New funding to aid farming information gathering

New funding worth almost £63,000, will support green projects which explore ways to help reduce emissions and tackle climate change in farming and food production.

The latest round of the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF) will, according to the Scottish Government’s minister for rural affairs and the natural environment, Ben Macpherson, help farmers and crofters explore new ways of protecting and restoring biodiversity, habitats and ecosystems:

“It is important that our recovery from the pandemic delivers a greener economy. That’s why the Scottish Government has invested almost £6 million in a range of different projects that will help us to grow a sustainable, vibrant and innovative rural economy,.” Said McPherson.

Delivered through the Scottish Rural Development Programme the funding will see almost £30,000 go to the Soil Association to run a project aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the opportunities for agroforestry in Scotland, along with the benefits it can provide to both the environment and to productive and sustainable farming.

A second award of £25,350, has been made to the agricultural co-operative group, SAOS, for a project which aims to demystify the use of sensors in farming.

Aimed at getting more to embrace the potential of new technology around sensors and digital farming to boost the gathering of information, the work will focus on harnessing “smart data” to improve efficiency and decision-making within the sector.

A third award of £7,590 has gone to the RSPB to hold a number of workshops aimed at creating farming community groups focused on sharing their knowledge and experience of how biodiversity issues can be seamlessly integrated with sustainable farming practices.