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When I was studying for my agricultural degree at Seale Hayne in South Devon, some fellow students had attended a dedicated farming school in Somerset – Brymore Academy. Instead of going through the usual secondary system, pupils learnt to milk and calve cows, lamb...

Ploughing their own furrow: From finding time to take the dog out for his birthday to imposter syndrome and not baking cakes for the office, International Women's Day is an ideal opportunity to celebrate leaders in the field of agriculture and rural enterprise. With...

Another TB test approaches, which doesn’t seem as logistically challenging when cattle are housed, but still spices up the growing ‘to do list’ and offers the usual apprehension.  Youngstock have done well on the cover crops, which they have devoured, so they are now...

My love of farming started on a beef, sheep, and arable farm in West Somerset. With no farming background, my embryonic interest, aged 15, was fuelled by a handful of attentive and knowledgeable farmers. I was told, despite having small hands that earned me reputation...

From everything I see and hear, the pressure on farmers to make changes to reduce Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) – the 90-95% of food’s emissions embedded in on-farm production – isn’t going away. If anything, it will increase. Retailers suggest that they...

Journalist Sarah Todd is to join the ranks of agrifood and rural sector communications agency Jane Craigie Marketing (JCM), whose clients include BASF, ABP, QMS and the Oxford Farming Conference. Sarah has been an award-winning writer for over 30 years; learning her...

By Jane Craigie As I write this, I’m with 200 other journalists in Canada for the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Congress. The country is vast, second in size, by land area, only to Russia. Agriculture is important to the nation; canola (oilseed...

By Jane Craigie Turriff Show means so much to so many people and has done for over 150 years. It dates back to 1864, when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, the American Civil War was still raging, and Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as the President of the United...

Do you want to work somewhere where two weeks are never the same, eat cake and be part of a fantastic, fun team? JCM is looking for a new Senior Communications Account Manager to join their team.

We work with our clients for the long term and build relationships based on trust, integrity and kindness. We like to foster client relationships that encourage feedback, honesty is important to us. We undertake regular reviews with clients and like to work as an...

At the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC) last week, we launched a report on the role of supply chains in achieving responsible food production on farms.  It is a dry read, but I’d urge anyone involved in producing or supplying food to read it, and to share it, because...

In a disastrous start to the new Prime Minister’s time in office, the £45 billion in tax cuts announced in the ‘mini budget’ has dominated the media, and deeply concerned the financial and pension markets, seeing sterling drop to a 37-year low to $1.03. The media has...

In just one month Olly Harrison, a farmer from Merseyside, earned £3,500 from YouTube. Olly started posting videos on the social media platform early in the pandemic, initially to entertain children, he now has 48,000 subscribers who watch his daily broadcasts which...

Claire Taylor is an agricultural communications specialist who works for JCM, with over a decade of experience working across TV, radio and print, as a reporter and producer. She has recently been awarded a Nuffield Scholarship for 2023 and in JCM’s latest blog, we...

There’s an archipelago of 18 islands located between Shetland and Iceland that’s home to just 54,000 people. I visited these islands - the Faroes – a few weeks ago to learn more about its fishery and agricultural sectors. The similarities to Scotland’s islands were...

As I write this, I’m sitting in rural Denmark at the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Congress. In many ways the Danish landscape is similar to much of Scotland; farmers are dominantly growing spring barley, oats, as well as lots of grass and...

Discussions around future agricultural policy come at a critical time, with Scottish farmers and crofters facing astronomical input costs and increasing pressure to deliver on net zero targets – all whilst grappling with a cost-of-living crisis which has turned the nation’s focus to the cost of food.

The ‘race to the bottom’ can’t continue for farmers and the food they produce. So, I was heartened, to see Bali Nijjar, MD of Freshways, the London-based dairy processor, calling on retailers to ‘value milk appropriately’ as he announced that the price his business will pay farmers for a litre of milk will reach 40 pence from 1 May.

Just when supply chains didn’t need another crisis, Vladimir Putin decides to invade Ukraine. The human impact on Ukrainian people is almost impossible for us to comprehend, from the safety of our country and homes. Normal life, one day replaced by tragedy, fear, and loss the next.

Prior to Christmas 2021, several UK grower associations said that many of their members were not going to risk planting horticultural crops this season because they couldn’t guarantee the labour they needed to pick, pack and transport their produce. Farming and forestry businesses are also struggling to recruit and retain good, committed people, particularly in remote and rural locations.

January has become the month of food and drink campaigns; some are health-centric, others have an emphasis on the environment. Dry January means no alcohol; Veganuary is a switch to a vegan diet and now we have Regenuary, which has a pro-regenerative farming, pro-meat and anti-vegan mission.

In England this week, George Eustice announced more detail on Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), for which 1,000 farmers are already signed up. The scheme starts to give some clarity to farmers on what to expect from the next phase of agricultural support. SFI will pay farmers between £22-58/ha to test soils, sow herbal leys and create soil management plans.

Making bread is a joy. It brings pleasure in its making, its baking and its eating. Nothing compares to the smell of freshly baked bread – apart from maybe freshly ground coffee and cut grass.  Breadmaking is also the endpoint in the growing process, which from sowing to harvest takes 10-or-so months of a farmer’s time and care. It is also the culmination of a plant breeder’s 10-year quest for a variety that is suitable for the structure and integrity needed in a loaf.

The number of people attending COP26 is staggering. Over 25,000 world leaders, 100,000 demonstrators and 10,000 police officers are in the city gathered to address the climate ‘code red for humanity’. I was privileged to speak at a COP26 fringe, on achieving a ‘just’ transition towards net-zero for rural Scotland. At the heart of a fair transition are Scotland’s people, its businesses and its communities, and not leaving those who can’t, or won’t make the changes needed, behind.

I have just visited Arran for the first time, and it won’t be the last. Aside from the stunning scenery, nature and wildlife, it is the first holiday where I have come home and really felt “human”. From the moment we stepped off the Ferry, our short-holiday felt like it was just for us. The Douglas Hotel was warm and friendly, with well-furnished rooms and fantastic views across the harbour. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was inviting.  But it was the staff who really made the stay exceptional. They were personal but professional, attentive but not intrusive and treated us as individuals.

For those of us who have studied at an agricultural college, or campus, the bond of connection with that place is strong and enduring. I studied for my degree in agriculture at Seale Hayne Agricultural College in South Devon. As a result of some – in my opinion – bad decision making, and a lack of vision, the college closed its doors in 2005, much to our collective heartache.