Rural Britain is a wonderful assortment of farms, estates, hamlets, villages, forests and moors, lochs and valleys. Our stunning scenery, close communities and wonderful rural businesses provide an idyllic lifestyle for many, but rural life can also throw up some pretty unique challenges.
The Rural Scene (the Scene & Herd rural blog and news updates) looks at what’s new, what’s relevant, what’s tasty, what’s fun and what’s challenging about life in the Great British Countryside. We offer an insider insight into rural Britain, highlighting some of the exceptional people, businesses and innovations we believe that everybody should know about.
A ‘retrainable, smart-camera vision system’, developed in Scotland and now being deployed to eliminate rogue potatoes in Dutch onion crops has been awarded a Silver medal in the coveted Royal Highland Show Technical Innovation Awards. SKAi (pronounced: Sky) - SoilEssentials KORE Artificial Intelligence platform – is the brainchild of Forfar-based precision farming specialist, SoilEssentials. Essentially the SKAi system utilises smart cameras, trained in the recognition of target weed species, to control an agricultural crop sprayer as it passes over a field. Initially utilised to target dock infestations in grassland, SKAi is now being put to work in high-value arable crops.
READ MOREAnna has a tour of Rattray Estate and a chat with farm manager Calum Clark, a recent convert to #Organic. Calum shares his enthusiasm for farming and particularly for his herd of Beef Shorthorn cattle. Made in partnership with @ScottishOrganic
READ MOREJune is one of the Scene & Herd team's favourite months. Light evenings spent in the garden, warmer weather, delicious Scottish produce (mmm...raspberries!). Of course, it's not all fun and games - the sheep farmers in the team are kept busy preparing for clipping, watching grass think about growing and wishing lambs would hurry up and get to 42kg whilst the trade is good. What we're really looking forward to after a break of two years(!) is attending our respective local county shows - and of course the Royal Highland Show. We now understand how the cows feel when they're turned out!
READ MOREMichael Medlock recently returned from Dubai - where he had a lucrative career in oil and gas – to run his family’s organic farm near Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire. The enterprise is primarily organic gluten-free oats, but they are building up a business rearing chicken and ducks. For an episode in partnership with SOPA (the Scottish Organic Producers Association), Anna visited Michael for a chat and a tour of his farm.
READ MOREIt has long been the subject of science fiction, latterly morphing into various predictions, promises and prototypes, but now the wait is over. Farmers and contractors in Scotland and the north of England now have the chance to put full scale, autonomous tractors to work in their own fields. The AgBot 5.115T2, a 156hp dual tracked autonomous tractor, capable of a multitude of field tasks using standard PTO powered and draft implements, is now available to buy from Angus based precision farming specialists, SoilEssentials.
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Anna Davies: Email: anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
Ross (Monty) Montague: Email: monty@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
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