Gina Bates, Highland Veganics Bordering on the banks of the beautiful Oykel River, in the heart of Sutherland’s sheep country, Gina Bates is creating the first plant-protein croft in the Scottish Highlands! At the start of February, 2020, Gina and a crew of volunteers began planting an orchard of 312 hazelnut trees on her 80 …
The Artisan Grower Michelle and Robert Sullivan and family had no experience in growing when they decided to rent one acre of farmland near Insch, Aberdeenshire. In fact, Robert, a former business director in telecommunications, confesses that he had an “extreme dislike of mud”! However, a desire to be sustainable and live the agrarian lifestyle …
For roughly 25 years now, Joost van Strien has run his 90-hectare vegetable farm, Zonnegoed, organically and just last year he took it a step further, obtaining the Biocyclic Vegan Standard. Farming by this standard means that Joost manages Zonnegoed without any animal-based inputs (e.g. manure and slaughterhouse waste products), nor with any synthetic fertilisers or agrichemicals.
Upon moving to Romania in 2004, Christian Hani and his family established Bio-Farmland, an 800-hectare family farm that specialises in growing several different cereal varieties. At the start of 2021, Bio-Farmland became certified with the Biocyclic Vegan Standard, making them one of only a few cereal farms in the world right now to be run using stock-free/veganic methods.
One of the key issues with transitioning to stock-free agriculture in Scotland is that approximately 86% of the total land area is classified as Less Favoured Area (LFA), which means that growing human-edible crops is often severely disadvantaged if not completely impracticable (Scottish Government, 2019). While there are other alternatives like ecosystem restoration and farm enterprise diversification, it is quite understandable that many farmers and crofters are reluctant to give up food production entirely.
Farmers’ Survey Video Everyone can watch the video part of the survey intended for active farmers and crofters. The results of the survey are published on the Stockfree Farming website and shared with other organisations including governmental and media to understand and support the needs of farmers and crofters while they adapt to multiple changes: …
Artisan Growers to Move Aberdeenshire farmers The Artisan Grower to move to new home on hotel estate and revive historic walled gardens From the Press and Journal: The Artisan Grower near Kirkton in Aberdeenshire will move five miles up the road to their new 10-acre farm which will be housed on Pittodrie House Hotel Estate. …
Back to the Woods Former Rural Skills teacher, Robin Bell, acquired a 90-acre croft not far from Oykel Bridge in Sutherland three years ago. His ancestors worked this land before the Sutherland clearances so Robin wanted to return to it. The croft was once a township and the ruined remains of 16-17 cottages on the …
How ’bout a nice cup of Scottish tea! It was Clare Haworth’s dream to one day live on an island. In 2011, that dream came true when Clare and her husband, Mike, purchased a 40-acre (16 hectare) croft on the Scottish island of Lismore. Ten years on, the once neglected croft has become an abundant …
Three hundred years on from the collapse of the island kelp industry, marine scientist, Dr Kyla Orr, and her two colleagues, Alex Glasgow and Martin Welch, are bringing KelpCrofting back to the west coast with a proposal for a 11.5 hectare kelp farm in the waters south of Pabay, Isle of Skye. (Photos courtesy of …