Former Monitor Farmers Open Gates for Legacy Initiative

A series of five one day events to revisit former monitor farms will be hosted by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) in the coming two months.

The monitor farms programme has been in existence since 2003 and to date has involved almost 50 farms funded mainly through the Scottish Government’s Skills Development Scheme, and supported by QMS, DairyCo, NFUS, HGCA and SOPA.

The former monitor farms selected to be part of the QMS legacy initiative, with funding from Scottish Government, include: Torhousekie Farm, Wigtown; Cluny Farm, Forres; Plan Farm, Isle of Bute; West Cockmuir Farm, Strichen and Fearn Farm, Tain.

The monitor farm project involves the selection of a farm, typical of the area, as the monitor farm with a community group, comprised of local farmers and other related businesses, getting involved in management decisions to improve the efficiency of the farm.

The aim of the legacy meetings is to give the community group and host farmer the opportunity to review on-going projects beyond the normal life of the monitor farm and also to assess and learn from changes to the businesses.

An independent review of Scotland’s Monitor Farms Programme confirmed the farms have been successful in practical and effective knowledge exchange and delivered a positive impact on farm practices and performance.

The evaluation assessed the success of the programme in achieving its core objective of improving the profitability of Scottish farmers and also identified learning and good practice in knowledge exchange.

“One piece of feedback which is consistently received from those involved in the monitor farm programme is that it would be useful to re-visit the farms to share some of the longer term benefits, which is exactly what the legacy project aims to do,” said Uel Morton, QMS Chief Executive.

“Key to the success of this programme has been the willingness of the monitor farmers to open their farm gates, their farm accounts and their own hearts to this project and we are grateful to the five former monitor farmers who will once again be opening their gates as part of the legacy project.”

The Monitor Farm Legacy meetings, which are open to all and free of charge, will take place on the following dates:

·         Wednesday 11 November - Kenny Adams hosts at Torhousekie Farm, Wigtown, DG8 9BJ

·         Thursday 26 November - Janet and Brian Hill host at Plan Farm, Kingarth, Isle of Bute, PA20 9LX

·         Thursday 3 December - Robert and Ian Chapman host at Tophead Farm, Lonmay, AB43 8UY

·         Wednesday 9 December - Robbie and Kirsty Newlands host at Cluny Farm, Rafford, Forres, IV36 2SJ

·         Thursday 10 December - the Scott Family host at Fearn Farm, Tain, IV20 1TL

For further information about these events and to register your place visit www.qmscotland.co.uk/events