Scotland’s first ethical farming conference hailed a success

Scotland’s first ethical farming conference has been hailed a success.

Co-organised by four farms based in the south of Scotland – Mossgiel Farm, Peelham Farm, Rainton Farm and Whitmuir Organic – the event explored growing public concerns on climate change, biodiversity, social impact and animal welfare.

Two hundred farmers, researchers, academics and students from Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, USA and across the UK took part in the conference which was organised around sustainability principles; highlighting locally produced foods, using recycled paper and avoiding single use plastic.

The event was hosted by The Ethical Dairy at Rainton Farm -the largest cow with calf dairy farm in Europe – that allows calves to stay with their mothers up to three months after birth.

Most dairy farms remove calves from cows around 24-48 hours after birth and place them in calf pens, so cows’ milk can be solely taken by farmers – a process which has raised many ethical concerns.

Wilma Finlay of Rainton Farm said: “The conference is the start of a conversation that invites our industry to meaningfully explore the very real concerns that the public has with current food producing systems and how we might address them.

“Ethically produced food is an important emerging market and livestock farming needs to have a place within that market.

“There is a clear opportunity for Scotland to take the lead in incentivising ecological farming; pioneering a pasture-based, regenerative approach that is as sustainable as it is productive.

“The alternative, intensification, in a country that excels at natural, pasture based systems will place our whole industry in the frame as a health and climate liability.”

The conference was opened by Mairi Gougeon, Scottish Government Minister for Rural Affairs and Natural Environment.

Speaking before the conference Mairi Gougeon said: “For a relatively small country, Scotland’s efforts to tackle climate change, support farmers, and ensure the highest standards of animal welfare mean that we should be leading the way internationally in ethical and sustainable farming.

“I know that there is already a lot of enthusiasm for this amongst Scotland’s farmers but I would encourage everyone working within the industry to embrace taking a more future-focused approach to their work, to ensure that we continue to produce an abundance of food and drink, in an increasingly unpredictable global climate.”