Southern Belle

comparing the historical resource use and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions from the 1944 and 2007 U.S. dairy industries.

Her presentation was titled ‘Positively sustainable – staying resilient in the current climate’ and empowered attendees to take control of the red meat and farming narrative, understand the concerns of consumers and to respectively engage with the right people.

Jude explained that although the vegan lobby yell the loudest, they’re actually not the biggest threat to the red meat industry. Increasingly, a number or people are becoming ‘flexitarian’ which is a semi-vegetarian diet, one that is centred on plant foods with the occasional inclusion of meat.

Jude said that it’s not because they’re consciously reducing their meat consumption but more so because, when surveyed, 66% of flexitarians and meat eaters said that guilt is a primary factor for going vegetarian or vegan.

But, Jude maintains that we have a very important story to tell – particularly in Scotland where over 80% of Scottish agricultural land is grassland, which is less suitable economically and environmentally for anything other than livestock grazing.

Following on from Jude’s presentation, Alix Ritchie spoke on the importance of personal development, trying new things to stay resilient on and off farm, and the innovative ways she and colleagues are engaging school children to learn about farming practices.

Alix works at Montalt Farm, near Dunning with her husband, John and their two girls Millie & Ellie. As well as working on the farm, Alix also is the Health & Education Manager for Quality Meat Scotland and is passionate about educating the public about where their food comes from. On the farm they have cattle and sheep, and are constantly striving to make it more efficient and sustainable.

Alix’s journey started on her family farm between Perth and Dundee and while they didn’t actively farm, she was still required to help out with the usual farm chores and found an invoice she sent to her father charging 1p per ragwort she pulled out.

After joining her local young farmers club, Alix’s love for agriculture grew and it wasn’t until recently that she realised all the additional skills she gained. Chairing a meeting, improving public speaking, bookkeeping and how to take minutes are skills she picked up from young farmers and not her business degree.

In her previous role with the Royal Highland Education Trust, Alix put her skills in engaging kids in the classroom and connecting with teachers to good use by developing, alongside her colleague at QMS Jennifer, Farming Foodsteps.

Farming Foodsteps is a digital tool which offers a different way to engage in the sciences, home economics, maths and geography.

The free interactive resource is aimed at secondary school children and supports teachers and pupils in subjects across the curriculum through the story of red meat production, from field to plate.

The interactive tool was developed when the first lockdown started in March 2020 to replace the education sessions and cookery demonstrations they usually deliver in schools, alongside on-site teacher training workshops and supporting RHET Food and Farming visits.

Personal development is important to Alix and something that she is keen to continue. After completing the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme in 2018/2019 which she cites as a massive changing point for her.

An enhanced understanding of her personality and ways of working through the Insights Profile, improved confidence, and skills to deal with self-doubt has helped Alix to move forward and better work to her strengths.

Women in Agriculture Scotland is currently finalising their events for 2022 and to ensure that you are on the mailing list, please head to the WiAS website, https://www. womeninagriculture.scot/, or by following us on social media.

We can’t change history but we can help to put it right for the future

COP26 has been to the forefront over the past few weeks and hopefully it has made us all think about the future a bit more. However, anyone who expected a radical change in world policy, should bear in mind that there are three people in our house and we can’t agree on what TV programme to watch, so how can ninety people from all over the world, suddenly agree on what’s best for their countries, as well as our planet.

We can’t stress the big stuff but we can buy local, eat British (if Scottish isn’t available) and eat seasonally. The Queen refuses to eat strawberries at Christmas and if it is good enough for the Queen it is good enough for me. So that’s my wee bit. To start eating as many seasonal vegetables as possible and cut air miles. If I find any great recipes for turnip I’ll let you know!

We are led to believe, that the younger generation are better informed than us and with today’s communications, they certainly should be. Toward the end of the conference, a teenager from Irvine was asked how climate change was affecting the town and how it would impact on her. She said it would impact more on other people as she was already a vegetarian and tried to use milk alternatives as much as possible. We have some work to do….

My parents and grandparents, grew their own veg and drank milk from the nearest farm. They taught me the same way and while we are rightly being accused of using oil and coal to the detriment of the planet, we did not know at the time the devastation it would cause a century later. How could we? I have no doubt that the current generation will find that their grandchildren will accuse them of getting things wrong but history is just that. We can’t change history. All we can do is deal with the present and look to the future.