Farming

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.

A new hub has been set up to help farmers set up a connection to go into business with one another.

Your views are wanted on the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on generational renewal, local development and jobs in rural areas.

You can have your say by taking part in a short online survey by 26 November 2018.

The Farm Advisory Service's (FAS) newest video case studies feature farmers who have received support from FAS to grow their farming businesses.

The first video features farmer, Bitney MacNab, who explains how funding help for an Integrated Land Management Plan (ILMP) helped her to establish her own eco-friendly smallholding.

The Ethical Dairy in south west Scotland has announced plans to host what is believed to be the first Ethical Farming Conference, due to take place in May 2019 in south west Scotland.

Last week’s Forth Valley Food Fest inspired thousands of locals and tourists to reconnect with the land; from picking pumpkins in Arnprior and milking goats in Port of Menteith, to community garden tours at the University and shopping for local produce at farmers’ markets.

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