Sutherland Monitor Farm Looks to the Future

Farmers and crofters are invited to the next meeting of the Sutherland Monitor Farm, which will focus on developing a sustainable business.

Innovations specialist Stephen Burns from the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation (Agri-EPI) Centre will be the main speaker at this meeting which will be held at Brora Golf Club on Tuesday 5 December.

The Agri-EPI Centre has been established to drive growth and support innovative ideas to help farmers and business owners become more profitable and sustainable.

It has over 140 members and brings together leading academic institutions with industry partners to design and develop research and innovations that will support growth in the food and farming sectors.

Jason Ballantyne from Clynelish Farm, Sutherland’s Monitor farm, is looking forward to hearing how new technology can be adopted on farm to help farmers and crofters in Sutherland.

“As farmers we are constantly trying to find ways to increase our businesses’ efficiency and profitability. I think that initiatives like the Agri-EPI centre are intriguing as they can support the development of new ideas, which will hopefully help livestock enterprises become more sustainable in this challenging time,” said Mr Ballantyne.    

Also at the meeting, Mr Ballantyne and his wife Victoria will give a summary of how their first year as the Sutherland Monitor farm host has been - what changes they have made, and the results of those changes. The group will then take a look at the Clynelish costings, scenarios and ideas for 2018.

Clynelish Farm is one of nine monitor farms established in Scotland as part of a joint initiative by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government. The aim of the monitor farm programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of Scottish farm businesses.

The meeting at Brora Golf Club on 5 December, which is free to attend and open to all, will begin at 11am, with coffee/registration from 10.30am.

To book your attendance at the next Sutherland Monitor farm meeting on Tuesday 5 December please contact Willie Budge or Cat MacGregor, the project facilitators at SAC Consulting Thurso on 01847 892602 or email FBSThurso@sac.co.uk

For more information about the monitor farm programme visit www.monitorfarms.co.uk