Rural services

The National Lottery Community Fund is offering from £1,000 to £10,000 to support communities across the UK to take action on climate change.

Projects should reflect what matters to your community and can be small in scale. They could cover an area like:

The Connecting Scotland Programme  is now inviting ‘fast track’ applications from organisations working with people at risk of social isolation and loneliness, who can deliver devices in November and December.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 12th November.

Social enterprise, community enterprise and Third Sector organisations are increasingly viewed as an important source of economic growth, a vital source of support for vulnerable communities and a critical path of the reform of public services in Scotland. One area this was highlighted in during the pandemic was in the use of food banks throughout Scotland with some enterprises reporting a 10-fold increase in demand.

How to plan and develop new crops and products into your farming business

This interactive workshop will provide some ideas and tips on how to make your farm more diverse by increasing biodiversity, growing new crops or producing new food products. It will provide advice on how to plan but also how to develop business around these changes.

Biodiversity and alternative food products

Increasing biodiversity of both the farm environment and what it produces, is seen as one of the ways in which farming businesses can remain sustainable in the future.

We’ll watch video footage from some Scottish businesses that are farming in a way that has increased biodiversity on their farm. These business owners will also join us as part of our panel.

Proposals to end the need for food banks as a primary response to food insecurity have been published.

Views are being sought on the Scottish Government’s draft national plan, which is supported by food bank operators, including the Trussell Trust and Independent Food Aid Network.

Researchers from the James Hutton Institute and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research are calling on arable farmers from across Scotland to help them develop a greater understanding of attitudes towards making risky decisions, as part of an international study. 

Rural Health & Care Wales Conference 2021

The Rural Health and Care Wales 2021 Conference will be taking place both as an in-person event, and is also available online as a virtual Conference - so anyone with an interest in rural health, well-being and care will be able to attend.

The theme is "When Challenges lead to Change – improvements and innovation in Rural Health and Care” and sessions will cover topics such as:

Do you care where your food comes from? Share your ideas on what more can be done to create a future where all can enjoy locally produced food.

Are you a farmer or crofter considering diversification but not sure where to start? Are you in the tourism, hospitality or the food and drink business and keen to benefit from the growth of agritourism in Scotland? Or just curious to find out more?

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