A young farmer from Highland Perthshire has won an NFU Scotland (NFUS) award for a video which demonstrates his farm’s approach to sustainable farming.
Patrick Barbour filmed a three-minute video at Mains of Fincastle near Pitlochry illustrating the benefits of tree planting, species-rich grassland, rotational grazing for cattle and sheep, and stitching nitrogen-fixing crops into pastures
The union’s competition called on farmers and crofters to record on video the steps they are taking to reduce emissions and deliver wider environmental benefits.
Much of the video was filmed while snow still covered the ground at Fincastle.
Patrick said the whole family was pleased to win the award, which includes a prize of a state-of-the-art drone and a satellite imagery package from SoilEssentials.
He added: “It’s great for us to be able to share what we’ve been doing on the family farm here at Fincastle, and I hope people enjoy the video.”
Among the judges was Orkney farmer Peter Moss, chair of NFUS’ next generation committee, who said the competition highlighted what the industry already knows.
“Which is that the next generation of Scotland’s farmers crofters and growers are prepared and already taking steps to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis in innovative ways,” he said.
Roddy McLean, agriculture director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the competition sponsors, said he had been encouraged to see how Patrick is taking action to reduce emissions to help protect the environment and make his business more resilient.
