A conversation with Steve Dunkley Regional Agriculture Director at HSBC UK North
Advancing a sustainable Scottish supply chain for Hemp Fibre
GreenShed: Shaping the future of livestock emissions
3 Introduction
DR MARY THOMSON
6 Digital twinning in livestock systems and agriculture: Industry 5.0
MAZDAK SALAVATI
10 Advancing a sustainable Scottish supply chain for Hemp Fibre
MARK BOWSHER-GIBBS
14 A South West Perspective
RAYMOND CRERAR
18 Understanding conditionality of agricultural support payments in 2025
PROFESSOR STEVEN THOMSON
22 Staff Spotlight
VICTORIA BARTHELMESS
4 Drive value for your business with an ESG Strategy
KIRSTY CARNEGY
8 A conversation with ... Steve Dunkley Regional Agriculture Director at HSBC UK North
12 GreenShed: Shaping the future of livestock emissions
PROFESSOR CAROL-ANNE DUTHIE
16 Resilience in the rural veterinary sector: A call to arms
PROFESSOR CAROLINE ARGO
20 The value of data integrity and trusted networks: An interview with Rory Christie, Dourie Farming Company Ltd
23 Staff Spotlight ANNE SEATON
Welcome to the eighth issue of Perspectives, which comes at an incredibly exciting time for SRUC. The variety of research, ideas and insights in this issue provides an engaging and informative read and we hope it inspires you to consider potential solutions to achieve sustainable success.
DR MARY THOMSON, VICE PRINCIPAL, SRUC AND HEAD OF SAC CONSULTING
In this edition we hear more on the GreenShed, an innovative project shaping the future of livestock emissions. The innovation theme continues with Mazdak Salavati sharing his expertise on digital twinning in agriculture, another area where we are paving the way for the sustainable success of the sector. We build on digital and innovation themes with an excellent guest contribution from Rory Christie on data integrity and trusted networks. Steve Dunkley of HSBC UK, another important partner of SAC Consulting, also joins us in this edition to tell us more about HSBC’s dedicated agriculture team and collaborative work with SAC Consulting on natural capital.
As a veterinary practitioner, I have enjoyed working closely with Professor Caroline Argo in recent years. Caroline provides an update on the new SRUC school of veterinary medicine which aims to address sector challenges such as workforce shortages and skills gaps.
We also look ahead to 2025 and, as ever, our experts provide insights and evidence-based support on topics such as conditionality impacts. This edition also showcases our diverse portfolio of activities across Agricultural Advisory, Trials, Vet Services and Food and Footprint.
This is my first Perspectives since taking on the leadership of the consulting team. The last few months have been brilliant and hectic, as I get to know a new team, travel to regional offices, sector events and meet our partners.
The whirlwind of summer show season is almost over, with an incredible level of engagement from our clients across Scotland and beyond and, by the time this Perspectives lands in your mailbox, we will have hosted the prestigious EUFRAS IALB SEASN conference in Edinburgh.
The event was an inspirational mix of learning, networking and knowledge delivered through workshops, keynote addresses and field trips.
It provided a great opportunity to showcase the Scottish agricultural system and how it builds and leverages relationships between people working in the rural economy (and those working in research, education and advisory) to enhance the sustainability of rural land-use in Scotland.
Building on the EUFRAS theme of adapting to net zero, I encourage you to consider the technical services and expertise you need to support your sustainability journey.
We can help you achieve environmental compliance, take stock of your natural capital assets, identify renewable energy solutions, and assess and restore biodiversity and habitats.
From enhancing and supporting your natural capital to meeting net zero targets, we will develop a tailored, comprehensive approach to enhance and support your environmental and business needs and the team look forward to hearing from you soon.
As the autumn nights draw in, I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I have. Our team are a constant inspiration to me, and I am consistently impressed by the calibre of our consultants, educators and researchers.
Drive value for your business with an ESG Strategy
KIRSTY CARNEGY, PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, SAC CONSULTING
An Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy might seem like a concept reserved for large organisations with extensive resources and budgets. However, ESG strategies are designed to measure an organisations impact on people’s lives and the environment and an organisation of any size and sector can adopt and benefit from an ESG strategy.
In today’s climate, sustainability strategies are imperative for businesses. Legislative pressures, stakeholder expectations, and customer demands mean that businesses must integrate ESG into their agendas to remain competitive. ESG considerations are now a primary focus for business leaders, investors, and board members.
By integrating ESG principles, even smaller businesses or organisations can enhance their sustainability, improve their social impact, and establish stronger governance practices, which can lead to long-term business success, increased investment and positive community contributions.
An effective strategy supports growth, ensures compliance in a fast-paced regulatory environment, and future-proofs organisations. It encompasses three core elements that should be intertwined for a robust strategy.
Firstly, the environmental aspect examines a business’s impact on the environment and the environmental risks it faces. This includes direct operations and supply chains, with considerations such as emissions, biodiversity, packaging, and waste management.
The social component looks at how a business manages people and interactions, including human rights, working conditions, and stakeholder relationships. Recruitment, retention, community impact, and employee welfare are critical areas under this umbrella.
Lastly, governance addresses internal practices and systems, focusing on how a business governs itself and makes decisions. Key topics include corruption, audits, transparency, accountability, and ethical behaviour.
An ESG strategy, appropriate for any organisation regardless of size or industry, offers significant value. Starting with a basic framework, businesses can develop their ESG strategies as they grow. There are many ways in which an ESG strategy can support crucial business aims.
Efficient management of overheads and resource use can lead to significant cost savings. ESG strategies can enhance operating efficiencies, improve product formulations, and ensure preventative maintenance, reducing production downtime and operational costs. Reviewing procurement practices and resource consumption can also reduce costs and highlight potential risks that can be mitigated at an early stage.
A clear ESG strategy can significantly enhance recruitment and retention by giving employees a strong sense of purpose, an increasingly high priority in a competitive employment market. This can lead to increased job satisfaction and a more motivated workforce.
Businesses are increasingly targeted by legislators to meet environmental and social commitments. Proactive ESG strategies ensure compliance, avoid penalties, and enhance reputational benefits, ultimately reducing the costs and stress of meeting regulatory requirements.
A robust ESG strategy can facilitate growth by navigating procurement systems, export regulations, and customer requirements more effectively. It also attracts investors and lenders who prioritise responsible business practices, making it easier to secure funding.
It can seem an overwhelming thought, pulling together an ESG strategy, especially with so many aspects that you may wish to consider as part of your approach.
Making sure that the strategy is woven through the rest of your business is key – it shouldn’t be standalone and should easily integrate with your operational and sales plans.
The important thing to remember is that even starting with a basic strategy can get you on your way, working to develop this as your ambitions grow. A great place to start is an evaluation of your current position – what are we doing well? Where could we improve? What are our ambitions?
Buy-in from your stakeholders is key for a successful implementation and including them at the start of this process is an easy way to ensure engagement. Insights from your employees, board members or business partner is crucial – don’t spring it on them and expect them to get on board!
Using your evaluation and insights you can create your strategy, including goals and targets – making them appropriate and achievable for your business. Thinking locally can be a good place to start if your business is small and growing.
A good implementation will ultimately drive success of your strategy and ensuring that you clearly communicate the strategy to your stakeholders is the most fundamental requirement. How can they all get on board if they don’t know the plan? A degree of change management may be required dependent on the maturity of your business.
A clear ESG strategy can significantly enhance recruitment and retention by giving employees a strong sense of purpose, an increasingly high priority in a competitive employment market. This can lead to increased job satisfaction and a more motivated workforce. “ ”
Creating your ESG strategy can offer significant value for your business. In an extremely competitive local, national and global marketplace, competing on price or being first to market are short term solutions. Environmental, social and governmental concerns now sit at the forefront of decision making and those businesses set up to address or mitigate those concerns, will be the ones with long term viability, highly attractive to customers, investors and legislators.
Digital twinning in livestock systems and agriculture: Industry 5.0
MAZDAK SALAVATI, READER, SRUC
The use of data and software in livestock and agriculture began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, integrating data-driven and digital tools into farm operations has not been practical due to market and cost barriers, until now.
The rise of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices in the early 2000s has made an interconnected data ecosystem in farming more desirable. One such framework enabling this is digital twin (DT) technology. A digital twin is a detailed digital replica of a real-world entity, allowing a continuous and two-way flow of information between the replica and the original.
For decades, monitoring and managing physical entities like machines or feed batches in real time has been essential in production. Recently, the focus has shifted to creating machine-to-machine (M2M) data ecosystems, where processes can run alongside simulations.
Examples include weather simulations by the Met Office and engine development DTs by Rolls-Royce. However, some argue that without two-way data flow, these are just “digital shadows.”
Regardless of the academic nuance, there is an undeniable need for interoperable data streams in the livestock farming sector that DTs can deliver on.
At SRUC’s Dairy Research and Innovation Centre, we have been focused on a principle that a DT, built on delivering a specific function, has exponentially better chances of not becoming a shadow and taking a leading role in information and asset management.
In recent years, IoT devices have been deployed at scale for the purpose of sensing and monitoring key performance indicators across various scenarios such as farm machinery, sustainability and biodiversity sensors in soil, water and the environment (GHG emissions), animal wearables, camera and computer-vision enabled tasks (e.g. early detection).
Most of these precision farming and livestock farming technologies were developed in isolation without much interoperability capacity at the heart of each technology which has become the main catalyst in developing DT’s for the livestock farming ecosystem.
On the other hand, most farm management software has grown increasingly specialised, especially in the dairy sector, integrated to the benefit of a sustainable business model. Most of these integrations are achieved through in-house development of software that can consume data streams from various sources either directly or via application programme interfaces (API).
The widespread use of open APIs and well documented practices in the industry has hugely affected the ease of integration even between systems that don’t necessarily produce compatible data models like milking parlour software, feed mixer wagon and milk recordings for integration with farm management software.
A human-centric design hopes to enable the use of DT technologies for day-to-day management of farm assets as well as serving as a powerful real-time animal breeding and management tool for research purposes. “ ”
There is a growing consensus amongst livestock practitioners, data and non-data scientists alike, for establishing system level ontology (description of terms) and data standards for the benefit of the greater integration between different platforms. The data architecture and computer requirements for such applications has gone through similar evolutionary processes while the interoperability challenge has remained the same.
At SRUC, a large body of research has been done under the Digital Dairy Chain banner on the development of functional DTs for both dairy farms and the wider dairy sector stakeholders. The functional approach to DT design has provided a roadmap for a digital continuum spanning dairy farms, affiliated fields and energy consumption profiles as well as operational improvements.
A human-centric design hopes to enable the use of DT technologies for day-to-day management of farm assets as well as serving as a powerful real-time animal breeding and management tools for research purposes.
mazdak.salavati@sruc.ac.uk
A conversation with Steve Dunkley Regional Agriculture Director at HSBC UK North
HSBC UK has a dedicated agriculture team, with over 100 specialists who manage the day-to-day client relationships in that sector. Their work ensures that the bank can respond to changes in market requirements for agriculture. This could be driven by processors who are seeking to understand their scope 3 emissions, biodiversity impacts or water use on farm, or direct from farmers reacting to environmental or welfare related regulatory changes, and then how HSBC UK can relate this to tangible impacts on farm for customers.
“I grew up on a small, tenanted farm in the Yorkshire Dales, about 100 acres in total and a mix of tenanted land and annual grazing lets. I became a partner in the family business at just 20, which was quite unique. However, with challenges in beef prices from BSE in the late 90’s, I decided to pursue a degree in Land Management and Technology at Askham Bryan College, near York.”
After graduating in 2001, during the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak, he took a short-term contract with DEFRA, which turned into a six-year tenure delivering grant schemes. This led to roles at Yorkshire Forward, English Farming and Food Partnership, and AHDB Beef & Lamb. In August 2022, he joined HSBC UK.
“I always wanted a career in agriculture, and to support the industry I grew up in and give something back. Whether working on the farm, in grants, or business advice, to now working in finance, I have always passionately supported people and businesses that want to grow and thrive within the sector.
“One of the things that attracted me to HSBC UK was that we used to bank with them when we were farming. When I saw the role and the size of the agricultural team, I thought -there is an organisation that is committed to the sector, something HSBC UK is proud of.”
HSBC UK offers a comprehensive range of traditional financial products, but also provides asset finance for equipment, from robotic milkers to tractors, to sustainability-linked finance, ensuring farmers have access to the latest technology to enhance efficiency and productivity.
“We are also creating more specialist products for agriculture too, to help support producers with their commitments to net zero farming or producing food more sustainably.”
Dunkley emphasises the business’ ability to support the agricultural sector is through its robust client relationships.
“The way we can influence practice on the ground is through our face-to-face relationships with clients. We make sure our team are not just knowledgeable about agriculture, but also about sustainable practices on farm. We are very focussed on ensuring our team, despite not being consultants, are equipped with enough technical knowledge to have a robust conversation with farmers, can understand what they are doing and can explore the right opportunities to help them.”
This commitment to knowledge exchange and learning is demonstrated through various initiatives, including collaborations with organisations like Andersons and Agrecalc, as well as SRUC. HSBC aims to achieve net zero in its global operations by 2030 and to assist its clients in reaching net zero by 2050.
A notable project with SAC Consulting at Duddo Estate in Northumberland exemplifies their dedication to sustainability.
“The project was looking to further build our awareness around the interactions between natural capital and commercial, day-to-day farming, increasing understanding of how farmers can baseline their natural capital and then measure and demonstrate improvement.
I always wanted a career in agriculture, and to support the industry I grew up in and give something back. “ ”
Though land, buildings and equipment are assets which can be more readily valued, habitats are a new and evolving territory especially given emerging nature markets. Given changing land-use, we were developing knowledge for HSBC UK staff, enabling them to better highlight the work being done on customer farms and fill the knowledge gap on a practical methodology for assessing and unitising natural capital assets.
“Being able to bring both, breadth of experience from applied research in SRUC as well as delivering advice to farmers on the ground is a huge advantage of this project.
It is not often that you have this end-to-end support from both research and practical consultancy working in harmony. The detailed evaluations and practical recommendations have provided a clear roadmap for other farms looking to enhance their natural capital and sustainability efforts. The project also successfully led to practical implementations at Duddo Estate, such as precision farming and renewable energy.”
Steve’s vision for the future of agriculture is centred on a successful and profitable industry recognised for its contributions to sustainability, biodiversity, and food production.
“I want individuals to feel proud to be part of an industry that not only generates profit but also positively impacts the environment. Agriculture, with the right support, has a crucial role in addressing global challenges, and we are committed to helping it lead the way in sustainable practices.”
In supporting farmers with tailored financial products and expert advice, HSBC UK is not just investing in agriculture but in the future of sustainable farming, ensuring that farmers have the tools and support they need to thrive.
Advancing a sustainable Scottish supply chain for Hemp Fibre
MARK BOWSHER-GIBBS, PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, SAC CONSULTING
Innovation in any industry is always an exciting and inspiring sphere to work in and agriculture is no exception. Across this sector ideas and concepts are continually evolving, developing and challenging our ways of thinking. Over the last couple of years, interest in the production of natural fibres and co-products from crops of industrial hemp and flax has rapidly been gaining traction.
There are a small number of innovators who already have, by virtue of their own initiative, well-developed and successful business models. The challenge for new entrants is being able to develop the supply chain to encompass not only production, but also processing and manufacturing of products to market.
Hemp was widely used in the UK until the 20th century when cheap and abundant jute and cotton made it uncompetitive and new synthetic fibres made their debut in the 1950’s. The decline in its industrial use was gradually replaced by its misuse as a psychoactive drug. This resulted in European and North American countries banning its cultivation and 65 years lapsed before it was relicensed in the UK in 1993.
Now, multiple SMEs are interested in developing a domestic supply chain for products made from hemp (and flax) to increase resilience, sustainability credentials and local community impacts, yet no single SME to date has had the resources to determine the agronomics/ techno-nomics and investment required, to underpin a domestic Scottish supply chain startup. Whilst manufacturers of hemp products are already operating in Scotland, local production of the crop and it’s subsequent processing to feed into the manufacturing process have yet to evolve.
Due to this current market challenge, SAC Consulting reached out to Scottish Enterprise in 2023 for funding to support a supply chain study with a particular interest in industrial hemp.
Seeking funding support aligned with the demand for a scalable sustainable biobased material becoming more critical as the Scottish and UK government set their net zero mandates for 2045 and 2050 respectively. Supported by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBiolC), funding has since been awarded and the study is currently underway, involving crop variety trials, an assessment of the technical and economic aspects of crop production, crop processing requirements and market analysis. The main deliverable will be a free and publicly available ‘sector’ report, detailing all the project findings, to be published by Scottish Enterprise on Evaluations Online, early in 2025.
Multiple SMEs are interested in developing a domestic supply chain for natural fibre products made from hemp (and flax) to increase resilience, sustainability credentials and local community impacts.
Unencumbered by lengthy UK prohibitive legislation, European production has flourished and currently over 33,000ha is given over to the crop. France retained their expertise and manufacturing facilities and today is the largest producer of hemp in Europe with well-developed farmer co-operatives, the largest of which is La Chanvriere in North East France, now totals 400 members jointly growing 13,000ha of hemp.
Industrial hemp is indeed a true multi champion of bioeconomy; as a biomaterial it can be transformed into textiles, construction materials, paper, biocomposites (used for packaging or pressure moulded for the automotive industry), furniture, fuel and biochar.
Such innovative progress was only too evident at the European Industrial Hemp Association conference in Prague in June of this year. There is clearly huge ambition to penetrate and develop out these markets, well supported by the European Green Deal; a set of policy initiatives approved in 2020, with the overarching aim of making the European Union ‘climate neutral’ in 2050.
The UK has fallen well behind the curve. That being said, recent lobbying has been rewarded and the Home Office has now moved to relax future licensing requirements for farmers wanting to grow the crop.
In the coming months, the project will focus on creating a pricing model to encourage farmers to include hemp fibre crops in their rotation. Not only must this model be economically viable, but it also leverages hemp’s impressive carbon sequestration ability; absorbing more carbon-dioxide over a 120-day growing cycle than the same area of woodland achieves in a year. The valorisation of carbon from the production processes will be particularly significant.
If you would like to learn more about the work SAC Consulting are undertaking in connection with this project, please get in touch.
GreenShed: Shaping the future of livestock emissions
PROFESSOR CAROL-ANNE DUTHIE, SRUC
It seems you just need to turn on your TV, radio or computer these days to get another story about how cattle are destroying the planet.
Beyond the hysteria and the hyperbole, however, there’s no doubt that beef farming is a major source of methane and that the industry itself has reached a turning point. It is facing greater pressure than ever before to reduce its environmental impact while also maintaining or increasing productivity as well as improving its broader sustainability.
There are, of course, bigger contributors to climate change, most notably the continuing use of fossil fuels and air travel. But when it comes to the court of public opinion, beef production occupies an unwanted place at the top of the environmental charge sheet.
Setting aside whether this is fair on the industry, as a ruminant scientist for the best part of 20 years, my colleagues and I are focused on what is within our gift to try to make a difference.
Those of you who visited the SRUC stand during the Royal Highland Show might have noticed a Lego model of our new GreenShed facility, which proved as popular among adults as it did with kids.
It’s not how we first imagined introducing GreenShed to the world, but sometimes – to tell a story – you need to think outside the box. It’s the same when it comes to science.
Funded by the UK Government, GreenShed is a pioneering project capable of transforming beef production with sustainable, practical solutions. Led by SRUC, the GreenShed consortium offers a blueprint for the future of low-carbon circular beef farming.
Armed with the mantra of not letting anything go to waste, used straw bedding is loaded into a hopper to generate useable energy, which is able to remove the methane-rich air at the same time.
The shed integrates several advanced technologies to create a low-carbon, circular farming system. This includes a bespoke shed membrane with high-volume air recirculation systems to capture methane emissions from the animals, micro-anaerobic digesters to produce biogas from manure, and efficient combined heat and power (CHP) engines.
This energy is then used to run the heating, lighting and air conditioning of the shed itself and thereby significantly reduce a farm’s carbon footprint.
Although a purpose-built facility at SRUC, the GreenShed model can be retrofitted to existing farm buildings. It extends to various farming operations, promoting resource efficiency and sustainability by utilising waste products to generate energy.
At the end of the cycle, the energy produced powers a vertical farm, with the produce grown providing farmers with an additional income stream.
As environmental awareness grows, shoppers are becoming more conscious of the carbon footprint of their food.
GreenShed is highly cost-effective; it leads to significant savings in energy for farmers while offering the potential for additional income through the sale of surplus energy. A 100-cattle shed using the GreenShed system could save up to £1,000 a year in heat energy costs and generate approximately £60,000 a year from electricity sales, produce from the vertical farm and a low-carbon premium from the beef produced.
The farming industry has already shown that it is willing to embrace change, and GreenShed is very much part of that.
It is more than technological innovation; it’s a shift in how we approach agriculture. The project involves collaboration among researchers, farmers, and industry stakeholders, ensuring that the solutions developed are practical, scalable, and tailored to the needs of the farming community.
This collaboration fosters a culture of innovation and sustainability that can inspire other agricultural sectors.
GreenShed also has the potential to reshape consumer perceptions and behaviours. As environmental
awareness grows, shoppers are becoming more conscious of the carbon footprint of their food.
The resulting low-carbon beef offers a way for customers in the supermarket or butchers to make more sustainable choices. By providing a model for environmentally friendly beef production, GreenShed can shift market demand towards greener products, driving broader changes in the industry.
GreenShed’s approach to methane capture, resource efficiency, and economic viability sets a new standard.
As we move towards a net zero future, embracing projects like GreenShed is vital. The future of agriculture depends on our ability to innovate and collaborate.
GreenShed is leading the charge, showing that environmental sustainability and agricultural productivity can coexist.
A South West Perspective
RAYMOND CRERAR, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, SOUTH WEST SCOTLAND
Rain, rain and more rain.
So far, 2024 has been a challenging year for agriculture. All farm types were affected by the very wet winter then spring and unfortunately this has continued throughout the summer months. Growth rates of grass, crops and livestock have been behind previous years. In our region, silage making has been very much a snatch and grab process due to limited weather windows. On average, silage quality has been poorer this year.
A welcome change in the weather in July allowed second cuts, and third cuts for some, to be made, winter barley was combined and straw baled with reasonable yields of both being reported. August, however, has been persistently wet and some parts of our region have had in excess of 280 mm (11 inches) of rain this month. Some recon this year is as bad as 1985 albeit we now have more advanced and quicker methods of ensiling forage which has been a saving grace for farmers. We all have our fingers crossed for an upturn in the weather to allow the last of the forage to be conserved and spring cereals to be harvested.
Planning for the winter housing period is essential. As silage quality has been extremely variable, famers should be analysing their forage stocks as soon as possible and carrying out rations to plan how it will be supplemented this winter. Calculating the volume of forage in store and preparing feed budgets is important to ensure that you have sufficient forage to take your stock through the winter.
Prices for straw are currently around £130/t delivered and unless we see improvements in the weather, housing will be earlier this year. It is looking like it could be a long and expensive winter so plan ahead now.
On the plus side, the store market for sheep and cattle remains strong with sheep prices across the board being well up on this time last year whilst the store cattle trade remains similar. Breeders can take advantage of these good prices by cashing in trading stock to minimise wintering costs. Selling store is not an admission of defeat but a good business decision and will allow prioritisation of grass to breeding stock, allowing them to regain condition pre-mating or pre-housing as many suckler cows and breeding ewes are behind their target body condition score for the time of year.
Other than the weather, what else is there to talk about?
Besides the weather, the recently announced Whole Farm Plan (WFP) has created a stir and is another common talking point within the agricultural community. The additional requirements of this plan will affect all farmers and crofters that claim and receive Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) support. Scot Gov have recently released the WFP details and outlined the additional requirements that producers will need to adhere to for them to be eligible to claim Basic Payment Scheme from 2025 onwards.
For next year’s Single Application Form (SAF) submission, two of the options will be required to be undertaken and by 2028, all relevant options to that business will be required. Change can be unsettling, and this may seem daunting to some. However, most will be well on their way to having at least two of these elements already.
Do you keep livestock?
Now is the time for every business to plan out when to undertake the additional elements of the WFP - it is worth remembering that there is grant support to assist you with the cost of some of this. Our consultants in the south west are arranging a series of workshops for Autumn which will inform clients of the WFP requirements and timelines, and advise you on how to undertake as many parts of the plan as possible on your own.
Over the next three years, there will be huge benefits to your business through involvement in these options. For example, regular soil sampling and nutrient budgeting is fundamental in maximising productivity and nutrient uptake. Ensuring pH levels are optimal maximises nutrient uptake from soils, allowing organic nutrients to be targeted at deficient fields and reducing the need for purchased synthetic fertiliser.
Animal health planning is a cornerstone of animal welfare and will contribute to higher growth rates, improved output and increased profitability. Using expert advice, anthelmintic and antibiotic treatment can be reduced, not only cutting cost but improving the longer-term resilience of the active ingredients in these products on your farm.
Carbon footprint is basically a way of measuring your farm enterprise efficiency. Auditing farm business emissions is already commonplace with farmers who are involved in producer groups or as a request of lenders. Undertaking a carbon audit of your own business will benchmark you against similar enterprise types and highlight areas where improvements can be made to reduce cost and ultimately improve profitability.
This change will have the greatest effect on the nonfarming landowners with no agricultural activity who claim and receive BPS on Region 1 land.
Do you use plant pesticides? (Plan protection products)
Do you claim Region 1 land and apply articifial fertilisers and/or organic manures to it?
Soil analysis required by 2028
These are claimants who declare their land as Alternative Practice (AP) on their SAF. For claimants in this category, most of the WFP options are not relevant to them. Looking forward, they should consider their own situation, speak to their accountant and consultant, and lease their BPS entitlement to those who are actively farming their land. This vital support payment is likely to reduce and should ultimately be received by those actively producing food and enhancing environmental benefits.
Accessing grant support to help prepare plans
There is currently grant assistance to support you in preparing a carbon audit. Under Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) funding, producers can access £500 towards the cost of a carbon audit.
Under the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) the funding is £660 for first time claimants or £330 thereafter. Soil sampling can be funded through PSF.
How do I learn more?
Our advisory team are currently preparing a suite of client meetings to inform you and help you better understand the requirements of the WFP. As always, our dedicated teams are here to advise and guide businesses through the changing climate of agricultural support.
Resilience in the rural veterinary sector: A call to arms
PROFESSOR
CAROLINE ARGO, DEAN OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AND HEAD OF SCHOOL, SRUC
Alarmingly, our UK veterinary profession continues to be listed by the Home Office as a ‘shortage occupation’.
Veterinary and related professionals are essential to our natural and rural economies, promoting animal health and welfare, food quality and the sustainability of our remote communities. However, while strategically important, rural veterinary practises struggle financially and many lack capacity to service large but scantly populated areas.
The bottom line is that the veterinary profession fails to achieve self-sufficiency and notable skills gaps persist within it. For rural Scotland, these shortfalls are significant. The lack of UK vets is multifactorial. Concerningly, the UK remains dependent on the good graces of largely overseas vets to address gaps in priority areas such as, remote, rural and general practises, veterinary public health, livestock health and welfare, and government services. In light of Brexit, continued dependence on overseas manpower clearly carries significant risk. While these roles are fulfilling, require significant expertise and meet essential societal, ethical and legislative needs, the recruitment and retention of UK trained vets into these priority areas remains a challenge.
In his review of ‘Field Delivery of Animal Health Services in Scotland’, Prof. Charles Milne highlighted the negative and wasteful impact of the ‘constant churn’ of filling vacancies with staff of ‘limited, if any, practical, clinical and diagnostic experience’. The review points to the steady attrition of capabilities and experience in these areas and in Scotland, will ultimately ‘compromise operational effectiveness, particularly in any response to a disease incursion’.
This same constant churn of young vets in and out of clinical roles, creates unsustainable pressures on small practises and industry alike, opening age and expectation gaps between established practitioners and their workforce.
To date, predicted benefits from the ever-increasing numbers of veterinarians graduating from UK Vet Schools have failed to resolve the situation. Increased numbers of young vets have apparently been ‘offset’ by changes in the expectations of our new vets with respect to work patterns and environments. While UK Vet Schools produce graduates of the highest calibre, adding ‘more of the same’ at entrant level, doesn’t appear to be the solution to curbing the drain. It’s time for our professions to take charge!
While estimates of the average duration of a young vets stay within clinical practice range widely, most studies generally agree that this sits between two and seven years. For rural practises, this number is firmly at the lower end. Given the intensive and expensive five years required to educate young vets, this rate of attrition is clearly economically and functionally unsustainable. As a profession, we have a mission and responsibility to do things differently.
“
This same constant churn of young vets in and out of clinical roles, creates unsustainable pressures on small practises and industry alike
”In rolling out SRUC’s new School of Veterinary Medicine, we had the advantage of numerous reports defining the basis of poor resilience among today’s vets and our organisational legacy of expertise in the rural and agricultural sectors. We are determined to establish a school that had ‘addressing the challenges of the profession’ at its heart.
Vet Schools are often seen as ‘gatekeepers of the profession’. It’s time we took a closer look at realignment of our veterinary applicants, with both societal expectations and the realities of the job in the rural sectors.
Charles Sturt University, located in a region of Australia with similar priority pressures, led by example. Using ‘mission-led’ admissions processes, they clearly demonstrated the efficacy of setting ‘realistic’ academic requirements and taking a more holistic approach to identifying applicants with the aptitude and ability to succeed. Applicants selected from rural and farming communities returned there and forged long careers – this is something we’d like to embrace too.
There is an urgent need to widen participation in veterinary programmes. In pursuit of this, we have studied the secondary school provision in subjects at levels deemed essential for acceptance onto the majority of UK veterinary programmes. We have worked with the REACH team to identify and support potential veterinary applicants from a broad range of backgrounds including rural environments. By introducing an HND in Rural Animal Health, we will enable well-aligned but academically under-evidenced candidates to upskill to a level equal to our vet school’s requirements – or alternatively, provide them with viable careers as veterinary technicians.
Finally, perhaps the greatest ask, is of our own and associated professions. If we are to create different, more resilient vet graduates, we must ease their often career-ending transition from student to employee.
For us, this entails training home-domiciled students to exceed RCVS day one competences before the allimportant final, clinical year. We know that by conducting our clinical rotations in real world’ practises, working within functional veterinary teams and growing confidence, we will significantly ease their transition to the workplace – not to mention providing practitioners with the opportunity to work with potential employees.
Understanding conditionality of agricultural support payments in 2025
PROFESSOR STEVEN THOMSON, SRUC
It’s been seven years since the agriculture champions concluded that “no change is not an option” for Scottish agricultural policy and Fergus Ewing committed to the period of “stability and simplicity”, which is now ending.
Farmers and crofters are used to ‘conditional support’ as all schemes have their unique rules (e.g. calf retention periods, cross compliance, stocking densities, ecological focus areas). These familiar scheme rules are set to be extended from 2025, so it’s worth considering what new conditions will come into play from next year.
There will be new cross compliance rules on the maintenance of peatlands and wetlands. The current GAEC 6 maintenance of soil organic matter will be amended, and some new restrictions introduced, particularly on peatlands (e.g. no ploughing and reseeding, no new drainage, limits on existing drainage maintenance that can lead to drying out of the peatland, no creation of new roads and tracks including vehicle rutting exposing the soil, etc). A peatland layer has been added to the Rural Payments Service land parcel viewer and you (or your agent) should check to see if you will be affected by this.
A new 410-day calving interval condition for the dams of calves claimed in the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme is being added to the existing 75% beef genetics and 30day calf retention period. This will apply to individual dams of calves and will not be applied as a herd average. Scheme calves born to first calving heifers will automatically be eligible. Currently the budgets are ringfenced, meaning calves meeting the new criteria will get an uplift. ScotEID’s MyHerdStats (scoteid.com) can help you understand how this change might affect your business.
Farmers and crofters claiming support will also need to look towards building their Whole Farm Plan as it becomes a condition of support from 2025. In the long term, this will become a new entry level standard for support payments. For your Basic Payment Support in 2025 you will need to show you have met two of five Whole Farm Plan elements and by 2028 you will need to show you have undertaken all of the Whole Farm Plan elements, including:
Carbon audit (once every five years). All farms and crofts will have to undertake a carbon audit, using one of the specified tools. If you are already doing carbon auditing as part of your supply chain then these can be used to demonstrate compliance. Farmers and crofters will be permitted to submit their own carbon audits – but many will likely need expert advice to get started.
Biodiversity audit (once every five years). In the first instance you will be required to create a habitat map for your farm or croft. NatureScot is developing a habitat mapping App and RPID’s mapping system should have capability and layers to help create maps. If you are a shareholder in a common grazing you will not need to map the common – but common grazing committees or sheep stock clubs making claims on commons (including AECS) will have to provide habitat maps.
Soil analysis (all Region 1 land, once every five years). For soil sampling you won’t need to do tests on seasonal land or on common grazings, nor on fields where you don’t apply fertilisers or manures. However, other land for which you receive Region 1 support will need tested every five years for pH, Phosphate (P), Potash (K) and Carbon.
Animal health and welfare plan (annually). Livestock keepers will have to prepare an annual plan to cover key minimum standards. A vet doesn’t need to sign off the plan, although you need to prove annual engagement. If you haven’t completed one before, speak to your vet, or advisor, first.
Integrated pest management plan (annually). For those who use pesticides or herbicides. A useful tool has been created by the Plant Health Centre for those that predominately grow arable crops, horticulture crops or grassland.
Remember, the Scottish Government will take a light-touch approach to Whole Farm Plan compliance in 2025. They have stated there will be no penalties in 2025, only warning letters issued, which means you have more time to get the ball moving.
Some of you may already be compliant, but for others this may feel daunting and it is important you speak to your local consultant, or vet, or seek Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service (www.fas.scot) support.
I am convinced that these new conditions have a higher compliance cost for those receiving the smallest amounts of support. There is a significant risk that some in receipt of small support amounts may feel this is too much additional paperwork for what they receive, and will withdraw from the support system. Many crofters and farmers are already voicing concerns, so it’s important to keep talking about these issues and advocating for the many small producers that Scotland should be proud of and make sure there is a Just Transition for those most vulnerable to policy changes.
The value of data integrity and trusted networks:
Interview with Rory Christie of Dourie Farming Company Ltd and Chairman of SAOS
The Dourie Farming Company Ltd was formed in 1954 by Rory’s grandfather, grown by his father. It is now jointly owned and run by Rory, and his brother Gregor, making them a third-generation farming family. Dourie Farm’s operations are all located close to the small fishing villages of Port William and Monreith, in the Machars of Wigtownshire, an area of low-lying agricultural land near to Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway.
“We currently run a 200-sow pig enterprise, and an 1100cow dairy enterprise. In the business we each have our own specialisations. Gregor looks after the pigs, and I look after the dairy and land related operations. We don’t interfere in each other’s area of specialisation, but we talk, consult and strategise almost every day.
“Our vision is to make our business environmentally and economically fit for the future. In every aspect of our work, we strive to be technically and financially proficient so that the animals and business can flourish. We have a regimented governance process, and all our decisions are based upon those numbers. We use 10+ years of production data, and compare the figures to the previous month, year or ten years to see what is going well and what isn’t.
“About 10 years ago I wanted to understand how much natural capital we had on farm. I always understood that without a baseline you couldn’t measure your improvement (or lack of) in whatever you are doing. It became apparent that it wasn’t possible because there wasn’t the resource or support at the time.
“Over time, we’ve seen many changes in this area. The interest in natural capital has incrementally increased. We have seen the setting of UK-wide and international netzero targets, with no roadmap on how to achieve them. We also witnessed the development of carbon markets. Yet, in some ways, farming seems to have been left behind. There’s a regulated carbon market for forestry, a woodland code and a peatland code, but there’s no soil code.
There’s certainly no market for agricultural carbon, other than the voluntary one, which to me seems like doing business in the Wild West. There’s clearly a need for understanding agricultural carbon better, and there are many challenges with clarity on how farmers can demonstrate measurement and improvement. This is exacerbated by those selling carbon tools, analysis and tech without any integrity or concern for the long-term outcomes.
“Additionally, the way we use data is uncoordinated industry-wide, and there is a lack of legislation to protect the farmer. Farmers are regularly expected to give data to their supply chains. Often in these scenarios, third parties solve the problem for the supplier, by gathering data from farmers, reviewing it and selling the insights. Farmers get no benefit from the data, as they don’t get the chance to see it in full. This practice gives control to someone else to determine ‘how well you’re farming’ and instruct you on what to do next. Without the ability to verify the data, farmers can easily experience a loss of independence, which they should be protected from.
“In looking for a reliable and trusted baseline carbon report, I saw a SAC Consulting webinar on Farm Carbon Storage and got in touch with Seamus Murphy to do a deep dive into the carbon on our farm. The report details my carbon stock and my activities, so I have an accurate carbon footprint with the baseline for 2023, and we know how many tonnes of carbon there are within our farm. We also have a LIDAR data set from the project which supports the report.
We can’t hide from the difficult circumstances of the economy and climate change. In fact, we actually have a huge opportunity to become a nation of environmentally sustainable food producers.
Crucially, SAC Consulting gave all the data back to me. So, it’s our data, under our control, and we can use it as we wish in future.
“We recently began a Digital Dairy Chain project with Dr Lorna Cole of SAC Consulting, on biodiversity auditing. The aim is to discover our biodiversity baseline and understand how much nature restoration could be carried out, as well as the associated costs. Measuring biodiversity is hard to achieve and requires specialist skills and resource. I’m sure our project is one of the first commercial biodiversity baseline projects in Scotland.
“I would go so far as to say that Scotland has a great opportunity to become a nation of nature friendly food producers. If we can encourage co-operation and collaboration throughout our supply chains, we will see greater benefits for farmers in terms of demonstrating their worth to society. Luckily, we have great organisations like SAOS, and its many member coops, which will aid and help us on the journey.
“As farmers, we expect consumers to change transport habits, buy local, eat a balanced diet, demand high welfare and environmental standards and stop buying cheap imported food. As farmers we are expected to adapt, read market signals, adjust our behaviour, work together and not just think about how we sustain our planet for future generations, but implement change now that will help to save society from the climate crisis. These two expectations come at a high cost. Therefore, balance that allows both farmer and consumer to adapt to a new future must be sought.
“We can’t hide from the difficult circumstances of the economy and climate change and, as I said, we have a huge
opportunity to become a nation of environmentally sustainable food producers. In our case, I believe the opportunity lies in analysing for insight and evidencing that our farming practices have balanced planet sustaining integrity.
“From this discovery we can then market accordingly. Whether it be nature friendly dairy or pork or simply selling our produce to a market that needs to know what it is eating. Whatever way it goes, if we own the data and insight then we give ourselves the best chance of adapting to what is demanded of us. I firmly believe that cooperatives like SAOS and consultants like SAC Consulting will support in solving these problems in future, working as trusted brokers and helping to give the farmer the competitive edge.
“I’ve shared the carbon report with my buyers, as it tells them very clearly what our carbon footprint is, and how it was calculated. In having both the carbon and biodiversity reports, the evidence shows that we are responsible producers. This also signals that we are early adopters determined to push the boundaries of good practice.
“If there are farmers in a similar position in terms of going on this journey, I would say don’t wait for someone else to tell you what to do, move things forward for yourself. In our case, it was all about seeking knowledge that I could trust. To find that, I listen to people around me. If something really lands with me, I will get in touch with them, form a relationship and dig into their knowledge. From that, I now have a large, trusted network which is probably my biggest asset. Find people you can trust and, at the very least, calculate your own farm baseline. Finally, get your data in order and in a format that you can use - make sure that it is accurate, trusted and has integrity.”
Victoria Barthelmess
SUSTAINABILITY ECONOMIST
Specialist skills
• Quantitative & qualitative analysis
• Systems thinking
What was your career journey into this role?
After finishing my degree in Economics, I joined a multinational energy company. Over seven years, I worked in various strategic roles, honing skills in developing strategies for complex supply chains and commercial models.
I focused on enhancing sustainability within value chains, worked on advancing floating offshore wind technologies, and led macroeconomic analyses that guided the company’s investments and vision of the long-term energy system.
Although I gained immense knowledge, I grew increasingly concerned about the economic system’s impact on climate change. This realisation led me to pursue a master’s in ecological economics, deepening my understanding of the interplay between economics and environmental sustainability.
Why
did
you come to work at SAC Consulting?
As my master’s programme concluded, I sought a role where I could align my expertise with nature-focused work. SAC Consulting’s Food and Footprint team stood out to me. Their dedication to researching and advising on sustainable land use matched my desire to influence policy and practice through research.
The opportunity to work on impactful projects with a focus on Scotland was really appealing. The combination of applied analysis and research in a dynamic and meaningful field made SAC Consulting a nice fit.
If you could do anyone else’s job, who would it be and why?
I’d be intrigued to take on the role of our team’s ecologists. Their work is at the cutting edge of Scotland’s environmental policies, particularly around biodiversity. They delve into measuring and supporting biodiversity, an area crucial for Scotland’s ecological health. Their expertise in this field not only informs policy but also drives practical solutions to enhance Scotland’s natural environment.
What work are you most proud of and why?
One project I’m particularly proud of is our collaboration with Highlands Rewilding. We’re assisting in setting up joint ventures with local businesses to allow local communities to benefit from rewilding efforts. All these businesses are looking to support connectivity with nature. It’s exciting to see this initiative grow, and I’m hopeful that our support will lead to tangible, positive outcomes for both the community and the environment.
If you had one wish, to be used to better the industry, what would you wish for?
If I had one wish, it would be to enhance inclusivity in decision-making processes. I believe integrating diverse voices—those who are directly impacted by environmental decisions can lead to more equitable and effective outcomes. Making these voices central to the conversation would enrich the decision-making process and ensure that solutions are more comprehensive and just.
Staff Spotlight Anne Seaton
HEAD OF VETERINARY DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES AND LIVESTOCK HEALTH SCHEMES
Specialist expertise
• Livestock health and welfare
• Veterinary diagnostics
• Livestock disease surveillance
What was your career journey into this role?
This is my second spell of working with SRUC! The first came after being in practice when I joined as a Veterinary Investigation Officer in Dumfries. That was a great learning experience for me. I then moved to what became APHA, working in the field team and involved in everything from animal by-products to notifiable disease outbreaks. I also took on a leadership role and gained experience working with a great multi-disciplinary team across south west Scotland. Returning to SRUC in 2016, I was initially based in Perth before moving to Pentlands Science Park in 2020 and becoming involved in the running of the diagnostic labs there.
Why did you come to work at SRUC?
I took on my current role at the start of the year because I love the buzz of high-throughput diagnostic laboratory. It is a really exciting time in diagnostics with a range of new technologies and approaches on the horizon. I was also keen to work more closely with commercial colleagues to help develop our services to better support vet practices and livestock farmers.
If you could do anyone else’s job, who would it be and why?
I would like to work in the validation team. The scientists in that team work across microbiology and molecular biology improving and developing the tests we run and developing and validating new test methods. They also get to work with other companies running projects which assist with validating new technologies and techniques against some of the ‘gold standard’ established methods.
What work are you most proud of and why?
The thing I am most proud of is Vet Services being awarded the Queens Anniversary Prize. The prize is highest possible national recognition for an education institution and was awarded for Vet Services impact on animal health and welfare and particularly the development of the health schemes. This work by colleagues over decades is a great example of what Vet Services does best which is working with the industry to create what was a novel approach to disease control. I was really proud to be part of the group accepting the award on behalf of colleagues past and present.
If you had one wish, to be used to better the industry, what would you wish for?
I would wish for everyone to be able to access the data they need easily and in ways it can be understood and shared. There is so much information that can help decision making on farms, in practices and in the testing laboratories, but we seem to be simultaneously drowning in it and having to work really hard to dig for the bits we need. If it could be a bit more ‘handed to us on a plate’, we could all get on with the work we need to do!
