AgriScot to live-stream Farms of Year 2021 awards

In the absence of the hoped-for AgriScot – first postponed from its November slot then cancelled after Covid threatened its February date - a special awards ceremony is to be livestreamed to showcase the latest crop of Farms of the Year award winners.

Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon

And the inaugural presentation of the new Diversified Farm of the Year award will take place alongside the long-standing awards for arable, beef, dairy and sheep farms of the year at the ceremony to take place on 9 February.

Also announced on the day, which was to be the date of a full-scale AgriScot event, will be the winners of the Business Skills competition, the Silage competition along with the unveiling of the Product Innovation Award winner.

The organisers said that the finalists had all been invited to attend the presentation at the Royal Highland Centre, where Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon will present each farm with a finalist certificate before the announcement of each prestigious title.

The finalists are - Scottish Arable Farm of the Year: Milton of Mathers, Montrose, farmed by Jim Reid and family; Prestonhall Farms, Pathhead, managed by Bill Gray on behalf of the Callander family; and Tulloch Farms, Laurencekirk, managed by Iain Wilson on behalf of Martin and Jamie Gilbert.

Scotch Beef Farm of the Year: Adziel Farm, Strichen, farmed by James, Irene and Gillian Fowlie; Drumbreddan Farm, Stranraer, farmed by Daniel and Lamont Hair; and Durie Farms, Leven farmed by Douglas Christie

Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year: East Brackenridge, Strathaven, farmed by Andrew and Hugh Neilson; Holehouse Farms, Kilbirnie, farmed by the Logan Family; and Queenscairn, Kelso, farmed by Robert Shanks.

Scottish Diversified Farm of the Year : Bain Farm, Sandwick. Lara Hourie and family; Cairns Farm, West Calder. Caroline and Graham Hamilton; Newton Farm, Forfar. Louise and Graeme Nicoll.

Scottish Sheep Farm of the Year : Attonburn, Yetholm, Farmed by Robert and Becca Rennie; Saughland, Pathhead, Managed by Pete Eccles and Owen Gray on behalf of the Callander family; and Swinside Townfoot, Jedburgh, farmed by Peter Hedley.

The three finalists in the Business Skills competition are: Emily Mosley, a Harper Adams graduate, originally from Derbyshire but now working as a Farm Administrator in Tain; Ben McSporran, a third year BSc Agriculture student at SRUC Edinburgh who combines his studies with part time work on farms near his Peeblesshire home farm; and Stewart Shaw, a partner in his family farming and contracting business in the Scottish Borders.

The silage competition, where £5000 of prizes is up for grabs, received a healthy number of entries in December. The shortlisted samples – based on chemical analysis reports – from pits and bale stacks, all over Scotland and the north of England were frozen and the defrosted samples will be judged by Hugh McClymont from SAC Crichton Royal Farm as part of the livestream on 9 February.

The livestream will be available at www.agriscot.co.uk/video-hub/ from 11.10am on 9 February.