Participants in a programme designed to encourage new entrants into farming have commented on its successes.
An evaluation of the Scottish Government’s Starter Farm Initiative shows that it has provided opportunities to run a farm business, and valuable skills and experience to enable participants secure future tenancies and further their agricultural careers.
To date, the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group, which supported the governance of the initiative, has facilitated entry to over 80 new entrants by providing 122 land opportunities across more than 7,000 hectares of land.
Between 2012 and 2015 the Scottish Government, in collaboration of Forestry and Land Scotland, created ten starter farm units on publicly owned land to attract and develop new talent into the industry. Formed in 2016, the FONE Group built on this concept to identify smaller areas of publicly owned land that could be offered on longer term leases.
I’m Graeme’s Parliamentary Assistant based at Holyrood, but I support his constituency work as well. Having been Caseworker to an Aberdeenshire MP some years prior, joining Graeme's team in 2019 was a return to this line of work from a role in fundraising.