Search is on for Scotland’s next Agritourism Monitor Farmers

The search is on for two new farming families who will become Scotland’s next agritourism monitor farmers.

Anyone with an interest in farming, rural tourism and food and drink is invited to come to the launch event for the new agritourism monitor farm programme taking place on Monday 28^th January from 3pm to 6pm at Briarlands Farm, Blairdrummond, by Stirling.  The event will allow anyone interested in either applying to become the monitor farmer or interested in becoming part of the community groups who attend each meeting, to find out more about what is involved.

One of the new agritourism monitor farms will be located in the East Central area of Scotland and one in the West.  Although the monitor farmers must come from within one of these areas, those attending the meetings can come from any part of Scotland.

Scottish Enterprise, who funded and managed the last two agritourism monitor farms at Laggan Farm in Dumfries and Galloway and at Peel Farm in Angus, is delighted to announce funding and support for a new three-year programme, with the first monitor farm meetings taking place in the early spring.

Julian Pace, Head of Rural at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The last programme was very successful and supported significant growth and development not only for the monitor farmers themselves, but also for many community group members who either developed new services, invested in facilities or set up a new agritourism business from scratch.”

Caroline Millar, who delivered the first agritourism monitor farm programmes and who has extensive experience at home and abroad in supporting farm businesses in tourism development, recently won the bid to facilitate these new monitor farms.  Caroline will be supported by Rebecca Dawes and Becca Rainnie of Jane Craigie Marketing in event management and communications for the project. 

In order to reach as wide an audience as possible across Scottish agriculture, the NFU Scotland (NFUS) will also work to share knowledge and best practice in farm tourism and actively encourage new farmers to enter the farm tourism market.

Scott Walker, Chief Executive of NFUS said, “Agritourism is providing sustainability to many farming family businesses across Scotland and the sector plays a vital role in bringing consumers and farmers closer together, something which is essential for the future of our industry. We are keen to support this investment in skills and knowledge sharing for the benefit of our sector and the wider Scottish economy.”

Further information on the full details of the event, and a link to register can be found here https://agritourism-monitorfarm.eventbrite.co.uk.  Several of the businesses who benefited from the last agritourism monitor programme will be speaking about the positive impact taking part made on business growth and profitability including Duncan and Murray McConchie from Laggan Farm in Dumfries and Galloway, Claire Fleming from Peel Farm and Kim Cameron from The Gin Bothy. 

For further information on becoming a monitor farmer or becoming part of the community group please email caroline@agritourism-monitorfarm.com.