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| Funding released to help mitigate impacts of adverse weather. A National Basic Payment Support Scheme (NBPSS) has been launched, providing vital financial support for Scottish farmers, following months of adverse weather conditions. Loan payments are expected to be made to eligible farmers from early October. A Similar scheme was created in 2017, which delivered payments of more than £317 million to over 13,500 farmers. |  |
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| Commenting on the publication of the first tranche of UK Government 'Technical Notices' to prepare for leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: "Farmers and food producers want to know if they will still be able to sell their products in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal in March 2019. So while these technical notices from the UK Government lay bare the risks facing Scottish farmers and the wider rural economy, they fail to provide much needed clarity over the long term. | |
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| The Agricultural Weather Advisory Panel met earlier this month to discuss the impact of the recent dry weather on Scottish agriculture, including a potential shortage of animal feed over the winter months. In light of requests to shorten the Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) fallow period to allow a fodder crop to be grown over the autumn, the panel decided to highlight the flexibility that currently exists under the 2018 Greening rules. | |
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| Tenant farmers across Scotland have two years left to consider if they have improvements to notify their landlord about, under the waygo amnesty. | |
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| The move to Making Tax Digital whereby HMRC will require most rural businesses to provide information more frequently and in greater detail than before (and directly from commercial software) will be a prompt for many to move to modern cloud based systems. If you're looking for help with this process, FAS has events in Ayr, Campbeltown, Forfar, Perth, Dingwall (details tbc), and Inverurie in the coming months. | |
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| Amaze me LEADER's Youth Think Tank event was held on Friday 10th August in Dumfries, and the event was attended by both local and international rural young people as well as key policy influencers. Nicola Sturgeon opened the workshop with a video message for delegates, and Scottish Rural Network were on hand to film and interview at the event as part of their #RuralYouthAugust social media campaign. | |
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| See tips and advice from Professional Farm Adviser, Ian Cairns, on carbon audits and their potential benefits to farm owners. 'They provide Scottish farmers with a great opportunity to get independent advice at no or low cost. And, with Brexit on the horizon, such opportunities are more important than ever.' | |
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| The Crofting Commission is releasing some short videos on some of the different aspects of the work of the organisation. Our first video looks at a challenging and personal question, what is crofting? | |
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| A new Compulsory Sales Order (CSO) power could tackle the blight of abandoned buildings and parcels of vacant and derelict land in town centres and communities across Scotland. | |
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| RSPB UK HQ launched an interactive Raptor Persecution Map Hub recently. This is an online set of maps which show where known confirmed raptor persecution incidents have taken place, is easy to use, and is a very visual way of understanding the extent and broad location of raptor persecution incidents throughout the UK. It's also the first time all this data has been pulled together in one place. Below is a link to the blog that accompanies the map hub - from which the hub can be accessed. | |
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