From countryside to couch
Scotland’s top research farms will bring the countryside to the couch this Sunday, March 28, as part of Linking Environment and Farming’s (LEAF) Online Farm Sunday event.
With current Covid-19 restrictions preventing many people visiting the countryside, SEFARI – a consortium of six globally renowned Scottish environment and food and agriculture research institutes – is offering virtual tours to show the work taking part on its research farms.
The tours, supported by SEFARI Gateway, include SRUC’s Kirkton and Auchtertyre estate in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which will show the challenges faced by farmers in the harsh mountainous regions of Scotland.
At SRUC’s Crichton Royal Farm, in Dumfries and Galloway, visitors will be able to see a robotic milking parlour and at Glensaugh farm in Aberdeenshire, visitors can learn how pasture management and agroforestry can play an important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Other tours include showing how different cropping systems can help increase food production and protect the environment, the biodiversity it supports and the work of researchers to tackle parasites and diseases that impact on the health and welfare of livestock.
The virtual events at bit.ly/ SEFARIfarmtours are part of LEAF’s Online Farm Sunday event on March 28.
The series of ‘live’ virtual farm tours, beginning at 2pm, will take viewers to all corners of the UK.
With a particular focus on health and wellbeing, LEAF will be running a Farm Fit competition to see if viewers can guess how many steps Britain’s Fittest Farmers and Stella the cow take in the seven-day run up to Sunday.
The event, from 2pm4.30pm, includes dairy herd health, lambing and calving, free range egg production and glasshouse tomato production.