This successful project ran from July 21 to March 22 and offered both practical face to face and on-line courses.  These free courses were aimed at those people aged 25 and over, who were unemployed, at risk of redundancy or required upskilling/retraining.

Our Crofting Skills for Local Food Project was funded by Scottish Government’s National Training Transition Fund, was needs led and supported the following outcomes: –

• Participants will develop core primary and secondary production skills relevant to local food production.
• Participants will gain knowledge and confidence in a range of marketing options and able to choose the most appropriate for their situation.
• Participants will be upskilled to develop small scale food production activities, thus improving their diversification and income generation potential on the croft.
• Crofters and aspiring crofters will have the opportunity to explore and implement appropriate diversification opportunities suitable to their time, skills and land, generating more income from primary and secondary production.
• Crofters and their local community will in time be better integrated, providing access to a greater variety and quantity of croft produced, locally sourced, nature friendly food and products, reducing carbon impact by lowering food miles and improving community resilience to supply system shocks.

Email training@crofting with ideas for any future courses and to be added to our training newsletter.