Sustainable upland management: lessons from Scotland

There are marked differences in the agricultural and environmental challenges facing Scotland’s lowland, upland and crofting farming systems. But all have one thing in common: in order to be truly sustainable into the future, the systems being practiced will need to change substantially. In particular Scotland’s future farming systems will need to involve more sustainable use of resources and greater integration with other land uses. This presentation will highlight the different ways in which upland farming systems in Scotland will need to change in order to help address the ongoing climate emergency and biodiversity crisis. The SRUC farms at Crianlarich are a Linking Environment & Farming (LEAF) Innovation Centre and a member of the Global Farm Platform initiative. Consequently, the research and demonstration on the farms has a particular focus on how precision livestock approaches and associated technologies can be used to address agricultural and environmental challenges in the uplands.

Professor Davy McCracken joined SRUC: Scotland’s Rural College in 1995 and has been Head of SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre, at Kirkton & Auchtertyre farms near Crianlarich, since 2013. Davy studies farming and wildlife interactions and has been working on agricultural and agri-environmental policy at a national and international level for over 30 years. He was one of the founders of the European High Nature Value farming concept. Davy has been involved in providing advice and guidance on policy development to a wide range of governmental and NGO committees over the years and is currently inputting to the development of both Scotland’s new agricultural support policy and future biodiversity strategy.

[Host: Ângela Lomba, Biodiversity in Agricultural and Forest Ecosystems - AGRODIV]

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