Seminars in rooms one and two

Seminars Preview

There will be six venues within the event, three main seminar rooms, the Scottish Food Guide Theatre, the SRUC Theatre and the Handcrafts workshop. Today let’s focus on rooms one and two:

Seminar room one will host the talks on Biodiversity and Innovation. You will hear all about fibre processing from Emma Duncan at Creation Mill. Debby Richardson Webb will update us on the wildflower meadow at The Lint Mill. You will hear about Small Farm agroecology from Abi Mordin at Propagate. Jo Edwards from Green Aspirations CIC will talk about the art and craft of coppicing and why we should do more of it. Marianne Farish from the Humane Slaughter association  will tell us all about the work of the charity and the help and advice available.

Seminar room two will be more focused on the business of smallholding. We are really pleased that Chris Lindsay from Thorntons Solicitors has agreed to come along and give us a talk on succession planning and legal matters. We will then hear from one of the founders of the Festival. Rosemary Champion who along with husband Dan, will take us through a short introduction to Smallholding based on their experience at The Accidental Smallholder. Dr Amy Jennings from APHA will be on hand to give us an update on Bluetongue, disease prevention and an update on latest policy. Jenny McKerr from QMS will then talk about private slaughter and how to make it simple with a step by step guide. Lucy Filby from South of Scotland Enterprise will then talk about the support available for small producers before the Agriculture team from the Scottish Government will lead a workshop to talk about Grants, funding, access to land and the agriculture bill.