By Gordon Davidson
FARMERS in the south of Scotland are being encouraged to consider growing novel alternative crops such as mushrooms, cut flowers and medicinal cannabis.
A new report published by Scotland’s Rural College has suggested that farmers who are diversifying away from the traditional land uses could also move into producing bark for tannin extraction, sugar beet or ancient cereals which have higher protein and fibre and less gluten.
The report, written by rural business consultant Anna Sellars and professor Dave Roberts, considered the availability and suitability of land in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, and the processing facilities and market conditions needed to foster their development.
It also highlights that post-Brexit trade arrangements are likely to "challenge the status quo" of current food supply chains. Mushrooms – which have largely been produced in Europe in recent years – could instead be grown in Scotland, which has a comparable growing environment to Ireland. Medicinal cannabis, which is now prescribed by the NHS for various conditions such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and opium poppies, whose seedpods contain codeine and morphine among other substances, both offer opportunities to expand pharmaceutical crop production in the UK.
Consumers are increasingly interested in the sustainability and provenance of what they buy, but although flowers such as roses, lilies, tulips, daffodils and sunflowers can be grown in the UK, currently 86% of cut flowers are imported. These, together with freesia, iris, delphiniums, pinks, carnations, chrysanthemums and peonies, have recently seen a resurgence in popularity, offering another opportunity for farmers.
For in-depth news and views on Scottish agriculture, see Friday’s issue of The Scottish Farmer or visit www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel