AIC Scotland News and Briefings

From Monday the 9 th of August most remaining restrictions will be lifted in Scotland including limits on number of people who can meet up and social distancing rules in most settings. Please note a number of mitigations will remain in place including;

Following widespread concern from the Scottish seed sector about the implementation of OECD seed scheme rules, AIC Scotland, Scottish Seed committee members and AIC Seed sector Head Catherine Barrett have been successful in working with SASA and Scottish Government to find a solution for the printing of OECD labels. Agreed changes will enable Scottish members to compete on a level playing field with counterparts in other parts of the UK whilst remaining compliant with OECD seed scheme rules and regulations.

Member briefing CP21-021, referred to the new IPM assessment plans being available, however the link to the Scottish IPM assessment plan was omitted.

This week, Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have confirmed that they will become the sole competent authority on 1 April 2021. Feed businesses are reminded that FSS should be the first point of contact for all animal feed related matters ( [email protected] ) from this date.

Call for industry partners – Barley related projects | James Brosnan (CEO of the Scotch Whisky Research Institute) recently announced a BBSRC Collaborative Training Partnership initiative which will provide funding for PhD students working on International Barley Hub or other barley related projects.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have published updated guidance aimed at livestock farmers entitled "On-farm Incidents - How to protect your livestock and Scotland's Food Chain". The leaflet is available to download here and includes information and guidance relating to lead poisoning, copper poisoning in sheep and correct use of veterinary medicines.

  | Dear AIC Scotland Members

AIC Scotland will be holding our spring meetings on 29th of April via microsoft teams.

Dear AIC Scotland Member | It’s another dreich day in lock-down but I always love the start of the 6 Nations (hope springs eternal for this Scotland fan) - even more so this year when very little else is going on.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) have notified stakeholders of the following in relation to feed law enforcement arrangements in Scotland.

Members advising farmers and growers in Scotland on agri-environment schemes should be aware of the recent announcements relating to the AECS scheme through which stewardship support is delivered.

The Scottish Government have set up a farmer-led arable policy group under the chairmanship of Andrew Moir. Andrew has been in contact with me to encourage AIC Scotland members to feed-in ideas on how we support Scottish arable farmers going forward.

In order to help member businesses prepare for the end of the transition period on the 31 st of December AIC Scotland are providing links to a number of resources which provide access to continually updated guidance as we near the end of the year, this includes information on ‘no deal’ requirements. Please use the links below to access these resources.