Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service – still open for business for Scottish farmers and crofters

The impact Covid-19 is having worldwide is unprecedented. These are indeed very strange and uncertain times for both businesses and people on a human level, but the team here at FAS want you to know – we are here to support you.

The COVID-19 section of the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) website provides useful resources for managing your farm business during these challenging times. These include:

• Farm emergency plan template
• Emergency health plan template
• Emergency plan templates for dairy farms
• Croft and smallholder emergency plan template
• Lambing information sheets (to help inexperienced staff)
• Resources for beef producers
• Keeping children safe on farm

Take advantage of Government grant funding through FAS one-to-one services, that allow you to access expert support to improve business resilience, efficiency and operations – all of which are critical to safeguarding business continuity in uncertain times.

Through FAS, Scottish farmers and crofters can access up to £3,700 worth of grant funding for;

• Integrated Land Management Plans (ILMPs) which look at the full spectrum of business sustainability, identifying strengths and weaknesses;
• Specialist Advice for in-depth resilience advice (up to £1,000, 100% funded) that enables business owners to investigate opportunities of interest; and
• Carbon Audits to benchmark performance against similar businesses and provide tailored actions to make future cost savings and efficiency improvements.

Let’s get creative in how we communicate. Our advisers don’t need to have face-to-face contact with you, there is a lot that can be achieved by speaking to our experts by phone and/or video calling. Background data can be supplied via email or post; and land information can be collected remotely using mapping software and video calling or can be arranged so there is no social contact with yourselves.

Contact us today to find out how we can help your farming business.

To apply for support or for more information, please visit our advice and grants page. Alternatively, call 0300 323 0161 (up to 30 minutes of free advice available) or email advice@fas.scot