Rural Economy

Many of us want to eat a healthier and more sustainable diet and eating more fish is often one option recommended.

However, SEFARI research has identified that, across Europe, dietary recommendations for fish consumption do not necessarily match national seafood supplies.

Agriculture and food production contribute a large portion of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, account for approximately 20% of the world's total emissions. In Scotland, the picture is no different, where they contribute around a quarter of the total GHG emissions. Hence, it is important to address the transitions needed in these sectors in order to tackle climate change.

In this blog, Iasmim discusses a number of measures that have been recently proposed, or implemented, to help agriculture and food production to be more sustainable. A transition of practices needs to be just for everyone, and Iasmim considers both the opportunities and challenges ahead for this sector.

Agriculture bears the brunt of having to reliably supply food, ensure its own economic viability, while complying with environmental concerns. Farming comes under a lot of pressure to deliver produce, despite unfavourable climatic variation, changes in pest behaviour and the control of invasive plants.

In this blog, Ajay Iyer and Wendy Russell consider a different approach and discuss how invasive or “undesirable” plants such as Gorse (Ulex europaeus) could serve as an alternate and sustainable source of protein.

With the pandemic turning our lives upside down, the use of digital communication has accelerated overnight. Webinars, Teams meetings, Digital classrooms, Virtual brainstorming boards, to name but a few. They have all helped in keeping us connected from the safety of our own homes. However, these virtual technologies achieve so much more than simply enabling conversations to continue.  They have removed barriers - social, physical, economic, geographical - and in removing these barriers they have made research more accessible.

In this blog, Dr Lorna Cole, discusses the recent creation of a series of virtual tours at five of our leading SEFARI research farms, in a SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity funded project. The tours are readily accessible through the Google Earth platform, giving everyone access to the countryside and allowing us to learn more about the research that is being conducted on SEFARI’s research farms.

The past year has been, and 2021 will undoubtedly remain, challenging for us all. At Gateway we are focussing our efforts on continuing to support the COVID-19 recovery response while maintaining momentum for knowledge exchange partnership working across environment, land, agriculture, food and rural community priorities.

In particular, we are building upon opportunities to accelerate action towards a green recovery, climate and biodiversity action and just transition for net zero emissions. Gateway is supporting these and other key agendas such as health and wellbeing, by providing extensive access to Scottish Government strategic research and expertise through our funded projects which we are also increasingly interlinking projects to maximise the value of evidence and to further enhance stakeholder linkages.

This update follows on from our previous update in June 2020 and outlines our more recent funded projects and activity.

Currently, we are all experiencing unique working conditions, leading us to adapt to new ways of engaging and learning.  

In this blog Dr Claire Hardy, who was awarded SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity Funds, explores the use of virtual technology to engage farmers and the agricultural community, helping farmers to experience in-field events safely, flexibly, and remotely.

In this blog, we discuss a new project that is seeking to support and inform farmers (through both research and communications) on how to best promote fair, balanced, and more impactful, positive stories about the livestock industry. 

Through a collaborative approach, we can increase public knowledge and understanding on how Scots beef and lamb is produced, leading to a wider and better understanding of the Scottish livestock industry, including the positive benefits of eating safe and nutritious food, alongside the environmental, social and economic benefits that livestock farming can bring.

Eating a nutritious and more environmentally sustainable diet is an increasing priority. Growing and consuming novel crops could form part of the solution.

In this blog, we discuss how we have been working to engage consumers and those connected with the food supply chain with our research on crops such as green pea, fava bean, hemp and buckwheat. A recipe book, video, and networking event (supported by SEFARI Gateway's Responsive Opportunity Fund) have been developed to provide a novel and informed perspective on ‘A Taste of Plants’.

In this blog, we thought we’d let you know the latest developments from SEFARI Gateway, as we continue to work together even though we are currently physically apart.

For us, lockdown has really emphasized our love of nature (on daily walks, in the garden or by virtually meeting each other’s pets, now so much a part of the virtual meeting world!). Gateway’s work itself has been intensive. The strengths of our stakeholder partnerships and an adaptable approach to connecting across knowledge networks has hugely benefitted us and provided new ways to work.

In light of both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of food security is increasingly important. Changes in rainfall and temperature, caused by climate change, will affect crop harvests and this could impact upon the availability and price of food.  While the pandemic is also affecting the food system and this will include both the production and transportation of imported food from agricultural-producing countries. In this blog, we discuss plans that have these global issues in mind which could involve utilising tree waste for the benefit of human digestive health.

Facing current environmental emergencies, governments worldwide have set themselves ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at national levels. Scotland is eager to make a pivotal contribution by setting a target of net-zero GHG emissions by 2045 and to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030. This calls for a holistic approach across industry, research, education, government, as well as changing individual behaviour. Increasing the extent of agriculture diversity could be a key component in agriculture’s response towards the mitigation of GHG emissions. In this blog we highlight how the emerging hemp industry has an innovative opportunity to contribute.

Ahead of this week's Land Use Conference, which has been part-funded by the SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity Fund, we are delighted Professor Davy McCracken can share his recently published thoughts on rewarding the delivery of public goods. The conference takes place on 28-29^th November 2018 at Dynamic Earth, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh.

We are delighted that Max Coleman, Science Communicator, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), can tell us more about our much loved tatties. Max led a project team who were recently awarded SEFARI Gateway Responsive Opportunity Funds (ROF) to create new displays about protecting potatoes, which are now open to the public at RBGE. The ROF is designed to increase the visibility of the invaluable contributions Scottish Government funded research makes towards sustainable economic growth and improving the lives of people in Scotland and beyond.

We are delighted that Megan Welford, Farming and Land Use Communications Manager, Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS), can tell us about this new service. RISS is getting the right people together to make a difference to rural businesses across Scotland and they’d like even more researchers to help by sharing their expertise.

Working in research we regularly need to focus on the detail, but it is still important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture - so for this year’s Royal Highland Show we decided to use technology to help.

We are pleased that Professor Ian Toth, Head of the Plant Health Centre, is able to tell us more about this new virtual centre and why working together is crucial for enhancing Scotland's resilience in the face of threats to arable crops, trees, horticulture, and wild plants. The Plant Health Centre joins three exisiting Scottish Centres of Expertise on climate, water and animal disease. 

We are pleased that Annemarie Gibson of Circamedia, an Edinburgh-based film and multimedia production company, has provided us with some insights into what excited her whilst learning about SEFARI research and ultimately telling our story on film.

Complex, multidimensional, interconnected data can be extremely difficult to communicate effectively even using classic visualisation tools. Gone are the days when we can just draw a straight line through a 2D scatter graph.