Rural Payments and Services

The Scottish Government began funding research into animal health, agriculture, and land use from 1926. In the hundred years since, this investment has delivered significant returns for the nation. An independent review of the current research programme identified excellent and outstanding impact across a wide range of stakeholders. Chief Scientific Adviser for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) Professor Mathew Williams notes two insights that arise from the review.

Firstly, long term targeted support for research delivers heightened impact. Scottish Government has supported Scotland’s Rural College’s (SRUC) Langhill Dairy herd for fifty years, allowing development of nationally important breeding tools for feed efficiency, resilience, health, and reduced methane emissions. The Government has also supported the Commonwealth Potato Collection at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) for over 60 years, to become a vital resource for the improvement and adaptation of the world’s fourth most important food crop, the potato. The long running pests and pathogens collection at JHI is fundamental for rapid identification of disease threats and their control, supporting further our food production.

Secondly, partnerships have been crucial for delivering impact. Work to understand vulnerabilities of water resources to drought has involved researchers working closely with SEPA. Tackling sheep scab in Lewis and Harris has involved ‘living lab’ approaches where researchers collaborated with the local community to co-create solutions.

Long term targeted investment and collaboration with stakeholders have proved critical for delivering high impact and value for money in environmental and agricultural research. Scottish Government has recently published a new ENRA Research Strategy 2027-2032 for the next programme of investment, which is firmly based on these principles.

Environment Natural Resources Agriculture (ENRA) Research Portfolio 2022-2027 – Impact Case Studies

The story of influence across the ENRA Research Portfolio can be told through a series of impact case studies which describe and evidence how ENRA funded research has made a positive contribution to the nation and is delivering benefits to the environment, communities and businesses across Scotland and beyond. Together, they form a compelling narrative of Scottish research and innovation not only responding to the challenges of climate change and nature loss but also providing innovative solutions to a more resilient and sustainable future.

Over the coming months, we will illustrate some of these key case studies in more detail.