Forestry to double contribution

A new strategy, Roots for Further Growth, has highlighted that the forestry sector can double its contribution to the Scottish economy by 2030.

The plan is to bring output to over £2bn over 12 years and includes planting 10,000ha of trees per year, increasing to 15,000ha by 2024/2025. The strategy emphasises the importance of forestry in sequestering carbon to mitigate against climate change. It was devised by Scottish Forest and Timber Technologies Industry Leadership Group.

£125k pork campaign

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) has received a grant from the Scottish Government to help fund a £125,000 pork marketing campaign in January.

The promotion will highlight pork as a healthy and easy-to-cook protein source which is also great value for money – at a time of year when shoppers are watching spending, and healthy eating is also high on the agenda.

Go Places with Pork, which will launch on 21 January, will include TV, radio, print and billboard advertising.

US lecturer at SRC

Craig Davidson will join the Scottish Rural College in January 2019. He currently lectures in Bakersfield, Kern County, California, where 18 high schools have agriculture as a subject option. Agriculture in the county contributes $7.25bn to the economy in the US, yet 99% of the students taking agriculture have never been on a farm.

Davidson’s students are 14-18 years of age, and frequently visit a 2.5-acre local farm to learn. They also do public speaking and go to stock shows. He is keen to see this model replicated in Scotland, in the hope that it would encourage more young people to consider agriculture as a career choice.

Crofters receive £1m in housing grants

Over £1m has been spent on improving crofter housing so far in 2018. The cash is used to build and improve homes in a hope to retain and attract people to rural and remote Scottish communities.

The recent round of grants saw 11 people share £363,000. Since 2007, £18m has been spent improving/building 900 homes.