Sustainable and regenerative agriculture: code of practice

Section 2: Sustainable and Regenerative Measures

The following section details practical actions and industry best practice for farmers, crofters and land managers to consider in relation to environmental sustainability, efficient use of land as well as social or economic aspects of a “sustainable business”. Feedback from industry experts, scientific and academic information has been taken on board in developing these, but the list is not exhaustive. Businesses may be-able to apply for financial support for some actions via the four-tier Future Support Framework. Links to further reading and support are in Section 4.

Management Actions or Measures have been split into four categories - Nature and Climate, Livestock, Animal Health and Welfare, and Business Profitability.

It is recognised that each farm business is unique and may already be undertaking some of these Actions or Measures. It is envisaged that individuals can choose which to undertake that are relevant for their business and land type. It is not expected that all the Actions or Measures detailed are undertaken and these are not mandatory, rather this is a best practice guide.

Regenerative agriculture must be adaptive and implement Actions or Measures aligned to a set of principles. The uptake of these will contribute to the delivery of the outcomes in the Vision for Agriculture and, also have financial or efficiency benefits to a business.

List of Management Actions or Measures

Nature and Climate

Aims and objectives: To support delivery of the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and Objectives of the Act with regard to the Outcomes – High Quality Food Production, Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, and Nature Restoration

Cultivated Soils

Maintain continuous soil cover.

Policy Justification: Maintaining soil cover protects the soil, reducing the risk of erosion and capping and enabling active carbon cycling for as much of the year as possible. Measures that preserve soil functions and improve soil organic matter content to sustain productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, maintain water and air quality and support biodiversity in and above the soil.

Benefits to the Business: Increased soil function and carbon cycling, increases in organic matter and avoiding soil loss can improve crop productivity, reduce tillage and irrigation cost, minimise flooding as water moves more slowly through soil, reduce erosion and runoff, potentially reduce fertiliser requirement, living roots protect soil structure, feed the soil, potentially improving water infiltration and avoid nutrient leaching.

Winter Cover

Retain stubbles or establish a cover crop from a combinable crop over the winter.

Policy Justification: Leaving stubble until early Spring will allow a variety of arable plants to develop, providing food and cover for insects, birds and small mammals. Reduced need for pesticides and increased organic matter improves biodiversity. Reduced erosion and runoff, reduced fertiliser use contributes to climate mitigation, and increased organic matter can reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Benefits to the Business: Keeping soil covered over winter provides a number of benefits: Soil Fertility – many cover crops fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. Erosion – minimises impact of rain and wind on exposed soil, providing protection from soil erosion. Improved soil structure - Root systems of cover crops break up compacted soil and help water retention and transmission, facilitates aeration. Weed suppression – dense cover crop can prevent weeds growing. Organic matter - The biomass input by cover crops contributes organic matter to the soil when they decay improving soil fertility. Improves soil health and reduces need for added fertiliser and can result in an increased productivity and cost saving.

Minimum Tillage / No Tillage

Minimise soil disturbance, avoid inversion, avoid deep ploughing (if no major compaction or large weed burden) by using a direct drill, discs, or different machinery.

Policy Justification: This will maintain soil structure and its biodiversity, avoid organic matter oxidation and disruption of soil biodiversity. Minimum / no tillage will not be suitable for all soil types or crops or every year and may be affected by other constraints such as geography, compaction and weed burden. Reduced fertiliser contributes to climate mitigation. Reduced soil organic matter loss improves biodiversity.

Benefits to the Business: Minimises organic matter loss which improves soil fertility. May reduce need for added fertilisers resulting in cost savings. Can be combined with use of cover crops. Protect soil structure and soil organic matter, avoid soil disruption, can result in reduced fuel usage and cost saving. Reduced establishment costs can offer significant cost savings to the business.

Soil Health

Improved soil health, carry out actions relating to pH, compaction, drainage and pan busting through the maintenance of living roots, green cover, integration of livestock and diverse plants.

Policy Justification: Soil health - oxygenating roots gives better plant growth and efficiencies. Preserves soil functions and improves soil organic matter content, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, sequesters carbon in the soil, maintains water and air quality supports biodiversity in and above the soil.

Benefits to the Business: Improved soil structure contributes to water retention, drainage and aeration. These can all help increase crop yield and resilience to extreme weather.

Uncultivated Features and Permanent Habitats

Management of uncultivated features and permanent habitats.

Policy Justification: Measures that improve habitat condition and preserve soil functions to reduce emissions. Increases resilience of the land to climate change impacts, capture carbon, maintain water and air quality. Supports biodiversity in and around the cropped (including grass cropped) areas of the holding and across the hill and non-cultivated areas of the farm/croft. Reduced nutrient leaching, requires less fertiliser contributing to climate mitigation.

Benefits to the Business: Supports improved natural pest regulation for Integrated Pest Management and improved crop pollination, improved water infiltration and avoid nutrient leaching, avoid soil loss and keep drains cleaner, protects crops and livestock from harsh weather conditions, can improve soil organic matter and water retention. Measures will help provide places for wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats.

Management of Habitats

Identify, retain and manage existing natural habitat features on the farm, positive management of land that previously qualified as fallow, for example use of wild flower mix or wild bird seed mix, increase field margins, recognition of HNV principles.

Policy Justification: Provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors.

Benefits to the Business: Measures will help provide places for wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats.

Hedgerows

Management of existing hedgerows, enhance existing hedgerows, planting new hedgerows and gapping up existing hedgerows.

Policy Justification: Provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors. Sequesters carbon and contributes to nature enhancement.

Benefits to the Business: Increases farm resilience and adaptation to climate change. Can improve water infiltration, prevent soil and nutrient run off, reducing soil erosion and maintaining water quality. Keeps drains clean, protect crops, grass and livestock from harsh weather conditions, preventing flooding and erosion, and can extend growing season. Can improve animal survival and performance, support improved pest natural regulation and crop pollination, improve soil carbon sequestration, improve carbon balance of farm system, create biosecurity barrier.

Nutrient Management

Appropriate use of fertiliser / lime, slurry, digestate, farmyard manure, covered slurry stores, anaerobic digestion, variable rate nitrogen and lime, soil pH management, urease and nitrification Inhibitors, slurry acidification, precision farming equipment / low emission spreading e.g. dribble bar.

Policy Justification: Measures that preserve soil functions and improve soil organic matter content, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, maintains water and air quality and supports biodiversity in and above the soil, improves / maximises the uptake of fertiliser, sequesters carbon in the soil. Improved soil organic matter content improves biodiversity.

Benefits to the Business: Undertaking nutrient management as a process can benefit the farm business by reducing the need for inorganic fertilisers and could improve crop yield or margins. Organic manures applied to agricultural land are valuable sources of organic matter and plant nutrients. Careful storage, sufficient capacity and precise application to land allows their nutrient value to be used for the benefit of crops and soils, and significant reduction in the use of inorganic fertilisers.

Grassland Management

Management of grazed habitats / regenerative grazing practices e.g. mob, strip, adaptive multi-paddock grazing. Regenerative grazing is the practice of building soil health by managing livestock on grazed areas characterised by frequent rotation and longer resting time / recovery periods.

Policy Justification: Better grassland management improves sward growth flowering and seeding promoting improved biodiversity. Improves soil health by managing livestock on grazed areas, encourages regrowth and development of strong plant and root systems, improves soil microbiology and function. Sequesters carbon and contributes to nature enhancement.

Benefits to the Business: Improved efficiency through better quality grazing. Regenerative grazing allows the sward to grow higher, to ensure grasses and plants flower and seed. Effective grassland management encourages stronger root growth, which in turn supports plant regrowth after grazing and a more diverse soil biodiversity through root exudates. Stronger growth improves subsequent grazing reducing costs and improving efficiency. Regenerative grazing using multi species sward can improve soil health, enhance grass productivity throughout the season, improve animal health, and reduce the need for supplementary feeding. Rotational grazing extends the grazing season, reduces poaching and can increase carrying capacity of the land.

Grassland and Arable

Use of nitrogen fixing crops such as clover, peas or field beans into the cropping rotation, and other appropriate catch/cover/green manure/soil improver crops including pasture legumes.

Policy Justification: Measures that preserve soil functions and improve soil organic matter content, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, maintains water and air quality and supports biodiversity in and above the soil, sequesters carbon in the soil. Improved soil organic matter reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Improved soil organic matter content improves biodiversity.

Benefits to the Business: Use of nitrogen fixing crops can reduce input costs from inorganic fertilisers.

Crop diversity - Attain species diversity in existing rotational grass swards by over seeding or reseeding with diverse species grass mix or implementing extended rest periods to enable plants to express themselves rather than being grazed off and use a number of different crops in an arable rotation depending on soil type and land capability.

Policy Justification: A varied crop rotation can enhance biodiversity, improve soil organic matter and climate impact resilience. Soil erosion is minimised, pest and disease burdens are reduced. Improved soil organic matter reduces greenhouse gas emissions, reduces nutrient leaching, requires less fertiliser contributing to climate mitigation. Improved soil organic matter content improves biodiversity.

Benefits to the Business: Increasing diversity in grass sward can improve forage quality and animal health. The varied rooting depth in a multi-species sward can increase farm resilience to drought.

Integration of livestock into arable crop systems - Integrate forage crops into the holding along with cattle and sheep to graze these forage lays in winter.

Policy Justification: Integrating livestock on arable systems increases soil protection and boosts microbial activity below ground.

Benefits to the Business: Efficient sharing of forage during difficult harvest years, arable soil health and crop diversification. In addition, it extends the rotation by providing more break crops.

Habitat Management

Manage existing fenced and unfenced water margins and buffer strips, cut or grazed annually to maintain species and structure diversity, uncultivated areas such as, wetlands / wet areas of fields, ponds, lowland raised bogs, species rich grassland, scrub.

Habitat management practices can include:

• species specific management
• protected sites management
• organic practice
• habitat mosaics
• bird friendly crop operations method of cutting silage/rashes to protect nesting grassland birds
• timing of silage or hay cutting, a delay to July - August can encourage flowering and provide cover for nesting and fledging birds
• timing or even stopping of spraying, topping, rolling and harrowing to minimise disturbance to wildlife during breeding season
• diverse sward species
• field margins
• buffer strips
• pollinator strips
• beetle banks
• wild bird cover
• damp areas vital for chick rearing habitats for wading birds
• coastal dune marsh

Policy Justification: Diffuse pollution benefit and provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors. Sequesters carbon and contributes to nature enhancement. Avoiding field operations at key times, will reduce the risk of damage/disturbance to key waders and their nests.

Benefits to the Business: Through improving habitat management some main benefits include, enhanced biodiversity, natural pest control, increased pollination services, water management, preserve natural ecosystem services such as filtration, carbon sequestration and pollination.

Management of Invasive Non-native Species

Identify and control invasive non-native species on the farm, require positive management of riparian zones, field margins and other farmland by removal of invasive non-native plants such as giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam, Japanese knotweed and Rhododendron ponticum.

Policy Justification: Addresses one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss by providing places for Scotland’s native biodiversity to thrive – allowing native plants to colonise and wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors.

Benefits to the Business: Prevention of spread avoids increased impacts on the operation of agricultural businesses and associated costs of control. Measures will help provide places for wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats.

Predator / Pest control

Population control of deer , foxes, crows, grey squirrel.

Policy Justification: Maintains population balance by reducing predation pressure on vulnerable species. Protection of particular species e.g. wading birds, native species e.g. red squirrel

Benefits to the Business: Protects livestock e.g. young lambs and species rich ground e.g. heather moorlands.

NVZ Area Requirements

Prepare and implement a fertiliser and manure management plan for nitrogen fertiliser. Voluntary commitment to follow the relevant best practice set out in the 2024 Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Agricultural Activity (PEPFAA) code. For agricultural land within NVZs, there are statutory requirements under the Action Programme for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2008. Guidance for farmers on these requirements are available at Nitrate Vulnerable Zones: guidance for farmers - gov.scot.

Many of the NVZ Action Programme requirements are also statutory requirements for farmers outwith NVZs under the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. For example, when applying fertiliser you must not exceed the crop requirement for nitrogen at the time of application. Guidance for farmers on these requirements are available at Know The Rules - Farming and Water Scotland.

Policy Justification: Voluntary commitment to the relevant best practice set out in the 2024 PEPFAA Code - Farming and Water Scotland to enhanced NVZ requirements would mitigate diffuse pollution issues by reducing the pollution of waters caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. Improved Biodiversity and improved water quality contributes to biodiversity enhancement.

Benefits to the Business: By following best practice for nitrogen fertiliser use this can help reduce costs to businesses by using fertiliser more efficiently. It can also prevent leaching and runoff of nitrates into the water environment, improving the overall water quality. Clean water is essential for both agriculture and community use, ensuring that local ecosystems and drinking water sources remain safe.

Protecting Peatlands and Wetlands

Peatland and wetland provisions of GAEC6 require the avoidance of the following:

• ploughing or cultivating
• reseeding
• new drainage or maintenance of existing drainage systems that causes peatlands or wetlands to dry out
• application of pesticides, fertilisers including manures, lime other soil conditioners
• creating new roads and tracks (include vehicle rutting exposing the soil)
• planting trees on peatlands or wetland or on sites where it would compromise the hydrology of adjacent peatlands or wetlands
• activities that cause damage to the vegetation cover exposing the soil (e.g. excessive poaching/trampling by livestock due to high stocking rates or unsuitable supplementary feeding)

Policy Justification: Healthy peatlands make an important contribution to mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies. They provide a range of benefits to the natural and human environment, including capturing and storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, reducing downstream flood risk, improving water quality and reducing the risk of wildfire. These measures are designed to protect peatlands and wetlands from damage and/or prevent any existing degradation from getting worse.

Benefits to the Business: Peatlands and wetlands are critical ecosystems that provide a range of valuable services that can enhance farm productivity and resilience. By preserving these areas farmers and crofters help mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and flood management, enhance biodiversity and pest control, soil health and erosion prevention, increase resilience to climate change and extreme weather events, and sustainable water management.

Managing Peatlands and Wetlands

Managing peatlands and wetlands can include:

• Wetland creation and management through control of grazing
• Lowland bog management to keep the bog surface (both the vegetation and the peat) as intact, undisturbed and as wet as possible
• Creation and management of wet buffer areas with longer vegetation to reduce nutrient input to fens and bogs
• Control of scrub or woody vegetation invading peatlands and wetlands
• Moorland management through control of levels of wild (including deer) and domestic stock and vehicle tracking

Policy Justification: Healthy peatlands make an important contribution to mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies. They provide a range of benefits to the natural and human environment, including capturing and storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, reducing downstream flood risk, improving water quality and reducing the risk of wildfire. These measures are designed to support good management and stewardship of lowland and upland peat bogs and wetlands.

Benefits to the Business: Peatlands and wetlands are critical ecosystems that provide a range of valuable services that can enhance farm productivity and resilience. By preserving these areas farmers and crofters help mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and flood management, enhance biodiversity and pest control, soil health and erosion prevention, increase resilience to climate change and extreme weather events, and sustainable water management.

Restoring Peatlands and Wetlands

Restoring Peatlands and Wetlands can include:

• Ditch blocking - peat dams
• Peat hag, gully and peat bank reprofiling to prevent further erosion
• Revegetating peat gullies, pans and micro-erosion to increase its stability
• Returfing to stabilise areas of bare, eroding peat

Policy Justification: Healthy peatlands make an important contribution to mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies. They provide a range of benefits to the natural and human environment, including capturing and storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, reducing downstream flood risk, improving water quality and reducing the risk of wildfire. These measures are designed to put degraded peatlands on the road to recovery towards more natural and functional systems.

Benefits to the Business: Peatlands and wetlands are critical ecosystems that provide a range of valuable services that can enhance farm productivity and resilience. By preserving these areas farmers and crofters help mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improve water quality and flood management, enhance biodiversity and pest control, soil health and erosion prevention, increase resilience to climate change and extreme weather events, and sustainable water management.

Muirburn

The following management is relevant for Muirburn:

• Compliance with the Muirburn Code and any licensing conditions
• Avoid burning where regeneration is poor and other plants may displace heather
• Small patch burning of under used areas to encourage livestock movement
• Burning rotation

Policy Justification: Improved Biodiversity Appropriate, well-managed muirburn can provide a mosaic of heather patches of different ages which can benefit certain vulnerable species of birds, insects and reptiles.

Benefits to the Business: Through carrying out appropriate and compliant practices of muirburn. These could benefit a farming or crofting business through, improving the lands productivity, enhancing biodiversity, and supporting long term sustainability. Muirburn helps create a mosaic of habitats back support that support different stages of vegetation growth, providing shelter for a variety of species and can help mitigate against wildfires.

Bracken Control

The following management is relevant for Bracken Control:

• Rotational programme with treatment followed up with stock management changes
• Cattle open up the sward exposing rhizomes to frost

Policy Justification: Improved Biodiversity Provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors, sequesters carbon and contributes to nature enhancement.

Benefits to the Business: Appropriate bracken control can improve grazing, whilst inappropriate bracken control may lead to soil loss.

Plant Protection Products

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) includes:

• Reduction in or more targeted use of chemical Plant Protection Products
• Refer to the relevant best practice set out in the 2024 PEPFAA Code - Farming and Water Scotland to reduce the pollution risks from pesticide use
• IPM planning and related actions
• Adopt preventative measures to reduce pests becoming a threat
• Monitor pests to effectively target control options
• Incorporate non-chemical control alongside or instead of chemical control

Policy Justification: Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sustainable approach for the prevention, detection and control of plant pests, diseases and weeds through combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimises economic, health and environmental risks.

Benefits to the Business: To reduce pesticide use and reliance, reducing cost to the business.

Trees

Integrate trees and shrubs into an area of grass crop. This can include:

• Incorporation of broadleaf trees in grazing fields
• Small and farm woodlands
• Silvo-pastoral system
• Planting small areas to provide linkages for wildlife between other woodland areas and wildlife corridors.

Policy Justification: Provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats, sequesters carbon, contributes to nature enhancement, benefits soil health, and livestock health.

Benefits to the Business: Improved water infiltration and retention, soil organic matter and structure, can protect them from harsh weather events. Silvoarable systems performed better than monocultures. Trees can provide a variety of ecosystem services that improve soil health, enhance biodiversity, support climate resilience, and create additional income streams. Trees can support soil health and are linked to erosion prevention, likewise they can act as a valuable windbreak, shade and shelter for livestock. Tree leaves from browsing also offer a range of nutritional benefits to livestock.

Energy Crops

Incorporation of short and long rotation energy crops into the crop mix. This can include grass, willow, coppice and short rotation forestry.

Policy Justification: Provides places for biodiversity to thrive - wildlife to breed, shelter and feed through a connected network of habitats and wildlife corridors, sequesters carbon, contributes to nature enhancement, benefits soil health. Supports climate adaptation by stabilising soil, reducing erosion, catching flood debris and reducing crop water stress through deeper root systems.

Benefits to the Business: Some benefits include enhanced biodiversity, water management, preserve natural ecosystem services such as filtration, carbon sequestration and pollination.

Flood Resilience

Flood resilience includes:

• Prevention of soil compaction and improvement to infiltration across farms
• Floodplain compatible farming – allowing floodplains to flood, and choosing appropriate activities and crops to allow it to do so for example replace arable with low impact grassland.
• Plant species to reduce erosion on dunes, install protective fencing to protect from wind damage, plant salt marsh
• Reconnect floodplain by removal or lowering of artificial barriers, or setting them back from rivers edge.
• Introduce vegetated buffers
• The National Flood Resilience Strategy provides more detail.

Policy Justification: To reduce soil/nutrient run-off, slow run-off to reduce flood impacts, and improve water quality. Allows floodplains to function whilst still allowing appropriate activities to take place. To reduce erosion and restore natural protective features on the coast. To make space for water, and restore the natural hydrological system. To trap sediment and soil on the land.

Benefits to the Business: Flood resilient farming practices are essential for helping agricultural businesses manage and adapt to the increasing risk of floods, which can result from extreme weather events, climate change, and rising water levels. These practices are designed to minimise the impact of flooding on crops, livestock, and farm infrastructure while enhancing the farm/croft/business overall resilience.

Water resource planning

Water resource planning:

• Use Scotland’s national water scarcity plan produced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to manage water resources prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather.
• Engage with SEPA who monitors and reports on the water situation across Scotland to inform and support key water use sectors.
• Follow best practise in water management so that the available resource can be prolonged to avoid the need for restrictions (e.g. water efficient irrigation methods, water storage lagoons).
• Work with SEPA if conditions reach Significant Scarcity (‘significant water scarcity’ is when river flows have been very low for 30 or more days) to manage temporary suspension or varying of abstractions.

Policy Justification: To manage water resources to maintain supply for communities, businesses and the environment. Maintains a healthy ecosystem while allowing better farm business planning.

Benefits to the Business: Water efficient farming practices allow agricultural businesses to better manage and adapt to the increasing risk of water scarcity due to our changing climate.

Livestock, Climate and Productivity

Aims and objectives: To support delivery of the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and Objectives of the Bill with regard to the Outcomes – High Quality Food Production, Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, and Nature Restoration

Improving Cattle Nutrition

Nutritional planning and related actions

Grazing management planning including:

• Sward analysis
• Implement mineral and trace element supplementation plan for herd
• Precision feeding

Policy Justification: The livestock measures identify areas where good or improving practice are shown to deliver lower emission production. Evidence shows that improved forage quality and digestibility can improve livestock productivity and therefore lower the GHG emission intensity of livestock production.

Benefits to the Business: Planning the nutrition of cattle can optimise productivity on farm. Correct nutrition is key to achieving desirable body condition, reproductive performance / fertility, and health status. A well-balanced diet can lead to improvements in live weight gain, milk yield and composition, and meat quality. It can enhance fertility rates and help to reduce calving complications. Ensuring animals receive the correct nutrients in appropriate amounts leads to better utilisation of feed. This results in reduced waste, helping to control feed costs. Proper nutrition can strengthen immunity, reducing disease risks and vet expenses. By carefully planning nutrition, farmers can boost profitability, maintain animal health, and improve sustainability.

Improving grassland management can reduce reliance on purchased supplementary feeding & overall business productivity.

Improving Sheep Nutrition

Nutritional planning and related actions.

Grazing management planning including:

• Sward analysis
• Implement mineral and trace element supplementation plan for flock
• Precision feeding

Policy Justification: Evidence shows that improved forage quality and digestibility can improve livestock productivity and therefore lower the GHG emission intensity of livestock production. Measuring, planning, and nutrition management is proven to lead to positive outcomes for livestock, GHG emissions and wider sustainability issues.

Benefits to the Business: Planning flock nutrition can optimise productivity on farm. Correct nutrition is key to achieving desirable body condition, reproductive performance / fertility, and health status. A well-balanced diet can lead to improvements in live weight gain, milk yield and composition, and meat quality. It can enhance fertility rates and help to reduce lambing complications. Ensuring animals receive the correct nutrients in appropriate amounts leads to better utilisation of feed. This results in reduced waste, helping to control feed costs. Proper nutrition can strengthen immunity, reducing disease risks and vet expenses. By carefully planning nutrition, farmers can boost profitability, maintain animal health, and improve sustainability.

Improving Cattle Breeding

Herd breeding plan and related actions

• Cull and replacement policy
• Herd benchmarking
• Use of estimated breeding indexes (EBVs)
• Use of advanced practices such as genotype profiling
• Shifting to lower emissions intensity breeding goals

Policy Justification: The livestock measures identify areas where good or improving practice are shown to deliver lower emission production and improve business resilience. Informed breeding decisions can accelerate the genetic gains achievable across each generation of livestock, which can lead to efficiency improvements and a more resilient herd. An increased uptake of genetic improvement which improve livestock efficiency will lead can lead to reduced GHG emissions intensity.

Benefits to the Business: Implementing a herd breeding plan and related actions ensures genetic progress, improving productivity, fertility, and overall herd performance. A well-structured cull and replacement policy enhances efficiency by removing underperforming animals and maintaining a high-quality herd, leading to better yields and profitability. Herd benchmarking allows farmers to compare performance against industry standards, identifying areas for improvement and making data-driven decisions. Using estimated breeding values (EBVs) can help accelerate genetic progress, tightens breeding operations and improves productivity. Advanced practices such as genotype profiling provide deeper insights into genetic potential, accelerating herd improvement and reducing long-term costs. Shifting to lower emissions intensity breeding goals aligns with sustainability targets, improves resource efficiency, and enhances market competitiveness by meeting evolving environmental and consumer demands. Together, these strategies drive profitability, sustainability, and long-term resilience in livestock farming.

Improving Sheep Breeding

• Flock breeding plan and related actions, Cull and replacement policy.
• Flock benchmarking.
• Use of estimated breeding indexes (EBVs).
• Use of genomic breeding indexes.

Policy Justification: Informed breeding decisions can accelerate the genetic gains achievable across each generation of livestock, which can lead to efficiency improvements. An increased uptake of genetic improvement which improve livestock efficiency will lead can lead to reduced GHG emissions intensity.

Benefits to the Business: Implementing a flock breeding plan and related actions enables genetic progress; improving productivity, fertility, and overall performance. A well-structured cull and replacement policy enhances efficiency by removing underperforming animals and maintaining high-quality breeding stock, leading to better yields and profitability. Using estimated breeding values (EBVs) helps select animals for traits to optimise production efficiency. Together, these strategies drive profitability, sustainability, and long-term resilience in livestock farming.

Shepherding and Animal Husbandry

• Regular shepherding to re-distribute grazing pressure.
• Manipulate stocking densities to disperse stock across a hill.
• Site choice consideration of supplementary feeding.

Policy Justification: Avoids poaching at feeding sites, manages numbers of stock across grazing fields, provides places for biodiversity to thrive, grassland management sequesters carbon and contributes to nature enhancement.

Benefits to the Business: Relying on supplementary feeding is crucial to ensure that production demands are met and can therefore help to reduce the enterprise emissions intensity. Overall net reductions may also be achieved where better targeted feed rationing can minimise input wastage. Accurate feed budgeting relies on the use of known parameters where possible. Although the proportionate level of supplementary feed including conserved forages is typically much lower in sheep systems than is the case in cattle enterprises, basing rations on feed values available from the feed supplier and from forage analysis can help to ensure that livestock performance is supported and optimised.

Environmentally Favorable Cattle Breeds

Consider environmentally favourable breeds.

Policy Justification: Cattle grazing supports a more diverse range of habitats. Farmers are encouraged to identify breeds that are well-suited to their local environment and farming systems. Breeds that can thrive on land with coarser vegetation and wetter conditions—in some cases native breeds—can help maintain and enhance biodiversity. Cattle graze less selectively than sheep and support a more diverse habitat.

Benefits to the Business: Some cattle breeds have evolved over centuries and are highly adaptable. They are well adapted to low-input systems so can reduce input costs. They are also known to be more resilient to changes in climate, diseases, and feed quality.

Summer Hill Cattle Grazing

Graze cattle on the hill during summer.

Policy Justification: The measure will improve the quality of moorlands habitat by grazing with cattle during the summer. Cattle graze less selectively than sheep and support a more diverse habitat. Each bovine grazed on the hill will benefit 20 hectares of moorland. In a crofting business some may not find it appropriate to replace sheep with cattle.

Benefits to the Business: The way in which upland grasslands are utilised and grazed can greatly impact on their potential productivity and ability to recover. Summer provides peak forage availability on the uplands, where grasses have their peak nutritional value & are at their most palatable for the cattle. Grazing a sustainable number of cattle on the hill during the summer months can lead to improvements to the hill grazing quality by:

1. Altering grass structure (through the difference in the way cattle browse in comparison with sheep and deer)

2. Maximising grazing area through the trampling of rushes and bracken (sheep-only hills tend to have lots of rushes and bracken).

Taking advantage of the natural system, utilising the hill and involving as little inputs and resources as possible, will therefore help to carry the cow for as low a cost as possible.

Boundary Management

Fence off steep ravines to prevent poaching from livestock, erosion and encourage riparian woodland, where possible

Policy Justification: Fencing off steep ravines to prevent poaching from livestock, erosion and encourage riparian woodland.

Benefits to the Business: This will help to improve soil resilience, animal safety and water quality.

Animal Health & Welfare

Aims and objectives: adopt the One health framework and One welfare approach including the 5 domains definition of animal welfare to support delivery of the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and Objectives of the Bill

Improving Cattle Health

• Herd health planning and related actions
• Herd health monitoring and diagnosis
• Implementing biosecurity policy
• Vaccine use
• Prevention and control planning, and related actions

Policy Justification: The livestock measures identify areas where good or improving practice are shown to deliver lower emission production. Improving herd health will lead to improvements in production efficiency, together they can lower greenhouse gas emissions per Kg of output. Healthier animals are more productive, require less veterinary intervention and have better welfare than their under-performing counterparts.

Benefits to the Business: Disease in cattle impacts performance, including longevity, reproductive efficiency, calf survival, growth rates and carcase quality. These inefficiencies in production systems have a negative impact on profitability.

Improving Sheep Health

• Flock health planning and related actions
• Flock health monitoring and diagnosis
• Implementing biosecurity policy
• Vaccine use
• Disease prevention and control planning, and related actions

Policy Justification: Improving flock health will lead to improvements in production efficiency, together they can lower greenhouse gas emissions per Kg of output. Healthier animals are more productive, require less veterinary intervention and have better welfare than their under-performing counterparts.

Benefits to the Business: Poor flock health impacts productivity levels, and visible health issues negatively impact the public’s perception of sheep farming. Improved use of anthelmintics is important because resistance is currently one of the biggest challenges to health and profitability of sheep; this is an issue affecting the entire sheep industry. Disease in sheep impacts on performance, including ewe and ram longevity, reproductive efficiency, lamb survival, lamb growth rates and carcase quality. These inefficiencies in sheep production systems have a negative impact on profitability.

Business Profitability

Aims and objectives: To support delivery of the Vision for Scottish Agriculture and Objectives of the Bill with regard to the Outcomes - Thriving Agricultural Businesses and Support for a Just Transition

Safety of workers

Ensure the safety of workers at all times and maintain up to date H&S plans.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Implementing comprehensive health and safety measures not only protect workers but also help to avoid legal issues, reduce downtime and boost overall productivity.

Continued Professional Development (CPD)

Invest in themselves and their work force through training and continued professional development (CPD).

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Keeps skills and knowledge up to date, enhances skill sets. boosts confidence and self-esteem, this helps maintain motivation, helps develop new skills, facilitates and encourages benchmarking and best practice, maintains and builds upon benefits of existing qualifications, helps create opportunities and career development, provides a professional sense of direction, helps understanding of strengths and weaknesses in knowledge and skills, enables better decision making and promotes career progression.

Build skillsets

Build their skillset by engaging with peers and experts in their field.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Allows individuals to learn about practices and skills in a trusted environment alongside their peers. Provides a learning experience based on practical experience and understanding of issues and lived experience. Makes connections with others across the sector, building networks and developing social and cultural benefits.

Plan for the future

Plan for the future by ensuring appropriate successional structures are in place.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Succession planning is essential part for ensuring long term sustainability and success of a farming or crofting enterprise. By having a clear, structured plan in place, farming businesses can navigate transitions smoothly, maintain business continuity and secure the future of their business.

Local Collaboration

Local collaboration. Seek opportunities to contribute to broader landscape scale initiatives.

Policy justification: opportunity to deliver greater range of benefits, across a broader scale, through partnership and co-ordination.

Benefits to the Business: locally co-ordinated action is likely to deliver greater impact on a range of benefits, e.g. flood risk reduction, drought risk, animal health and welfare, water quality, improvements to habitats.

Use baseline data

Use baseline data to inform their decisions.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Making informed decisions from a known starting point allows a business to measure and plan its growth.

Business planning

Have an active business plan that that is updated regularly.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: An active business plan provides a roadmap for growth, adapts to changes market conditions, shows that the business is continuously aligned with its goals and objectives.

Build resilience in agricultural businesses

Consider wider aspects which are integral in building resilience in agricultural businesses to help sustain the rural economy – such as shorter supply chains, fairer pricing.

Policy Justification: Support businesses in the social and economic elements and components of being a sustainable business.

Benefits to the Business: Considering the wider aspects to a farming or crofting business help to contributes to economic stability and sustainability of the business, also helps in managing external risks.