The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Farm on trust estate to be let after 35 years
For the first time in 35 years a farm on The MacRobert Trust estate, Tarland, is to be tendered for letting.
Ranna Farm extends to 560 acres and will be let from November 28 this year on a five-year short limited duration tenancy (SLDT) with the possibility of a further fixed term, by negotiation, at the end of that period.
The farm is one of nine main holdings on the Trust’s 7,200 acre estate in the Howe of Cromar, that also comprises commercial and amenity forestry, Douneside House Hotel, Alastrean House and residential property.
Ranna Farm was purchased by Sir Alexander MacRobert in 1917 and now includes the original 122 acres he bought at Burnside in 1888.
The wider estate was acquired in 1918 from Lord Aberdeen. Burnside was extended and improved, beginning in 1904, and became Douneside House.
After a series of family tragedies, Lady MacRobert focused her energies on running the estate, which involved farming over half of it in hand.
She was forward thinking, had already established the first Friesian dairy herd in Scotland in 1913; created a Highland fold and bred very good quality Aberdeen Angus. She invested in modern farm buildings and machinery.
Lady MacRobert established The MacRobert Trust which, following her death in 1954, continued her charitable work and the running of the estate.
The Trust came out of in-hand farming in 1986 and that was the first time that Ranna Farm was let. It has been run as a beef and arable unit by the same family since then.
The Trust is now offering Ranna to let and is open to tenders from applicants with a range of approaches to farming the holding.
In addition to conventional farming practices, alternatives such as regenerative agriculture, organic farming and diversification, or a mixture, would be of interest to the Trust.
One of the main reasons for the five-year SLDT is to give both the tenant and the landlord time to understand how farming will be supported in future.
The general expectation is there will be more of a focus on environmental improvement and the contribution farmers can make to maintaining and enhancing public goods.
The Trust aims to be a supportive landlord, so that its tenants can run successful businesses, whilst receiving a fair rent in return. It will work proactively with a new tenant to ensure the letting proves successful.
The holding comes with a three-bed farmhouse, a good set of modern buildings and productive land, about 65% of which is 4.1 on the land classification scale and the remainder evenly split between 3.2 and 4.2.