Rural Roundup – Planning for Autumn

Welcome back to the Rural Round-up. On today’s episode George Chalmers and Tiffany Stephenson discuss Bluetongue, updates to greening guidance for 2027 and updates to the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS), as well as other key considerations for Autumn 2026.

Timestamps

How are things in the borders? 00:27

Bluetongue 03:30

Greening guidance for 2027 06:25

Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) 16:00

EFA Hedge cutting guidance 22:17

NVZ closed period dates 23:46

Taking stock of what you have before winter feeding. 27:11

Soil sampling 28:49

Managing grass for tupping 29:47

FAS Resources

Farming in Water Scarcity https://www.fas.scot/news/farming-in-water-scarcity/

Other Resources

Bluetongue Latest updates can be found here: Gov.uk latest BTV updates

Bluetongue Clinical signs in sheep are usually more pronounced than in cattle but can be very variable. A range of photos can be found here: https://ahdb.org.uk/clinical-signs-of-bluetongue.

Suspect cases should be reported to APHA Scotland on 03000 600 704.

The Ruminant Health and Welfare website has various Bluetongue resources for vets and farmers including a vaccination decision maker tool (Battle Bluetongue vaccination decision maker tool)

FFIS 2026 Update https://www.ruralpayments.org/news-events/future-farming-investment-scheme-2026-announced.html

Greening guidance 2027: https://www.ruralpayments.org/topics/all-schemes/basic-payment-scheme/basic-payment-scheme-full-guidance/greening—bps/greening-guidance/

For more information, visit www.FAS.scot

Twitter: @FASScot

Facebook: @FASScot

National Advice Hub

Phone: 0300 323 0161

Email: advice@fas.scot