Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) has announced the first phase in its transformation into Scotland's new rural university by 2022.
The first stage will see SRUC move to a faculty-based model, with three new faculties located across Scotland - North, (the Faculty of Agri-Food & Business), Central (the Faculty of Rural Science & Policy) and South & West (the Faculty of Pasture-based Agriculture, Forestry and Biorefining).
The most notable development is the potential £35m investment into SRUC's Barony campus in Dumfries & Galloway, which is the site for the new South & West Faculty.
The investment strategy also includes a phased withdrawal over four years from SRUC campuses at Riverside in Ayr and Crichton in Dumfries & Galloway.
NFU Scotland Ayrshire Regional Chairman Colin Mair said: "A major investment in Barony College and a fresh focus on pasture farming and grassland management are important developments for dairy and livestock farming, not just in the South and West, but across Scotland.
"On a sad note, it will bring to a close the long-running association that SRUC has in delivering teaching and research at Auchincruive and Ayr that started with the West of Scotland College of Agriculture in 1927. Likewise, many farmers will also have benefitted from the excellent work undertaken at Crichton that must continue when the dairy herd moves to Barony.
"The important delivery of consultancy and veterinary surveillance in the region is, for the time being, located at Auchincruive, but both are subject to consultation on what the future holds. Members in the region will need strong reassurance from SRUC that they are not being abandoned. We believe there is a role for establishing consultancy hubs in the region and for the veterinary surveillance centre to continue."
Market round-up
C&D Auction Marts Ltd sold 2434 prime lambs in Longtown on Thursday to a top of £200 for a Texel ram lamb, or 333p per kg to average 175.7p(+4.7p on the week).
The firm also had 3586 cast sheep forward when heavy ewes sold to £155 for Texels and averaged £65.34 (-£3.17), while light/export-type ewes peaked at £62 for Cheviots and levelled at £29.60 (-£8.13).
Messrs Craig Wilson Ltd sold 265 store heifers at Ayr on Thursday to a top of £1255 per head and 227.6p per kg to average £845.47 and 193.9p (-0.9p on the fortnight), while 368 store, beef-bred bullocks peaked at £1340 and 236.8p to level at £898.78 and 203.6p (-8.3p). One-hundred-and-sixteen store, B&W bullocks sold to £1000 and 162.6p for the same pen to average £677.50 and 139.8p (-2.5p).
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 here