Podcast

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This podcast is a special edition for GB calf week.

Listen in to discover just a sample of the current dairy-bred calf research happening in Scotland. There are some fantastic projects on the go at the moment involving collaborations between SRUC, University of Glasgow and vets in private practice.

In this episode Alison Braddock chats with Colin Mason and David Bell from SRUC, Katie Denholm from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow and Ali Haggerty from Stewartry vets.  

They discuss their current projects including critical control points for colostrum cleanliness, Mycoplasma bovis in colostrum and ultrasound diagnosis of respiratory disease. A must listen for anyone interested in fine tuning calf health, highlighting projects to keep an eye on for future results.  

Listen to the episode here

SRUC Podcast Show Notes: Hemp: the super crop episode from the Rural Policy Centre 

Guests:  

• Professor Vijay Kumar Thakur who heads up SRUC's Biorefining and Advanced Materials Research Centre. Click this link to find out more information on the IGS and Cambond project - looking into the use of hemp for insulation applications to replace traditional stainless steel or other materials - Vijay refers to during the podcast. Along with colleagues, Vijay has also recently published two papers on hemp: linked to here and here. Email: vijay.thakur@sruc.ac.uk 
• Mark Bowcher-Gibbs, a Principal Consultant with SAC Consultancy. Email: mark.bowsher-gibbs@sac.co.uk 
• Anna Mitchell of Castleton Farm. Anna and her husband Ross grow hemp and sell hemp-based products like hemp seed oil from their farm shop on the outskirts of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire.   

The podcast is hosted by Alexa Green, a Research Associate with SRUC’s Rural Policy Centre.  

Information on licencing process for growing industrial hemp in the UK 

• To find out more about the licensing process for growing industrial hemp there is a dedicated section on the Home Office website - Industrial hemp licensing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 
• A new licence application to cultivate hemp (for three growing seasons) currently cost £580. If a farmer has previously grown in the season prior to the licence expiring, then a ‘renewal’ fee of £326 will apply. If a compliance visit is required the fee will be £1,371 (not applicable in most instances).  
• The important dates for prospective applications for the 2024 growing season have not yet been announced. This gives information on the dates for the 2023 growing season.  

 Hemp 30 Project 

• Roadmap plan to boost UK industrial hemp production and processing - News and events, University of York 
• Phase 1 report 

More information on hemp growing in Scotland 

• Why hemp is a field of dreams for Scottish farmers (thetimes.co.uk) 
• www.scottishhempassociation.com 

Listen to the episode here.

Join us for a lively panel discussion on the future of agricultural policy in Scotland chaired by agriculture communications specialist Claire Taylor. It features SRUC's Steven Thomson, John Kerr of the Scottish Government, independent agricultural economist Andrew Moxey, former NFU Scotland President Nigel Miller and Jonnie Hall, who is head of policy at NFU Scotland.

The panel conversation and audience question and answer session took place at SRUC's stand at this year's Royal Highland Show. The subjects covered ranged from the recent agricultural reform route map published by the Scottish Government and the importance of technology in the future of agriculture to a discussion around diversity in the sector and much more.

The panel was chaired by Claire Taylor (Claire Taylor (@cjtaylor92) / Twitter), a freelance writer and agricultural communicator. Claire is a current Nuffield scholar (Claire Taylor | Nuffield Farming Scholarships (nuffieldscholar.org)) and her study is titled turning the Tide on the Anti-Farming Agenda.  

Panel members: 

Steven Thomson (Steven Thomson (@StevenGThomson) / Twitter), a Reader in agricultural economics and policy at SRUC. He is also a Commissioner on Scotland's Independent Just Transition Commission and sits on the academic advisory panel that supports the Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB).

John Kerr, Head of the Agricultural Policy division at The Scottish Government    

Andrew Moxey, an independent agricultural economist and policy adviser as well as a Director at ScotEID, the livestock traceability system for Scotland.   

Nigel Miller, a livestock farmer in the Scottish Borders and the previous President of the National Farmers Union of Scotland. Nigel was also Co-chair of the independent farming for 1.5 Degree inquiry and is also a board member of the Morden Research Institute.  

Jonnie Hall( Jonnie Hall (@nfusjonnie) / Twitter or NFU Scotland (@NFUStweets) / Twitter), Director of Policy at the National Farmers Union of Scotland. 

Rural Exchange

Rural Exchange by NISRIE 

Agriculture Bill

Latest information on the Agriculture Bill, due to be introduced into the Scottish Parliament later this year:

Agriculture Bill: consultation analysis - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) 

Agricultural Reform Route Map (ruralpayments.org) 

Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 

Cross Compliance 

Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (ARIOB) 

The Less Favoured Area Support Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2019: BRIA - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) (LFASS)

Listen to the episode here.

Alison Braddock, Marketing and Business Development Manager is joined by Fiona Crowden, Veterinary Investigation Officer who talks about the importance of controlling infectious lameness in the sheep flock. Fiona explains the five point plan to help combat scald, footrot and CODD. This podcast complements the CPD webinar ‘Infectious lameness in sheep – an update for the busy practitioner’ which is available for free at Online CPD Academy | SRUC.

Listen to the episode here.

This is episode 3 of our series on bee keeping. Now that we are almost into summer, swarming is a hot topic for bee keepers and we’re going to make sure you have the right advice so you don’t get stung by it, if you pardon the pun.

Join William Ancell, Digital Manager at SRUC, and Lorraine Johnston, SRUC's Bee advisory Officer, as they form a hivemind (sorry) and look at the top questions around swarming.

1.       What is swarming?

2.       Why do bees swarm?

3.       What does a swarm look like?

4.       What should you do if you see a swarm?

5.       How does a beekeeper try to prevent swarming?

6.       What is swarm control?

7.       Why is it important to control swarming?

8.       What’s a simple method of swarm control that might help beekeepers?

Listen to the episode here.

Alison Braddock, SRUC's Marketing and Business Development Manager for Veterinary Services is joined by Katrina Henderson , Veterinary Investigation Officer and Lorna MacPherson, Senior Consultant to chat about nutrition and health planning for dairy beef calves.

This podcast also looks at the management of dairy beef calves to prevent common problems. This podcast accompanies the CPD bitesize webinar "An Introduction to Dairy Beef Calf Systems – Nutrition and Infectious Disease".

Watch the webinar: Webinars Bitesize Programme | SRUC

Listen to the episode here.

This podcast discusses a knowledge network started by researchers at SRUC which focuses on supporting rural women entrepreneurs who are leading low-carbon transitions in Arctic areas.

Listen to the episode here.

Interested in large animal veterinary science? This is a slightly niche (but no less important) departure for the SRUC podcast.

Our Veterinary Investigation Officers Katrina Henderson and Iain McCormick recently completed a project looking at the mortality of young beef cattle.

Katrina joins host Alison Braddock to chat about the project which specifically looked at the top ten causes of calf death and pre-disposing factors. Katrina and Iain reviewed all pre-weaned suckler calf post mortems carried out by SRUC from across Scotland between 2016-2020. 

The findings have been the subject of a recent CPD bitesize course for vets which can be found at the link below - the webinar has been recorded, and is free to watch (account creation required).

Fancy studying veterinary science or animal care with SRUC? They are amongst our most popular courses for a reason. We have world-class facilities and expertise and hundreds of animal care professionals have joined the industry after learning with us. You can find out more about them at the links below.

Watch the webinar "Calf losses from breeding to weaning" on our free online CPD portal.

Animal Care courses at SRUC

Animal Sciences courses at SRUC

Veterinary Medicine courses at SRUC

Veterinary Nursing courses at SRUC

Listen to the episode here.

Lorna Pate from SRUC's Rural Policy Centre speaks with Stuart Martin from the Digital Dairy Chain. Tune in to learn more about the origins and future aims of this project.

Listen to the episode here.

There is a reason why the apprenticeship has endured through the ages - it is an essential gateway to countless trades, and a formative experience for many professionals.

The modern apprenticeship scheme is a critical feature of the contemporary vocational landscape and a proven path for young people to learn a trade that will set them up for life in their chosen industry.

Join a panel of experts from SRUC, industry and a modern apprentice for a discussion on how this is a great route for young people to "earn while you learn".

William Ancell, Digital manager at SRUC, hosts the following guests:

• Drew Easton, Learning and Development Manager, Jas P Wilson.
• Kalli Burr, Horse Care Modern Apprentice.
• Chris Stockwell, Training and Work-Based Lead, SRUC.
• Sharon Gooding Hill, Senior Marketing and Student Recruitment Officer for Skills and Lifelong Learning, SRUC.

Want to learn more? Follow these links.

SRUC apprenticeships

SRUC website

Lantra website

Jas P Wilson website

Listen to the episode here.

Join John Scholefield and Anne Seaton for an introduction to SRUC veterinary services and the role they play as part of SRUC. From supporting farmers and veterinary practices to tackling infectious disease, the work is varied and never dull.

The team covers disease surveillance for the Scottish Government, so this involves doing post-mortem examinations and laboratory testing to diagnose disease and to investigate disease outbreaks. This work goes across the range of livestock species, so cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and game birds as well as other species are monitored by the team.

They also do testing for a wide variety of conditions and medical issues animals may experience. They also offer training courses, health schemes, quality assurance schemes and a whole lot else besides. Listen to the episode to learn about the breadth and depth of work they do.

To learn more, visit www.sruc.ac.uk/vets

Listen to the episode here.

This is the second episode of our beekeeping series.

Lorraine Johnston, SRUC’s Bee Advisory Officer gives advice on beekeeping in the spring now that we're in March – there is a lot to be aware of if you keep bees.

The podcast covers what changes for the bees are happening as they head into spring, what beekeepers can do to help bees survive the spring, what to do on that crucial first inspection and a whole lot else bee-sides.

Listen to the episode here.

Jillian Gordon has a fascinating and original story to tell. She left school with hardly any qualifications, and she struggled due to her dyslexia (and lack of support for it). She got a place on an HNC with SRUC, and discovered a passion for agriculture and animals. She also started receiving support for the first time for her dyslexia from SRUC.

Jillian is now on track to complete her PhD and has aspirations to one day be a lecturer for SRUC. Her story of how she got there is fascinating and an inspiration to anyone who feels that further and higher education is out of reach for them.

Listen to the episode here.

SRUC's Rural Policy Centre delves into the world of crofting and common grazings with Janette Sutherland and Siobhan Macdonald of SAC Consulting.

For more information, check out the policy spotlight on 'Common Grazings in the Age of Conditionality'.

To register for an upcoming CPG on Crofting meeting, visit the Scottish Parliament website.

To speak with an SAC consultant about your croft, check out our website and reach out to us to have a chat.

Listen to the episode here.

Join Lorraine Johnston, SRUC's Bee Advisory Officer and William Ancell, Digital Manager as they chat about the challenges of beekeeping over winter. If you keep bees yourself, this episode is packed full of tips to make sure your bees are protected from the elements, how to shield them from common diseases and pests, and what products can come in handy to keep them healthy at a critical time.

Listen to the episode here.

If there is one thing we love at SRUC it is an exciting, innovative project - and this one is a cracker. Turning methane emissions and by-products from farming beef cattle into everything from a power source to beef with a lower carbon footprint.

Not to mention using this system to potentially power a versatile vertical farm - and all while ensuring excellent animal welfare standards & humane treatment of the animals.

Join William Ancell, Carol-Anne Duthie and John Farquhar as they introduce the project. You can learn more at the dedicated webpage for the project.

Listen to the episode here.

The Rural Exchange provides an exciting new platform for people living and working across Scotland’s rural and island communities to have their voices heard in both research and policy-making.

Jane Atterton, Senior Lecturer at SRUC and Project Leader offers insight into the Rural Exchange in this short introductory podcast.

Visit the dedicated website to learn more about the Rural Exchange.

Listen to the episode here.

In this podcast you can learn more about NISRIE by way of an interview with Steven Thomson, Project Lead.

NISRIE stands for "Novel Insights on Scotland's Island and Rural Economies". It is a project with four work packages:

• rural enterprises
• community wealth building
• agriculture beyond Brexit
• regional food economies

The aims and objectives of the project are discussed with Steven in this podcast. You can visit the dedicated website to learn more about NISRIE and the Rural Exchange.

Listen to the episode here.

Three representatives from SRUC and SAC Consulting recently visited Iceland to meet with food producers. They learnt a lot about how food is produced in Iceland, what new products are being developed, and how there is an emphasis on innovation and quality.

Join Ceri Ritchie (Head of Food and Enterprise), Alistair Trail (Principal Consultant) and Nicola Holden (Professor of Food Safety) as they chat about the surprising and wonderful discoveries they made on the trip, the networks they started building and what they learned.

Visit our safe and improved food pages.

Visit SAC Consulting's food & enterprise pages.

Listen to the episode here.

Wallace Currie and Perry Parkinson are joined by Kathryn Dick, for a chat about all things farm-y. Kathryn is from a farming family, and this informal chat covers some of the fun stuff that comes from growing up on a farm and studying/working at SRUC.

Listen to the episode here.

Join Lorna Pate and Pattanapong Tiwasing of SRUC as they talk about the use of insect protein in the UK, and some of the challenges facing the introduction of it as a food source.

Listen to the episode here.

This podcast is part of a series that is exploring the diverse range of ecosystem services are supplied by Scotland’s rural sector’s stock of natural capital. The topics included within the series are Arable and 3D Buffer Strips.

This episode is hosted by Stephen Briggs from Abacus Agriculture.

Stephen, an author of the Soil Association Agroforestry handbook and a consultant for Abacus Agriculture is also a first generation farmer. He discusses his experience of getting started with silvo-arable agroforestry on his farm.

Listen to the episode here.

This podcast is part of a series that is exploring the diverse range of ecosystem services are supplied by Scotland’s rural sector’s stock of natural capital. The topics included within the series are Agroforestry, Arable and 3D Buffer Strips.

This episode is hopsted by Mary-Jane Lawrie, SAC Consulting.

Mary-Jane Lawrie is an Agricultural Consultant at SAC Consulting and works in all aspects of agricultural consultancy, including financial and technical reviews, options appraisals, feasibility studies, budgeting, with particular interest in climate change, carbon foot printing, nutrient budgeting, habitat management and conservation, environmental advice and soil management.

Listen to the episode here.

This podcast is part of a series that is exploring the diverse range of ecosystem services are supplied by Scotland’s rural sector’s stock of natural capital. The topics included within the series are Agroforestry and Arable.

Listen and learn more about 3D bufferstrips from Marc Stutter.

Marc is soil and water scientist at the James Hutton Institute who lives on a small Aberdeenshire farm. His interest in the environmental quality of streams, controlling nutrient pollution. Work with colleagues on flood mitigation and soil loss showed how simple natural processes can be re-designed back into more uniform river corridors to enhance beneficial processes; this led to the 3D buffers concept.

Listen to the episode here.

Join Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) Lecturer Wallace Currie and Shepherd/Stockworker Perry Parkinson for a fun and informal chat about their roles, their education, work history and what they get up to in their day to day adventures at SRUC's Barony Campus. This is the first of a series of episodes from our Barony Campus - so please subscribe to get the latest!

Listen to the episode here.

This Podcast on Forages for a circular bioeconomy is hosted by SRUC's Vijay Thakur, our very own Professor in New Products from Biomass.

Vijay heads up biorefining & advanced materials research (BAMRC) at SRUC.

In this podcast, the panel discusses the role of Forages in a circular economy with a prime focus on current challenges and future perspectives.

Vijay is joined by special guest, Dr James Gaffey.

James is a Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group at Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre at Munster Technology University. He has been coordinator, lead PI and Co-PI on several EU and nationally-funded circular bioeconomy research projects. He is a member of the Expert Advisory Group to Ireland's National Bioeconomy Forum, and was on the Expert Panel for the Impact Assessment of Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) successor programme to BBI JU under the Horizon Europe programme. Prior to joining MTU, James worked in the biorefinery industry since 2009 with the Technology Centre for Biorefining and Bioenergy, Sustainable Biopolymers and Cellulac Ltd. 

Also joining the panel from SRUC is:

• Dr David Lawson, an expert in Grassland agronomy and productivity, alternative outputs from grassland through bioprocessing and biomass-based renewable energy production.
• Dr John Newbold, Head of SRUC's Global Climate Emergency Challenge Centre
• Dr Vijai Gupta, an expert in biomass valorisation to value-added bioproducts, also from SRUC
• Professor Bob Rees, Head of Carbon, Crops and Soils at SRUC.

Link to SRUC's BAMRC pages.

Listen to the episode here.

Professor Davy McCracken is our in-house expert on biodiversity and land management. This episode features Davy talking to William Ancell, Digital Manager at SRUC, about COP26 and how this is bringing the biodiversity crisis into focus.

Listen to the episode here.

This episode is packed with a panel of experts talking about the priorities they have for COP26 - what outputs they would like to see, and why.

From how farms can adapt to managing soils, to how climate is affecting food systems, to our own challenge centre tackling climate change, we've got it covered.

Listen to the episode here.

In this episode, SRUC's Rural Policy Centre looks at the Policy landscape post-brexit, and after the results of the recent Scottish election. SRUC's Jane Atterton is a policy researcher is joined by a range of SRUC's policy experts to discuss the challenges of covid-19 and the re-shaping of Scottish policy following the UK's exit from the EU.

Listen to the episode here.

SRUC's Dr Hannah Rudman looks at how a low carbon, nature-rich future can revitalise our economy, and how we can take advantage of the exceptional natural capital we have in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

By securing public and private investment in nature-based solutions via projects like Riverwoods, Landscape Enterprise Networks, and focusing on Vacant & Derelict Land, this podcast explores how Scotland can rebuild its natural capital so that future generations have a better world to live and work in.

Dr Hannah Rudman is a co-leader of both ​SRUC’s Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre and the Scottish Conservation Finance Pioneers network which is developing new natural capital investment projects that can deliver returns for investors.

Interviewees featured in the podcast are Andy Griffiths of Nestlé UK, Lucy Filby of SEPA, Deryck Irving of the Green Action Trust, and Rory Sandison and Bruce Wilson of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The podcast was funded by NatureScot and produced by Hannah with the support of Scottish Funding Council, via SRUC UIF funding.

Visit the website to learn more about SRUC's Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre.

Listen to the episode here.

SRUC's Dr Hannah Rudman hosts this podcast on bioregioning the Tayside area in Scotland.

By the end of this half-hour podcast you'll understand the concept of a bioregion and how it helps us see the places we live and work with new eyes.

You'll learn about the project in Tayside which is helping regenerate local natural capital.

Hannah is co-lead of SRUC's Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre. Their goal is to research and build ecosystem markets to meet net-zero targets and reverse the biodiversity decline. We support thriving rural communities through regenerative agriculture and conservation.

This episode was previously available in SRUC's Thriving Natural Capital podcast. We're consolidating our podcast episodes under one SRUC-wide podcast.

Learn more at the Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre pages.