We have more than 200 agreements allowing farming on an area of land  the equivalent of 25,000 rugby pitches (25,000 ha). However, it isn’t flat like a sports field but is mostly on the hills and land around our forests and is used as grazing for sheep or cattle.

Opportunities for new entrants to farming

We continue to create opportunities for farming whenever they become available and wherever it complements our work to look after Scotland’s national forests and land. Each opportunity is unique depending on where it is located and what the land is like. The application form for each opportunity will have more details on what we are offering and how we would like it to be managed.

These opportunities can provide start-up grazing areas to help new entrants to build up their farming and business experience.

Although we favour applications from people who are new to running a farm business, we do consider applications from established farm businesses.

We also work with other landowners through the Scottish Government Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) group, promoting available opportunities to attract new people into agriculture. 

Grazing for environmental benefit

In some places we use livestock grazing to help us protect and improve habitats for the benefit of plants and wildlife.

Using technology to deliver multiple benefits

We’ve been testing ‘virtual fence’ technology at a number of places across Scotland. For this, the animals wear GPS trackers that look like cowbells. Using an app, we ‘draw’ fences on a map on a phone or tablet and if the animals go near one of these digital lines, the GPS tracker warns them off with a loud noise. 

This could help to control the movement of livestock in forested and open landscapes without having to use real fences.