The tenants of the first 'starter farm' in the Highlands have been unveiled as a local family who otherwise would have found it hard to get a foothold in farming.
Meanwhile plans progress for another starter unit in Aberdeenshire and one near Dundee.
A starter farm offers a 10 year lease to enable new entrants to build up a farming business using land and property owned by Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS).
Sandy and Kirsteen Douglas will take up occupancy at Achnamoine starter farm at Halkirk in Caithness on April 1 with their eight year old son (they prefer not to name him).
They are from the county. Mr Douglas is currently farm manager and head yardsman at Quoybrae livestock mart while his wife works in a local pharmacy,
Along with looking after the mart's sheep, Mr Douglas keeps a small flock of his own and is well known in sheep breeding circles for his Charollais and Bluefaced Leicester sheep.
They will form the nucleus of the flock for the starter farm, where he intends to build on his reputation of breeding quality hardy animals.
Sandy Douglas said:
"We are really pleased to be taking on this new starter farm and look forward to working with FCS . It is great news for us as a family, especially as it is so local.The whole process of applying for a starter farm was really useful too. It helped us concentrate our business plans for the future and target our priorities."
The 250 acre Achnamoine will be the eighth starter farm to become operational across Scotland, and the first in the Highlands. The programme already includes units in Fife, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire, Aberdeenshire and Dumfriesshire.
From today FCS is also inviting applications for a further two units, both of which will be available for occupation from October 1.
Woodfold starter farm at Rothiemay, near Huntly, offers a mix of arable, permanent pasture and rough grazing within its 200 acres.
Gourdie starter farm near Dundee was offered last year but a suitable tenant was not found. FCS has revised the offer and is coming back to the market with a more focused horticultural unit.
It is currently difficult getting a farm tenancy for people who haven't had access to the single farm payment system. They have to compete against established farmers who already have subsidy entitlement, not to mention tractors, machinery and livestock. So existing farmers' start up costs are far less than those of the new entrants.
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