Current Scotland programmes

About our current programmes in Scotland

Moving towards Agroecological farming practices and organic practices are some of the ways that farmers can help to mitigate climate change and restore wildlife to our landscapes.

It is not only for nature; along with many farmers, we believe nature and climate-friendly farming can be good for profitability. We help build knowledge and confidence by providing access to the necessary know-how for agroecological uptake across the country through our speakers, demonstrations and workshops. Our programmes also bring farmers in Scotland together and create spaces to interact with experts and other stakeholders at practical on-farm events, to share best practice and to forge lasting connections that can provide the necessary support when shifting to nature friendly farming.

These projects are funded by The Scottish Government through the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund. The Government has recently set out its vision for Scotland becoming a leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.

Current programmes

Planning for Change: A Whole Farm Approach

Planning for Change: A Whole Farm Approach will support farmers to implement, and benefit from, using the Whole Farm Plan framework.

The programme will highlight how Whole Farm Plans can be translated into integrated, sustainable practices and demonstrate how a whole farm approach – as featured in Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture – can help deliver on climate and nature goals.

The Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF) will allow us to support farms and crofts across Scotland to share knowledge to build resilience, improve sustainability and restore nature.

Upscaling Agroecology

Many farmers tell us they are looking for ways to build resilience and sustainability, but don’t always know where to start or how approaches could be implemented on their own farms.

Our new programme, Upscaling Agroecology will showcase what agroecological and organic systems can look like in practice, explore the principles behind them and provide opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and support.

This collaborative project is led by Soil Association Scotland and delivered across Scotland by the Scottish Agroecology Partnership (SAP), promoting agroecological and organic farming practices through on-farm workshops, online webinars and resources, a national Agroecology conference and a brand-new podcast mini-series.

Recent programmes

Agroecology: Strengthening Livelihoods

Agroecology: Strengthening Livelihoods was a programme developed in partnership with Nourish, LWA, PFLA, Propagate and SCF, building on previous programmes: Agroecology: enabling the transition and Agroecology: facilitating mindset change. More than 70 farmers and crofters across Scotland came together to share nature-friendly farming approaches to restore biodiversity and address climate change while also strengthening their livelihoods. The project had two strands: peer-to-peer learning groups and a series of webinars on a variety of themes related to agroecological practices.

Agroecology: Enabling the Transition

Agroecology: Enabling the transition was a programme developed in partnership with Nourish, LWA, PFLA, NFF and Propagate to widen and deepen understanding of agroecology, specifically through a farmer-to-farmer/crofter-to-crofter cooperative learning programme.

Reducing Inputs

Reducing Inputs was a short programme of farm visits, webinars and case studies, designed to highlight practical ways in which farmers can reduce the use of external inputs such as synthetic nitrogen-based fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides. We used a whole-farm approach to explore ways to reduce carbon footprints, tackle disease resistance, improve soil health and ecological performance, protect natural capital and boost financial resilience.