PepsiCo FAB expands its nature friendly farming project to bring onboard dozens more farms across the country

The PepsiCo FAB (Farming Arable Biodiversity) has been expanding its key Scottish agricultural project, which encourages farms to put measures in place to improve semi-natural habitats to benefit biodiversity and increase cost-effective, nature-friendly productivity.

Partnering with PepsiCo, GWCT, Scottish Agronomy and NatureScot, the project began in 2023 and saw five farms across Fife and Angus replicate successful strategies from Balgonie Estates to help wildlife thrive on their farms, alongside producing a sustainable and profitable crop of oats for PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats brand.

This model is now being rolled out to up to 50 other farms across Scotland, with 18 already signed up to the PepsiCo FAB - Scaling Up project.

Funded by PepsiCo, the initiative supplies oat growers with one of four specialised seed mixes. The choice gives each grower the flexibility to select the most suitable option for their farm and determine its optimal location, alongside two bird feeders and 25kg of seed.

Participating farm in focus - Strathmore Estate

Situated west of Forfar in Angus and featuring the well-known Glamis Castle, a major tourist attraction and ancestral home of the late Queen Mother, Strathmore Estate also runs a substantial farming operation managed by Marc Skivington.

The estate operates a diversified agricultural enterprise, incorporating both arable cropping and a suckler herd with over 300 cows. The arable rotation consists of potatoes, peas, winter wheat, winter oilseed rape, winter barley, spring oats, seed spring oats, and spring barley. In addition to the principal arable crops, the operation cultivates turnips, kale, and field beans for cattle feed. Overall, the estate manages approximately 1,400 hectares of rotational cropping alongside an additional 1,250 hectares of grassland.

In 2025, Marc Skivington took advantage of the free seed offer provided by the PepsiCo FAB - Scaling Up project. Marc expressed enthusiasm about Strathmore Estate’s commitment to improving both soil health and biodiversity, stating: “Many people don’t realise the ambitious plans Strathmore Estate has for improving soil health and biodiversity. When the offer to join the FAB Project came out, we were more than happy to get involved, to do our part in restoring habitat.”

The project’s central aim continues to be replicating successful strategies from Balgonie Estates, where exponential increases in grey partridge numbers were observed after creating suitable habitats. These habitats provide essential nesting sites, reliable food sources, and cover for young chicks as well as adults over the winter.

Marc Skivington with GWCT’s Fiona Torrance

Marc described how he chose his specific seed mix for Strathmore:

“We chose the Wildlife Winter Holding Cover, a multi-year mix which includes Buckwheat, coleor kale, kale rape, white mustard, phacelia, quinoa, perennial chicory, sunflowers, utopia and gold of pleasure. We located the mix in an area of light, sandy and unproductive soil which is too steep to crop, so it made sense to use this area for biodiversity.”

Despite the dry summer conditions in 2025, the biodiversity mix established successfully and proved highly attractive to pollinators throughout the season. Marc utilised his detailed knowledge of the estate and yield mapping to select the most appropriate area, ensuring biodiversity efforts complemented rather than compromised farming operations. When asked for advice to other growers, Marc said:

“I think each farm has areas of reduced productivity, due to soil type, water logging or slope. I would suggest looking at these areas closely, and instead of continuously cropping them, look at different options, such as biodiversity mixes. We haven’t noticed a downside in our average yields.”

While establishing biodiversity crops can pose challenges due to variable seed sizes and the low vigour of some species, Marc reported a smooth experience. Establishment on the light soil, did not present significant issues. He attributed success to following the guidance provided in a grower fact sheet provided by Frontier Agriculture, which specified the correct depth and timing for sowing:

“I didn’t have too many challenges establishing the biodiversity crop. 2025 was very dry, particularly on the light land where we located the mix. We were supplied a grower fact sheet to ensure we knew what depth and timing to establish the mix, which I followed, and it seemed to work!”

Finlay Hay, who farms at Easter Rhynd near Perth and has been involved with the project since it began in 2023, said:

“There's huge importance for farmers to embrace biodiversity within their farming system, for a number of reasons and number one being the practical side of things. We want lots of beneficial insects such as bees and other pollinators. But insects don’t just help our yield, they also help with pest control and disease management. It's a massive practical help.

“Another very important reason is the benefits it brings to our countryside, to our farm that we look after. For me personally, this farm has been in our family for over 120 years. We really want to keep it, keep it going and we want to see other wildlife flourish that works in conjunction with what we are doing on an arable farm.

“One of the exciting things for us about the project is the fact that this isn't a short term commitment for us, the work that we've means we're looking at this as being long term and something that we want to build on.

“This is just the start for us, we want to move on from here and see how we can keep making it better and improve things for wildlife on our farm.”

PepsiCo is continuing the project through 2026, to reach more oat growers and improve the biodiversity on their farm. To get involved in the FAB Project, contact: e.anderson@scottishagronomy.co.uk.