The Scottish Government offered the Highland Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (HFWAG) a Sustainable Action Grant of £28,818.87 in 2006-07, £25,998.25 in 2007-08 and £3104.06 in 2008-09 for a project 'Linking Sustainable Farming, Tourism and Biodiversity' - to encourage visitors into the rural areas and promote a greater understanding and appreciation of farming and biodiversity management. This, and a project by the Dumfries and Galloway Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, operated as stand-alone projects in terms of management with a number of common features; they were a joint pilot covering two very different areas.
In the Highlands the Sustainable Farm Tourism project aimed to increase economic activity in farm tourism through environmental awareness and increase visitor appreciation of environmental land management and the rural economy. This was done through farm visits, a marketing strategy, information packs for farms and farm trail maps for visitors.
In the first year a total of 20 farms were recruited to participate in the project. Prior to the start of the project a wide range of farms had been approached by letter to gauge their interest. The initial recruitment of farms sought certain criteria - that they were providing tourist accommodation, that they had a farm code number indicating an agricultural unit, that they were quality assured by Visit Scotland's assurance scheme, and that they were receptive to the concept of training.
These 20 farms included four in the Cairngorms National Park, one in Glen Strathfarrer, two in Muir of Ord, three in Brora, two in Ullapool, two in Arisaig, one in Plockton, and five in Argyll. There were advisory visits to give basic environmental advice on the management of the holding, discuss how this management could be best interpreted to visitors, training requirements and local food access for visitors, and look at routes for a farm trail and at advertising.
In the second year a further twenty farms were recruited to participate in the project, bringing the total to forty, the target for the project. Follow up visits were undertaken to all of the first year's farms and those which were recruited in spring 2007.
After the advisory visits material was prepared to distribute to the farms in the form of a "wildlife kist" as a resource for use by visitors. The "kist" itself was a wooden box made in Argyll from locally grown sycamore. Other options were considered but this was considered best on the grounds that it supported local industry, came from a sustainable source, was robust and would outlive the project timescale, and was aesthetically pleasing.
In order to achieve consistency in the box contents a pre-printed format was used for the material. This ensured a professional look with the funders' logos correctly displayed. The preparation of this material took some time but was worth the effort. The farm-specific text and photos were entered into templates and printed on to the professionally printed sheets. To ensure durability all the printed material was laminated and bound.
As a resource for both farmer and tourist and to act as course material for the training courses, a 60-page "Landscape management pack" was produced in collaboration with BTCV on hedging, dyking and woodlands.
Among the box contents were:
A biodiversity report (farm specific, laminated and bound);
A farming year calendar (farm specific, laminated and bound);
A farm trail map (laminated);
A landscape management pack (bound book);
A visitors book (a blank hard backed book for visitors to record their experiences in and give feedback);
Children's activity sheets (replaceable crosswords, puzzles and games with a wildlife theme);
Leaflets on local species, local food and other local wildlife sites.
A biodiversity training course was arranged for the Cairngorms area in August 2007 and in other areas in 2008, and farm walks were identified and organised for 2008.
In 2008 a poster presentation was prepared to feature in the Scottish Parliament during Environment Week, a newsletter was prepared for printing and circulation, and feedback forms were collected in advance of a final report.