The Golden Shears world sheep shearing championships are hosted in 2023 by the Royal Highland Show.

The competition's first return to Scotland in over 20 years has teams from 30 countries competing in machine shearing, hand shearing, and wool handling categories.

Competitors gathered earlier this week for a last-minute training session at Crookston Farm in the Borders. OnFARM's Monty and producer Dave were there too.

This episode of OnFARM is kindly supported by Lawrie and Symington.

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

RHET chairman and Dumfries and Galloway farmer Alistair Marshall is midway through a cross-Scotland cycling fundraiser. His e hopes to visit schools in all 13 RHET regions in the run-up to the Royal Highland Show.

The aim is to raise over £10,000 to support RHET to continue to provide free educational activities and experiential learning for young people aged 3 -18 years.

OnFARM's Anna Davies was one of a group of riders who joined Alistair for the first leg of his trip, setting out from Stobhill Primary School in Midlothian.

To support Alistair's cycle challenge for the Royal Highland Education Trust, visit the JustGiving page here.

This episode of OnFARM is kindly supported by Bell Ingram.

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

Anna attended the recent national conference of SOPA – Scottish Organic – at the Royal Highland Showground.  It was a brilliant forward-thinking day; in fact the theme of the event was “The Road Ahead”. Organic is still quite a small part of the total food and farming economy, but it is growing, and there is huge potential for the future. 

This episode is packed with inspiring and insightful conversations recorded over the course of the day, including with:

Deb Roberts, SOPA manager

Bryce Cunningham of Mossgiel Farm

Jennifer Brodie of Undo Carbon

Fiona Richmond of Scottish Food and Drink

Jayne Jones, from Argyll and Bute council

Tom Wood, food exporter at Robin Appel Ltd.

Murray Cooper, Aberdeenshire organic rapeseed oil grower

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

Most of us in farming - unfortunately - know someone who’s been in an argument or a dispute. It could be between relatives over an inheritance, or over a business relationship, or whatever it might be. You may not realise you can call on support from professional mediators - or even, in some cases, offer to step in as a mediator yourself.

This episode is all about the power of mediation – hearing from Gillespie Macandrew's dispute resolution team lead Fiona Cameron, and Gordon Davies, a mediator working for - among others - rural support charity RSABI. (Full disclosure: Gordon is also OnFARM host Anna's dad!)

To fill in the SAOS butchery and abbatoir survey mentioned at the beginning of the episode, go to this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ML9QN56

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

We are alongside the main arena at Fife Show, courtesy of OnFARM partners and sponsors Gillespie MacAndrew. Guest co-presenters are Carol McQuillan and Sam Connington from GM's Land and Rural Business Team. They check in with RSABI's Carol MacLaren about their upcoming fundraiser The Great Glen Challenge. We also hear from Jenn Stewart at Johnston Carmichael, and NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy tells us about his recent London trip, for a 'food summit' at 10 Downing Street.

Sign up to take part in RSABI's Great Glen Challenge here: https://www.rsabi.org.uk/event/rsabi-great-glen-challenge-2023/

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

A follow-up to our episode on the restoration of Braemar Castle in Royal Deeside. We are with Bell Ingram team volunteers, senior architect Iain Cram, and expert Scottish thatcher Brian Wilson, as they gather sheaves of heather to redo the roof of a folly - or 'fog house' - in the castle grounds.

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

Braemar Castle in Royal Deeside has been under scaffolding for many months - as it is being lovingly restored by a team led by the local community, with architecture support from specialists at Bell Ingram. In this episode - the first of two recorded at Braemar Castle - Monty meets vice chair of Braemar Community Ltd. Doreen Wood, director of stonemasonry at Harper and Allen masonry Steven Harper, and Iain Cram, senior architect and partner at Bell Ingram.

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

The 2023 Helping It Happen awards from Scottish Land and Estates are open for nominations here. In this mini-series in partnership with SLE, Anna meets the 2022 winners, to find out how the recognition has helped them or given their work a boost. We also hear in each episode from SLE chief executive Sarah-Jane Laing.

Helping it Happen 2022 award-winners showcased in this second episode:

Tourism & Visitor Management Award: The Fairy Pools Car Park and Off-Grid Toilets Development, Isle Of Skye – finding a solution to the huge increase in visitor numbers to one of Scotland’s most popular rural destinations.

Rural Business Award, sponsored by Shepherd & Wedderburn: Skyeskyns - the sole remaining commercial woolskin tannery in Scotland producing some of the most beautiful and handcrafted sheep skins, leather and woollen goods.

Innovation in Farming Award, sponsored by Douglas Home & Co: FastBreeders - a collaborative project involving four pasture dairy farms, using data to enable precise genomic selection decisions to maximise the health and efficiency of crossbred dairy cows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

The 2023 Helping It Happen awards from Scottish Land and Estates are now open for nominations here. In this mini-series in partnership with SLE, Anna meets the 2022 winners, to find out how the recognition has helped them or given their work a boost. We also hear in each episode from SLE chief executive Sarah-Jane Laing.

Helping it Happen 2022 award-winners showcased in this first episode:

Housing award: Strathcathro Estates - Hugh Campbell Adamson

Education: The Be Your Best Self programme - Kirsty Ritchie

Working with Communities award: Countryside Learning Scotland - Ian Robertson

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media

The first ever SAOS Growing Tomorrow's Leaders cohort have recently completed their training. Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders programme has been designed to help Scotland's rural sector cope better with its many and growing challenges, including climate change, sustainability and supply chain issues. OnFARM's Anna took part in the training herself - and recorded this episode at their recent graduation event.

Find out more about upcoming 2023/24 programme at: https://saos.coop/events-and-training/growing-tomorrows-leaders-training

Mentioned in this episode:

Podcast producers Bespoken Media

All episodes of OnFARM are produced and edited by Scottish podcast production specialists Bespoken Media. Find Bespoken at www.bespoken.media