Publication - Advice and guidance
Sustainable and regenerative agriculture: code of practice
Guidance tool that highlights the types of activities that can be adopted on a farm or croft, that will contribute to the development of sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices in Scotland.
Section 5: Links to Guidance and Further Reading
Regulations
- Cross Compliance Detailed information on Cross Compliance
- The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018
- The Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025)
- General Binding Rules Know The Rules - Farming and Water Scotland
Other Codes of Practice
- Codes Of Practice For The Welfare Of Cattle
- Peatland Code | IUCN UK Peatland Programme
- Muirburn Code https://www.nature.scot/doc/guidance-muirburn-code
- Unilever’s Sustainable Agriculture Code
- PEPFAA Code - Farming and Water Scotland
Support Available
- Future Support Framework The future of agricultural support
- Agricultural Reform Route Map
- Whole Farm Plan (ruralpayments.org)
- RPID scheme guidance All schemes (ruralpayments.org)
- Agriculture Reform Glossary
Further Research
Background:
- Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024
- Vision for Scottish Agriculture
- ARP Glossary Agriculture Reform Glossary
- National targets for climate change and biodiversity
- Natural Environment Bill https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/s6/natural-environment-scotland-bill
- Scotland Nature30 - Nature30 | NatureScot
- Nature30 Criteria - Nature30 - The criteria | NatureScot
- Scotland 30 by 30 Framework - 30 by 30 Framework | NatureScot
- Global 30 by 30 Target - Target 3 - CBD
- Scottish Biodiversity Delivery Plan 2024–2030
- Scottish Biodiversity Strategy to 2045
- IUCN Guidelines for Recognising and reporting other effective area based conservation measures
- A beginner’s guide to sustainable farming
Regenerative/General:
- Regenerative Agriculture in the UK
- Farming For a Better Climate FFBC | Helping farmers in Scotland
- Climate Change resources for farmers from Farm Advisory Service
- What is ‘sustainable and regenerative agriculture’? With guest expert Dr Lorna Cole – SPICe Spotlight | Solas air SPICe (spice-spotlight.scot)
- Levels of Regenerative agriculture https://ethansoloviev.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Levels-of-Regenerative-Agriculture.pdf
- Nature Scot paper Biodiversity on lowland arable farms leaflet.pdf
- Nature Friendly Farming Network | Nature Friendly Farming Network, NFFN
- Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) Journey to Net Zero a Guide to Action Reports (rase.org.uk)
- Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture (parliament.uk)
- Framework for Nature Networks in Scotland | NatureScot Welcome to the Nature Networks Toolbox - Nature Networks |NatureScot
- Global Farm Metric
- The potential for an agroecological approach in Scotland: policy brief (climatexchange.org.uk)
- Sustainable Food Trust
- High Nature Value (HNV) Briefing: Supporting High Nature Value farming and crofting – Scotlink
Soils:
- Winter Cover Crops: Enhancing Soil Health and Management
- Increase soil organic matter – Farming
- Use of Cover Crops fas.scot/downloads/practical-guide-use-of-cover-crops/
- Soil structure & compaction | Helping farmers in Scotland
- Risk maps | Scotland's soils
- Soils - Soils Archives - Farming and Water Scotland
- See also Valuing your soils - Farming and Water Scotland
- valuing-your-soils.pdf
- A guide to the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) | Information helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service
- Field Drains - Field Drains - Farming and Water Scotland and Field Ditches & Dredging - Farming and Water Scotland
- Grazing for Profit and Biodiversity: Grazing for Profit and Biodiversity: Grazing Strategies | Information helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service
Habitat:
- Bracken guidance UK Best Practice Guidance - Bracken Management | NatureScot
- Study by Professor Pippa Chapman University of Leeds The impact of hedges maturation on soil organic carbon stocks in agricultural landscapes - Astrophysics Data System
Animal Health:
- Food and Agriculture of the United Nations – One Health Home (fao.org)
- World Health Organisation – One Health One health (who.int)
- One Health Commission What is One Health? - One Health Commission
- 5 Domains 5 Domains Model.pdf
- One Welfare About One Welfare - One Welfare (onewelfareworld.org)
- Review: The Five Domains model and promoting positive welfare in pigs - ScienceDirect
Efficiency:
- Tyre selection and management fas.scot/downloads/practical-guide-tyre-selection-management/
- Controlled traffic farming | SRUC
Air:
Water:
- Diffues Pollution - Diffuse Pollution - Farming and Water Scotland
- The National Flood Resilience Strategy National Flood Resilience Strategy - gov.scot
- Treating Water - Treating water with SuDS - Farming and Water Scotland
- Rural Sustainable Drainage Systems: A practical design and build guide for Scotland's farmers and landowners
- Water Environment - Know The Rules - Farming and Water Scotland
- The Benefits of Waterway Restoration for Farmers | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service
- SEPA Water Scarcity
- Planning for Water Scarcity: Practical guidance for Scottish farmers and growers | CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters
- Reducing Surface Runoff and Erosion with 'Magic Margins' | Helping farmers in Scotland
- Buffer Zones - 3D Buffer Zones | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service
- Better Buffer Design, Placement and Management | CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters.
- Managing Water - Natural Flood Management - Farming and Water Scotland
- fas.scot/downloads/water-management-on-your-farm-re-connection-to-floodplain/
- Rivers and Restoration - The Benefits of Waterway Restoration for Farmers | Helping farmers in Scotland | Farm Advisory Service
- Farming and Water - The 4 Point Plan - Farming and Water Scotland
- Managing Dirty Water Around the Steading - Farming and Water Scotland
- Managing slurry on farm - Farming and Water Scotland
- Statutory requirements FWS Managing-livestock_compressed.pdf.
- Managing Water - Managing Dirty Water Around the Steading - Farming and Water Scotland
- Rural Sustainable Drainage Systems: A practical design and build guide for Scotland's farmers and landowners.
- Slurry application - Moving to more sustainable methods of slurry application: implications for water quality of waterbodies and water protected areas | CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters;
- Diffuse Pollution - A state of knowledge overview of identified pathways of diffuse pollutants to the water environment | CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters;
- NVZ - Nitrate Vulnerable Zones - Agriculture and the environment - gov.scot;
- Drainage systems - Rural Sustainable Drainage Systems: A practical design and build guide for Scotland's farmers and landowners.
Contact
Email: cap.srdp.policy@gov.scot