Having a demonstration farm in Scotland has been a GWCT objective for ten years. Demonstration is at the heart of the GWCT’s Allerton Project at Loddington in Leicestershire.
Over 20 years this has become a showpiece for our farmland research, demonstrating that good arable farming and game management can increase biodiversity and species abundance whilst retaining economic competitiveness.
Auchnerran, our new Scottish Demonstration Farm, will build on that work with new research in a different agricultural environment, and in a setting more familiar to the managers and policymakers of the UK’s uplands and hill-edge.
The Auchnerran Demonstration Farm for game and wildlife will:
- Show how farm income and wildlife are compatible.
- Show that management for shooting can be key to achieving the above.
- Show that private investment is the most cost-effective way of supporting farming and shooting.
Auchnerran needs your support
As work begins on the farm we will be facing a number of costs ranging from the purchase of building materials and equipment, to livestock and farmland machinery. For example:
- Red squirrel feeder - £25
- Camera trap - £115
- Sheep feed for one month - £600
- Tick treatment for a year - £5,000
- Pick-up truck - £17,500
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