New monitor farms set for first meetings

Scotlands Nine Monitor farm hosts. Backrow (l-r) Bill Gray (Lothians), Jason Ballantyne (Sutherland), John Howie (North Ayrshire), Andrew Marchant (Nithsdale), Robert Mitchell (Borders), Stuart Mitchell (Borders), Iain Green (Morayshire), Chris Cameron (Lochaber), Peter Eccles (Lothians) and Rob Stodart (Angus). Front row (l-r) Vic Ballantyne (Sutherland), Aileen Marchant (Nithsdale), Lesley Mitchell (Borders), Alison Stodart (Angus), Tom Stodart (Angus), Aimee Budge (Shetland) and Kirsty Budge (Shetland).

The Borders Monitor Farm Meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 22, courtesy of the Mitchell family, Whitriggs Farm, Denholm, Hawick.

At this launch meeting, which is free to attend and open to all, the hosts will give an overview of their businesses and share their aspirations for the next three years as they focus on improving their production efficiency and business margins.

For further information and to book your place contact Stephen Young on 07502 339613/[email protected]

Scotland’s other eight new monitor farms will also hold their first open meetings in the coming weeks.

During the first meetings the facilitators for each farm will highlight the key aims of the programme which is being run jointly by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds with funding from the Scottish Government and European Union’s Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund.

The objective of the Monitor Farm Scotland programme is to help improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of farm businesses through practical demonstrations, the sharing of best practice and the group approach to addressing industry issues.

There will be an opportunity for local farmers to get involved with their local monitor farm and join the business group and management group which will be established for each farm.

The locations of the monitor farms are diverse, with farms as far north as Sutherland and Shetland, stretching down to the Scottish Borders and also including Nithsdale, North Ayrshire, Lothians, Angus, Morayshire and Lochaber.