A project to help pig farmers complete carbon audits is one of five to share just over £170,000 in financial support from the Scottish Government.
The funding has been delivered through the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund, which provides support for knowledge transfer and innovation projects on a range of issues such as resource efficiency and supporting the shift to a low-carbon and climate resilient agriculture sector.
The Carbon Trotterprints pig project, which is facilitated by Wholesome Pigs (Scotland), aims to build on the success on the use of benchmarking in the pig industry to deliver improved carbon measurement tools and minimise the work involved when completing a farm carbon audit.
Different carbon calculators will be assessed and data from 15 farms across Scotland will be compared to create a national benchmarking report so pig farmers can see how they are performing against their peers.
The other projects in receipt of funding include a Soil Association Scotland-led project to give farmers, crofters and land managers information about agroforestry in Scotland, and a Farm Stock (Scotland) Ltd-led project to help livestock farmers meet net-zero targets through better management of soil health.
Another project, led by Forth Resource Management, will produce a series of case study videos showcasing the agricultural industry’s role in the move towards a low carbon future, and a Nourish Scotland-led project will bring together a mixture of organisations to facilitate knowledge transfer between farmers who have adopted agroecological practices and those who are yet to be convinced.
Announcing the funding, Rural Affair Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “In the run up to COP26 the whole world was thinking about what needs to be done in order to combat climate change and what we need to do going forward.
“It is clear that we all need to work together to reach our climate goals; that’s why investing and supporting knowledge transfer and innovation within our agricultural sector has never been more important.”