

Grass Matters Scotland Conference

A free conference in Dingwall aims to give farmers and crofters an unprecedented, practical insight into getting the most from their grassland.

The 'Grass Matters' conference is being held by Soil Association Scotland on Friday 2 December. The event is a chance to hear from grassland management experts from across the UK.

Topics to be discussed inlcude:

A free conference in Dingwall aims to give farmers and crofters an unprecedented, practical insight into getting the most from their grassland.

The 'Grass Matters' conference is being held by Soil Association Scotland on Friday 2 December. The event is a chance to hear from grassland management experts from across the UK.

Topics to be discussed inlcude:

Irish farmer Margaret Farrelly has won the 2016 Copa Cogeca’s European innovation prize for women farmers.

Margaret Farrelly started out with 150 hens selling to a local packer. Today she has over 160,000 hens and an annual turnover of €6.2 million. Her company employs 33 people and she works with 22 other Irish farmers to deliver free-range Irish eggs and liquid eggs.

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