The size (c. 2,200 ha), altitudinal range (from 170 m to over 1,000 m) and wide range of inbye grassland and other upland moorland and woodland habitats characteristic of hill farming and crofting make SRUC Kirkton & Auchtertyre farms unique within both SRUC’s portfolio of research, demonstration and teaching farm facilities.

The Scottish Government commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2045 will have a major impact on future agricultural and environmental support policies. In particular, there will be an even greater emphasis on encouraging hill farmers, crofters and other upland land managers to improve the cost-effectiveness of their production systems and thereby reduce emissions.

The range of production-oriented research we are conducting at Kirkton and Auchtertyre – from improving soil and grassland management, through increasing livestock performance, to using sensors and other technology to aid decision-making - is all aimed at understanding what may be practical or economically viable to implement.

Making such changes to production systems will help in reducing emissions from any farm or croft. But the scale of the overall challenge means that only doing that will be nowhere near enough to help Scotland get to net zero by 2045. Hence other actions that we are doing –such a woodland creation, peatland restoration and agri-environment management –will help ensure that hill farms and crofts also sequester even more carbon over the coming years.

Being seen to address both the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis will be essential if Scotland’s upland land managers are to trade on their green credentials going forward. Kirkton & Auchtertyre farms are uniquely placed – both now and into the future – to test, interpret and demonstrate how best to address the economic, social and/or environmental challenges facing such upland land uses in a future that will involve greater amount of economic and climatic shocks.