Rural Payments and Services

Beef EfficiencyScheme participants are required to engage with the BES advisory services each year. The purpose of this is to help each participating business to identify the best management improvements for their farm business, thereby delivering greater farming efficiencies and better environmental and climate outcomes.

Coronavirus and social distance measures

The current social distancing measures that are in place due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) means that we are looking to deliver this year’s group training events online.

Our service provider, Ricardo, propose to use Moodle as a platform to host pre-recorded content that can be accessed by participants using a unique log-in. Full details on how to access the system will be provided to each participant by Ricardo during September.

This will be very similar to the way in which participants who were unable to attend an event last year viewed the seminars online.

In 2020 we propose to cover the following:

• Genomics update
• Using BES data to improve herd performance
• Carbon audit – online guidance to enable you to complete your own carbon audit by the end of 2020

Updating your Carbon Audit

You will use information available to you as part of the normal operation of your farm business to update your carbon audit for this year. To assist with this, there will be detailed training material made available during September and the FAS helpline team will also be on hand to provide any assistance required with this element.

The content will be broken down into short modules with the aim of keeping each below 30 minutes to complete.

After viewing each of the modules online, you will be able to submit questions that will be responded to in a live Q&A to be broadcast in late November/early December. We would hope that by the middle of November you will have viewed the online material, and submitted your questions to allow them to be answered through the Q&A broadcast. This live Q&A session will also be recorded and uploaded to the Moodle platform, along with any other useful resources/signposting.

If you have an urgent enquiry, you can request a call back from a specialist adviser, arranged via the FAS helpline.

For those who do not have access to a computer/internet, Ricardo will work with you to find a suitable alternative – for example: using the equipment at a local library or your local SAC or ARE office. We anticipate the online delivery will provide you with:

• Flexibility over when you can complete the Modules, although we will set a timescale within which to complete them
• The ability to revisit information
• Shorter sessions which are more engaging and less of a burden on your time

If you have any questions regarding the content of this news article, please contact the Beef Efficiency Scheme team – besmailbox@gov.scot.