With a new director, a fresh identity and sixty years working alongside Scotland's rural industries, Lantra Scotland arrives at this year's Royal Highland Show with much to celebrate, and even more to say.
Find Lantra Scotland at the Highland Show and you will discover them in their familiar spot on 7th Avenue 10 (P), beside the main ring. But while the address may not have changed, almost everything else has.
Scotland's leading skills and training body for land-based industries comes to Ingliston this June with a new director at the helm, a striking new logo across its branding, and a packed programme of events that reflects both where the organisation has come from and where it intends to go.
The most significant change is in leadership. Earlier this year, Lantra said a warm farewell to Dr Liz Barron-Majerik, and welcomed her successor, Gill Simpson, who brings with her a career built on collaboration and innovation.
Gill comes from the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP), where, as innovation director, she worked alongside businesses, public sector partners and industry leaders to drive innovation, skills development and sustainable economic growth.
Before that, she spent fifteen years with Scottish Enterprise and was involved with business growth, skills development, stakeholder engagement and partnership working, experience that should stand her in good stead to help address some of the challenges facing Scottish rural industries today.
To understand where Lantra Scotland is going, it helps to know how it got started.
The answer goes right back to 1966, when the Agricultural Training Board (ATB) was established to support farm workers and their employers.
Three decades later, in 1998, the ATB gave way to Lantra, an organisation with a considerably wider remit. Agriculture remained at its core, but the new body took on responsibility for the full breadth of rural industries across Scotland – forestry, horticulture, aquaculture, environmental management and more.
The scope of the work had grown to match the complexity of the sector it served.
This year, Lantra marks its 60th anniversary. On Thursday, June 18, at 1.30pm on its Highland Show stand, the organisation will host a celebration open to all. It will also offer visitors their first chance to meet Gill Simpson in her new role, so promises to be an event worth attending.
While the anniversary celebration starts Lantra Scotland's Highland Show programme, the stand will host a series of events that help address some of the most pressing questions facing Scotland's rural industries: how to attract new talent, how to retain it, and how to ensure the sector remains sustainable and diverse for generations to come.
On Friday 19 June at noon, Lantra Scotland's industry champions will be on hand to share their own experiences of working in rural industries and offer practical guidance to those considering a career in the sector.
Later that afternoon, from 1.30pm, the focus turn to new entrants in a session bringing together employers, trainers, government representatives and someone who has benefited from funding through Lantra's funding to examine what it takes to build the next generation of Scotland's rural workforce.
The Friday afternoon session begins with an introduction from Director Gill Simpson, who will be followed by Tracey McEwan of Tarff Valley and Michael Bayne of Borders Machinery Ring. As employers, they will address the challenges the sector faces, the opportunities available to those willing to take them, and the critical importance of investing in skills.
Andy Findlay of Findlay Training will outline his company's involvement in Lantra Scotland's practical training funds and illustrate the value of hands-on, industry-focused training.
Friday’s keynote address will be delivered by minister for agriculture and connectivity, Jim Fairlie MSP.
Mr Fairlie will speak about the importance of supporting new entrants into Scotland's rural industries, and of the role that skills development, clear career pathways and training opportunities play in securing a sustainable and resilient workforce.
The session ends with someone who is themselves a new entrant and twice a recipient of Next Generation practical training funding: Hannah Walsh. Hannah will reflect on her own career journey and the difference that continued professional development has made to her progression within agriculture.
The Next Generation Practical Training Fund is joined by the Women in Agriculture Practical Training Fund; the Peatland Restoration Fund and the Small Producers Fund, all offering support across the sector as befits an organisation like Lantra Scotland in 2026.
To find out more about funding available, visit www.scotland.lantra.co.uk
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