Welcome to SRUC’s Rural Brexit Hub!

The Scottish sheep industry needs to process more animals at home and develop markets outside of the European Union in order to meet future challenges, new research has found. The research was commissioned by the Scottish Government, and was carried out by, Kev Bevan, Steven Thomson and Dr Cesar Revoredo-Giha from SRUC, and Dr Andrew…

SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre, with its team of systems-scale researchers, is based at Kirkton and Auchtertyre Farms, a 2200 ha Highland estate near Crianlarich in the west Highlands of Scotland. The site is set within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and ranges from high quality and productive grazing to high altitude…

The Rural Policy Centre’s Jane Atterton participated in a session on “Changing Trade Regimes: Opportunities and Challenges for Agriculture and Rural Communities” at the recent 2019 European Society for Rural Sociology Congress in Trondheim, Norway. The session was organised by Carmen Hubbard and Adrienne Attorp at the Centre for Rural Economy (CRE) at Newcastle University….

In May 2019, Professor Davy McCracken was invited to speak at the Ethical Farming Conference held at Rainton Farm in south-west Scotland. Ethically produced food is an important emerging market and consumers want our industry to find solutions. The Ethical Farming conference is seen as an opportunity to bring ethical and sustainable innovators together, both…

The Scottish Government recently published the results of an independent study into Scottish public attitudes to the environment, agriculture and rural development. The research suggests that public support  for farming is growing, with 83% of Scots believing that farming provides essential public service, and a further 86% believing that the industry is critical to the…

In May 2019, Professor Davy McCracken  was invited to speak at the Scottish Land & Estates Conference in Edinburgh. The theme of the conference was on “Maximising the Margins” and explored land use in our more challenging and fragile areas. In particular, presentations and discussions looked in depth at how rural business can rise to…

This farm diversification guide was written by SAC Consulting Food and Drink who specialise in farm business diversification. This guide was funded by the Scottish Government, as there is a need for farmers and rural businesses to consider alternative income streams amongst Brexit uncertainty. The Full report can be viewed here.

Dr Rob McMorran discusses land ownership in Scotland and the potential for community land ownership and other land ownership reforms. Land ownership is critical to how land is managed and used, and Rob highlights some of the consequences for land use through differing funding incentives, and implications of changes in such. The full video can…

Professor Davy McCracken talks us through the CAP, high nature value farming and the potential opportunity for a revision of agricultural policy. Davy goes on to discuss ‘public goods’ in Scotland, the farming systems currently operating, and implications of future trade deals for Scottish farming. The full video can be view here.

A Report by colleagues at the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University was published this week on how UK agriculture will be impacted by Brexit. The report assesses the economic impacts of a selected number of UK trade and domestic agricultural policy scenarios following Brexit, by integrating state of the art economic modelling approaches…