SCOTTISH WATER has joined the growing number of public bodies who have found room on their landholdings to create new agricultural tenancies for youngsters looking for a start in farming.
The utility company's first involvement in the Scottish Government-run scheme Farming Opportunities for New Entrants has produced a five-year tenancy on 14 acres of ground at the Whiteadder Reservoir, East Lothian, for new entrant James Royan, who can now realise his ambition to develop a business breeding rare sheep.
More than 1000 hectares of public land has so far been made available under the Programme for Government commitment to identify and release more public and private land for new farmers to encourage a new, younger generation of farmers.
Alongside Scottish Water, organisations such as Forestry Enterprise Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and some local authorities, have released land across Scotland for about 50 new farmers
Mr Royan, from near Duns in Berwickshire, currently works for Police Scotland supporting the organisers of major events such as the Royal Highland Show, Royal Military Tattoo and Hogmanay Party on safety and security issues, but has in his spare time become one of the country’s top breeders of Poll Dorset sheep, despite being reliant on seasonal and informal grazing arrangements for his 25-strong flock. He has never had the benefit of owning his own land or the security of a long-term tenancy agreement.
With his five-year tenancy at the Whiteadder Reservoir, his sheep enterprise is now set to take its next step towards a large-scale operation which he aims to run once he retires from the police in about 10 years.
“Like many others, I developed a passion for farming and sheep production at a very early age but have experienced how hard it is to realise the farming dream without the benefit of owned land," said Mr Royan. “The Scottish Government’s Farming Opportunities for New Entrants Scheme has offered me an opportunity to build a viable operation through the security of a fixed-term tenancy agreement.
“The seasonal arrangements I previously had lacked any form of security and prevented me from making long-term business plans such as improvements to infrastructure. Now, thanks to the FONE scheme, I’m confident I can develop the venture, increase numbers and improve commercial viability through economies of scale.
Scottish Water’s land and property development manager, Archie Macgregor, said: “We are delighted to be able to offer James this great opportunity to take his business plans forward over the coming years.
“We are delighted to be supporting the Scottish Government’s FONE initiative and playing our part in helping new entrants get on to that vital first rung of the ladder in the farming industry. We have also just completed a tenancy agreement for a second Starter Unit on land of ours near Ballater, Aberdeenshire and hope to be in a position to advertise more blocks of land under the FONE scheme in the coming year,” added Mr Macgregor.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing commented: “I’m extremely pleased to see our public bodies continuing to identify and release more land for new farmers as part of our action plan for Farming Opportunities for New Entrants. Last year alone, more than 1000 hectares of public land was made available as a direct result of the work of the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants group, which I launched in December 2016.
“New entrants drive innovation and best practice, improve efficiencies and contribute towards the overall economic vitality of the sector, and I look forward to welcoming more people to farming under this scheme.”
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see this Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here