The COVID pandemic certainly highlighted our dependence on face-to-face meetings but the use of TEAMS for AGM and Council meetings also revealed that we could reach to members using virtual systems that would allow discussion and contributions to and from members. With this in mind, Maggie Gill and Alistair Stott developed a paper to examine how such a programme could be offered up to members alone or in collaboration with other interested partner organisations. Potential topics for such webinars include:-
- Fuel poverty in rural Scotland – given the substantial increases in fuel costs experienced by the whole of society/business in 2022, how are rural individuals/communities/businesses dealing with this latest challenge to rural life – with collaboration with RSE/SCRR
- Back to the future – do we need to rediscover agricultural practices of the past to ensure that agricultural and food systems the future combat rather that contribute to climate change. Is regenerative farming the way?
- Soil Systems – how do we ensure sustainable soils system as we mitigate and adapt to climate change while maintaining food security and biodiversity.
- Wasted Wheat- currently 40-60% of top grade milling wheat is rejected for human consumption. what would happen to this if feeding it to animals was considered too damaging to the climate?Are such GHG exchanges properly accounted for and attributed to sector (livestock vs crop) correctly?
- Scottish QualityFood Systems – are value added farm food systems a way forward for farmers?
- Rural energy systems – how does the ‘green energy revolution’ look from the rural perspective in Scotland?
- One Health – after the pandemic, will public health be seen from this systems perspective? What are the consequences for food/farming/rural sectors and how can they make the most of the implied inclusion?
