The James Hutton Institute present the project's approach...
'Arable farming in a new era' was the theme of this year’s Arable Scotland, Scotland’s leading field event for knowledge exchange in arable farming. Bringing together key players in arable production, from farmers to distillers and exporters, the event provides a platform for discussing industry issues and demonstrating innovative and sustainable farming.
The event is supported and promoted by FRAMEwork project partner The James Hutton Institute, who represented FRAMEwork at the event with a presentation and demonstration.
This year’s theme felt particularly urgent for the region in light of recent warnings that the number of water scarcity events in Scotland could double by 2025 and that increasing weather variability as a result of climate change is likely to affect growing conditions in Scotland’s arable regions. This could have a huge impact for key Scottish industries like whisky production, meaning it was a welcome moment for the kinds of discussions and knowledge exchange around resilient farming that took place at the event.
Held on July 2nd at Balruddery Farm near Dundee, this year’s programme featured exhibits showcasing the latest farming innovations and solutions, machinery demonstrations, and hands-on workshops for practical insights into topics like soil quality assessment and integrated management. There were also seminars exploring pivotal issues such as the potential of new and minor crops, and mitigating the impacts of extreme weather.
Of course, these themes are hugely relevant to FRAMEwork, so we’re thrilled that Hutton was able to present some of our work and research. Project representatives introduced FRAMEwork project and outlined its work on the Advanced Farmer Cluster system, using the Scottish Buchan cluster as an example. They also held a demonstration into the value of wildflower margins.
Arable Scotland is a fantastic event for those interested in sustainable solutions for the arable industry and we look forward to having a presence at next year’s event.
If you’re interested in takeaways from Arable Scotland, Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service has a couple of wrap-up videos on their YouTube channel, reflecting on the discussion of Integrated Pest Management at the event, and the theme of resilient farming.
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