A recent survey conducted as part of a combined ABP and ASDA initiative, highlights the beneficial work that British farmers are accomplishing to boost farmland biodiversity. In total, 250 farmers from a wide geographical spread and farm size responded to the...
Fife arable farmer, John Hutcheson, has been appointed the new Chair of the Board for Scottish Quality Crops (SQC), Scotland’s quality assurance scheme for combinable crops, alongside new Vice Chair Mark McCallum. John farms an extensive arable unit, growing cereals...
Being much more specific about recording lamb losses at one of Scotland’s Monitor Farms has prompted an innovative new lambing health project. With lambing being one of the busiest and intensive periods on a livestock farm, there often isn’t time to take stock of what...
A Perth-based father and son team are set to represent Scotland at the Four Nations Butchers tournament in Ireland this weekend (28 January). The highly competitive battle will see the pair prepare, craft and present a range of 40-50 products and create a retail...
Over the festive period and into the first fortnight of 2024 the beef market has remained relatively stable, according to the latest market commentary from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). R4L steer prices have generally been slightly above the £5/kg threshold in recent...
Bruce Irvine, the Banff and Buchan Monitor Farmer is welcoming North East farmers to an on-farm event on Wednesday 31 January. The meeting will focus on how small changes, using readily available farm information, can impact positively on late winter management of...
The growing success of Scotch Lamb for St Andrew’s Day owes to a collaborative approach between farmers, representative organisations, and rural businesses. The lead up to the globally recognised celebration of Scotland’s patron saint last November saw initiatives to...
Adam Christie, Managing Director of Scottish Agronomy I read recently that the word of the year for 2023 was “hallucinate”. While this is a case of new uses for an established word, at times this year it was entirely appropriate as I thought I glimpsed blue sky...
Last week, Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands visited John and David Andrew on their South Ayrshire Monitor Farm, to hear about the positive work being achieved on Scottish farms through the Monitor Farm Programme. Ms Gougeon...
An online cattle sale that came about as a way of marketing stock during the covid pandemic is preparing for its fourth annual event. Farmers John and Fiona Scott came up with the way of selling their rams when coronavirus cast its shadow on traditional sales. It was...