The Farm Advisory Service (FAS) held its first-ever Women in Agriculture conference at Murrayfield Stadium in front of 190 like-minded women and men.
SAC consultant Mary-Jane Lawrie, providing a run through of the agenda for the day and highlighting the reasoning behind the set-up of the Women in Agriculture committee, described the group as ‘a cross between the WI and a hen party’ – with its values including empowering and increasing confidence and skill among women within the industry.
The welcome was followed by a speech from newly-appointed Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity Jim Fairlie.
Beginning his own personal career as a Perthshire hill farmer and later branching out into a food and events-based catering business, Jim provided details on the Women in Agriculture development programme including the ‘Be your Best Self’ initiative, which aims to increase skills and confidence in women within rural Scotland.
Jim commented: “We are passionate about providing part-funded training through Lantra to women aged 13 and over, including training support from speechmaking to AI – more can be found on the Lantra website.”
Nikki Yoxall was then introduced as head of research at Pasture for Life and a small-holder in Aberdeenshire. Nikki discussed wellbeing management during her busy schedule including quality of life and the value of your values.
She highlighted: “We must value ourselves and our time – if we don’t, why would anyone else? Remunerating ourselves appropriately and building a resilient business structure is key to better balance.”
Next up at the conference were the breakout sessions which included topics from industry experts, ranging from wellbeing, succession planning, diversification and agricultural policy.
The team from Farmstrong Scotland delivered a workshop on wellbeing. Using the ‘Wellbeing Bank Account’, attendees were asked to consider what drained, and what boosted them.
The workshop included a lively discussion about the challenges the industry is facing and the importance of wellbeing to improve the resilience of the farming and crofting community across Scotland.
Following on from this and discussing farm policy was SRUC’s professor in agricultural economics and policy, Steven Thomson.
He told the conference: “Undoubtedly policy are looking to achieve more biodiversity and climate change outcomes for the public purse, alongside food production and support of local communities and rural economies.”
Stephen added: “It is clear that policy are not alone in wanting different outcomes, as dairy farmers already know, there are increasing climate change and biodiversity actions being required by the market.
The key is to see these policy changes as supporting and enabling the industry to meet the private sector’s conditions of doing business in the future.”
Rounding up the afternoon was QMS chief executive Sarah Miller, discussing her personal career path from working the Saturday market for the family butcher, which in turn drove her passion for red meat. Sarah said: “As women, we can often talk ourselves out of things, and talk ourselves down. We need to all start leaning into new opportunities and believing in your ourselves if we are to truly unlock the talent pool that Scottish food and farming has.”
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