Patrick Barbour is climate friendly farming champion

Farmer Patrick Barbour, from Highland Perthshire, has won the search for Scotland’s climate friendly farming champion.

Patrick’s innovative three-minute video entry, filmed at Mains of Fincastle, near Pitlochry stunningly illustrates the benefits of tree planting, species rich grassland, rotational grazing for cattle and sheep and stitching nitrogen fixing crops into pastures.  It is available to watch at: https://vimeo.com/541541773

In a family affair, Patrick’s sister Catherine and brother Robert also appear in the video to describe the family farm’s approach to sustainable farming.

The competition was organised by NFU Scotland’s Next Generation group and supported by Royal Bank of Scotland.  It encouraged Scotland’s farmers and crofters to record on video the many steps they are taking to reduce emissions and deliver wider environmental benefits.

The panel of judges for this prestigious competition included Claire Taylor, political affairs editor at the Scottish Farmer and NFU Scotland’s Next Generation Chair Peter Moss.  The judges described the video as inspiring and a perfect advert for the Scottish farming industry.  As a prize, Patrick is now the proud owner of a state-of-the-art drone with a tailored un-manned ariel vehicle (UAV) upload and satellite imagery package from SoilEssentials.

Commenting after being announced winner, Patrick said: “We're really pleased to win this as a family.  It's great for us to be able to share what we've been doing on the family farm here at Fincastle, and I hope people enjoy the video.”

Orkney farmer Peter Moss added: “Congratulations to Patrick on winning NFU Scotland’s climate change competition and becoming Scotland’s climate friendly farming champion.  This competition has highlighted what we already know - that the Next Generation of Scotland’s farmers, crofters, and growers are prepared and already taking steps to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises in innovative ways.  Thank you to everyone who entered this competition, and to our partners, Royal Bank of Scotland, for their support on this initiative.”

Judge Claire Taylor, Political Affairs Editor at the Scottish Farmer, said: “I was blown away by the quality of applications we received and the impressive ways in which Scottish farmers across the country are addressing climate change and biodiversity losses on their farms.

“From tree planting to improving livestock health; precision farming to planting cover crops; soil testing, to investing in renewables, the list goes on.  With farming coming under fire in climate change discussions, Patrick Barbour’s video entry was the perfect advert for the industry, championing the efforts he has taken at Fincastle Farm to increase carbon capture and boost biodiversity in a way that is both inspiring and achievable for others to replicate within their own systems.”

Roddy McLean, Director of Agriculture at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “The Royal Bank of Scotland is committed to playing a leading role in helping to address the climate challenge, as well as being a principal partner of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow later this year.  We’re proud to have been able to support NFU Scotland in its search for Scotland’s climate friendly farming champion. It’s really encouraging to see how Patrick is taking action to reduce emissions to help protect the environment and making their business more resilient. Hopefully, this prize will help Patrick make further climate gains and we’d like to congratulate them on their win today.”

Notes for Editors

• A photograph of the video competition winners is attached, with Patrick Barbour (left) pictured along with his sister Catherine and brother Robert.

Ends

Contact Bob Carruth on 07788 927675