Drive to change attitudes and use latest technology
With farming currently standing on the brink of the next agricultural revolution, a new group has been set up to kick-start greater uptake amongst Scotland’s farmers of recent global leaps in science and technology.
The formation of a new industry-led agricultural science and technology group, aimed at bringing about a step change in farming’s attitudes towards - and uptake of the global technological revolution was announced yesterday by the Scottish Government.
Yesterday chairman of the new group, Robert Ramsay – a farmer and sales director with agritech company Soil Essentials – said there were huge opportunities for farmers to harness science and technology in improving their levels of efficiency.
Stressing this was in terms of both financial performance and environmental impact in areas like the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, he said: “My own personal interest in the area stemmed not so much from the technology itself but more from how this can be harnessed to allow farming to take advantage of the opportunities which it offers us.”
He said that while there had been some good
0 Electric tractors are one way to tackle emissions examples of the uptake of recent research, so far the improvements offered had been small in scale:
“To date, while there have been many fantastic examples of the uptake of new technologies by the industry, they have only offered slight improvements on what went before.”
Commending the efforts of initiatives such as the monitor farm network in promoting the uptake of research findings he said that it was time for the next step to be taken in breaking down the barriers, with a change in the “it’s always been done this way” mindset being required.
“With developments in this area currently revolutionising many industries they have, so far, failed to have as much impact on agriculture as our sector deserves. And to take things forward a change in attitude towards keying into these developments is required,” said Ramsay, “and I hope the group will be able to kickstart such a revolution in the way the industry thinks about technology and science.”
Announcing the formation of the group, the Scottish Government said it was a fulfilment of a commitment made within the recent Climate Change Plan, which was laid before parliament earlier this year. “Founded with a strong scientific and technological presence, the group will look to highlight current and future opportunities,”said rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing.