It’s been a while since I last reported back to you, so I just thought I’d update you on the what’s happening at The Scottish Farmer during the ups and downs of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Like everyone else, our main priority has been to keep our staff and clients as safe as possible and so we are all still, largely, working from home, but we have done our utmost to bring you a product that continues to inform, educate and excite.

We have had some really great success stories which have come unexpectedly upon us. With no agricultural shows or events, we’ve had to think out of the box – and that’s been no bad thing. It brought us the Stockmen of our Time feature, plus more farm stories and a ramping up of other popular features, such as Contractor’s Yard and Women in Agriculture. We also have new Opinion writers in place, with more on the way … so all the more reason to make sure you get your weekly copy.

It has also, recently, been a time for hard work for our readers in getting ahead of the game before lambing and calving gets underway in earnest. The various bull sales have now taken place, or are about to take place, as part of that process of gearing up for what we hope will be a kind spring. After the year we have just had, we all deserve it.

As the producers of this newspaper, we at The Scottish Farmer want to assure all of you that we remain committed to trying to deliver the news that helps make this great industry tick. Thankfully, we have not experienced the chronic late mail which hindered delivery of The Scottish Farmer at certain times of the year, last year, especially in the run up to Christmas and New Year.

So, thanks for sticking with us and I want to assure readers that our subscription and retails team are very much up and running, and able to assist with any difficulties in getting your weekly fix of Scottish farming news. Keep an eye on our website www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk to keep up to date with some of the exciting offers that we always have. To that end, I also want to add my thanks to the many new readers who have joined us via subscription, both for our printed product an on-line version – it is a vindication that all the hard work that we do at our end is being appreciated.

It always has been our goal to deliver a truly unique product, with its own special personality and we hope that this makes it YOUR newspaper, just as much as it is ours. Our plans for the year ahead are manifold and part of that is to make the purchase of The Scottish Farmer easier in some areas – and that includes the north of England, the Scottish Borders, Northern Ireland and the North of Scotland.

If you have any problems at all in obtaining a copy of The Scottish Farmer, please don’t hesitate to contact our Circulation Department on 0141 302 7316. And, it will be worth it. This will be an election year in Scotland and we plan, of course, to be at the forefront of finding out what the prospective MSPs in rural areas will do for the farming industry. It is, after all, the basis of our GDP and one of the biggest employers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England. In the meantime, it is our pledge to maintain the high standard of journalism that your support deserves. Happy reading!

Yours aye,
Ken Fletcher