After four years of testing ideas, making changes and sharing the results with their local farming communities, Scotland’s nine Monitor Farms are preparing to host their final meetings of the current programme. The series will begin with the Argyll Monitor Farm on Islay on 25 September and travel across Scotland before concluding in Roxburghshire on 12 November. But rather than simply looking back, the final meetings will focus firmly on what has changed, what has made a difference and where each farming business goes next.
Beth Alexander, Monitor Farm Scotland Programme manager said: “Over the last four years we’ve seen our Monitor Farmers challenge themselves, try new approaches and make changes to their businesses. These final meetings are our opportunity to bring that journey together – to look at where each farm started, what has changed and, importantly, what they have learned along the way.
“We also want to look forward. Each of our Monitor Farmers have been thinking about where they want their business to be in five years and the practical steps they need to take to get there.
“That makes these meetings relevant far beyond the nine Monitor Farms. The challenges and opportunities they are considering – whether around profitability, productivity, people, the environment or adapting their businesses for the future – will be familiar to farmers across Scotland.”
Each meeting will hear directly from the Monitor Farmers about their experience of the programme, including the changes they have made and the impact these have had on their farm and business.
The programme will also include a ‘From the Field to the Future’ panel discussion, bringing together the Monitor Farmer, another local farmer and an adviser connected to the project to explore some of the opportunities and challenges facing farming businesses over the coming years.
Beth added: “One of the real strengths of Monitor Farm has always been farmers learning from farmers. These meetings aren’t intended to be presentations about a ‘perfect’ farm – they are about sharing what has worked, what hasn’t, the decisions that have been made and what others can take from that experience.
“Whether someone has followed their local Monitor Farm throughout the four years or has never attended a meeting before, I would really encourage them to come along. There should be something in every meeting that gets people talking, questioning and thinking about their own business.
“While these are the final meetings of this Monitor Farm programme, the conversations, relationships and changes it has created will continue well beyond them.”
Monitor Farm Scotland final meeting dates:
Argyll – Friday 25 September
Strathspey – Friday 2 October
Deeside – Wednesday 7 October
South Ayrshire – Wednesday 28 October
Banff and Buchan – Friday 30 October
East Lothian – Monday 2 November
Dumfries – Tuesday 3 November
Stirling – Wednesday 4 November
Roxburgh – Thursday 12 November
For more information and to book your place, see https://www.monitorfarms.co.uk/events