Despite the challenging weather, the Scene & Herd team have managed to see some performances at a scaled-down Edinburgh Festival, enjoyed delicious local, seasonal produce, juggle school holidays with Harvest...and will shortly host our first in-person team meeting since January 2020!
How has August been for you? We'd love to hear your news.
News
The ScotSpirit Holiday Voucher Scheme is part of the £25 million tourism recovery programme which VisitScotland is administering on behalf of the Scottish Government. The scheme is open to B&Bs, guest houses, hotels, hostels, camping parks and visitor attractions across Scotland. Find out more about the scheme and how you can sign up to participate here.
2022 has been designated Scotland’s Year of Stories. This will be a year in which stories inspired by, created, or written in Scotland will be showcased and celebrated. There is funding available for production costs including technical support and recordings so if your organisation want to get involved by sharing stories of Scotland’s landscapes, traditions, or rural way of life, get in touch with us about commissioning a podcast or video.
An innovative precision farming platform is employing artificial intelligence (AI) in the battle against weeds in grassland. Green-on-green, i.e. the targeting of green weeds in a green crop, has long been a challenge for those hoping to use precision farming technology to guide their spray applications. Now, SoilEssentials, the precision farming solutions pioneer, based in Angus, Scotland has harnessed expertise from the space industry along with agronomists and leading academics, to develop AI to overcome the green-on-green challenge. Read more here.
Plans for the forthcoming AgriScot are well underway, however, organisers have taken the unprecedented decision to move the date of the farm business event from its original November slot to 9th February 2022. Read more here.
AgriScot awards for beef, diversified and sheep farms may have just recently got underway – the nomination period opened earlier this month – however, the Scottish dairy farm award has moved into full-on assessment mode with organisers unveiling the top 3 entries. Read more here.
Applications are now open for the new AgriScot Diversified Farm of the Year 2021 award, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland and supported and facilitated by SAC Consulting. The award is open to any farming businesses in Scotland able to demonstrate excellence in a diversified, farm-based, enterprise – from tourism to renewable energy to retail and everything in between. Download the application form here and email it to diversification@sac.co.uk no later than 5 pm on Monday 20 September 2021.
We launched a new short film (shown at the top of the page), aimed at raising the feel-good factor amongst Scotland’s farmers, has launched on social media this week. The film, “We all need a farmer”, is the work of award-winning Director, Jason Connery, and narrated by renowned Scottish actor Ian Pirie with a script co-written by Monty and production and graphic design by team Scene & Herd. Read more here.
Connage Highland Dairy now has 19 amazing different flavours of milkshake available at the Connage Express. Choose from: strawberry, raspberry, chocolate, banana, banoffee, salted caramel, black cherry, white chocolate, choc orange, mint choc, bubble gum, caramel, rum and raisin, Turkish delight, Irish cream, vanilla, cream egg, blueberry muffin or cappuccino. The vending machine is open 7 days (7 til 7) at Milton of Connage, Ardersier, Inverness IV2 7QU.
Over recent months, Scene & Herd PR and Marketing have been privileged to deliver online training for organisations such as Scottish Land and Estates, The Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs, SAOS, Opportunity North East and more.
We are excited to soon be able to share our knowledge more widely with the forthcoming launch of the OnFARM Academy - a variety of online training courses, each one aimed specifically at rural and foodie businesses.
Why not also follow the new Facebook page ‘OnFarm Academy’ to follow our progress?
We'd also love to hear from you if you have suggestions for topics you'd like to see us cover. Simply email: anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
September dates for your social promotions:
1 – 7 - Love Lamb Week
You could ask your followers for their favourite recipes or live stream a cookery class.
4 – 19 - Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight
Check the website's campaign toolkit for ideas on how to get involved with the nation's biggest food and drink celebration.
18 - National Hospitality Day is a nationwide celebration of all the brilliant and resilient restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars, and their suppliers and a chance to raise money for The Drinks Trust, Hospitality Action, LTC & Springboard charities.
27 - World Tourism Day
Show your support for tourism with a post highlighting local agritourism enterprises, food trails and hidden gems in your area.
29 - International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
Globally, around 20% of fruit and vegetable is lost between harvest and retail. Share success stories like that of Growers Garden who make crisps from vegetables that would otherwise not have made the grade for supermarket shelves.
30 - International Podcast Day
It will come as no surprise that we are huge fans of podcasts! There are many ways to join in this celebration e.g.:
We recommend catching up on any previous OnFARM (Food, Agriculture & Rural Matters) episodes you may have missed at podfollow.com/onfarm
Anna Davies: Email: anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
Ross (Monty) Montague: Email: monty@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
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