A SPECIAL awards ceremony is to be live-streamed on February 9 to showcase AgriScot's latest crop of 'farms of the year' and competition award winners.

That was to be the date of a full-scale live AgriScot event at Ingliston, which has sadly now been cancelled due to coronavirus – leaving the online event to hand out this year's much sought-after industry plaudits.

Last year a new award – Diversified Farm of the Year – joined the AgriScot portfolio, and its inaugural presentation will take place on the live stream, alongside the awards for arable, beef, dairy, and sheep farms of the year, and presentations to the winners of the Business Skills Competition, the Silage Competition and the unveiling of the Product Innovation Award winner.

Finalists have been announced across the five 'farm of the year' award categories and representatives from each of those farms have been invited to attend the presentation ceremony at the Royal Highland Centre. Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, will present each farm with a finalist certificate before the announcement of the overall winners.

The finalists are:

Scottish Arable Farm of the Year – sponsored by SoilEssentials and supported by AHDB

• Milton of Mathers, Montrose, farmed by Jim Reid and family;

• Prestonhall Farms, Pathhead, managed by Bill Gray on behalf of the Callander family;

• Tulloch Farms, Laurencekirk, managed by Iain Wilson on behalf of Martin and Jamie Gilbert.

Scotch Beef Farm of the Year – sponsored by Thorntons Solicitors and supported by QMS

• Adziel Farm, Strichen, farmed by James, Irene, and Gillian Fowlie;

• Drumbreddan Farm, Stranraer, farmed by Daniel and Lamont Hair;

• Durie Farms, Leven, farmed by Douglas Christie.

Scottish Dairy Farm of the Year – sponsored by CowAlert from IceRobotics

• East Brackenridge, Strathaven, farmed by Andrew and Hugh Neilson;

• Holehouse Farms, Kilbirnie, farmed by the Logan Family;

• Queenscairn, Kelso, farmed by Robert Shanks.

Scottish Diversified Farm of the Year – sponsored by RBS and supported by SAC Consulting

• Bain Farm, Sandwick, ran by Lara Hourie and family;

• Cairns Farm, West Calder, ran by Caroline and Graham Hamilton;

• Newton Farm, Forfar, ran by Louise and Graeme Nicoll.

Scottish Sheep Farm of the Year – sponsored by Thorntons Solicitors and supported by QMS

• Attonburn, Yetholm, farmed by Robert and Becca Rennie;

• Saughland, Pathhead, managed by Pete Eccles and Owen Gray on behalf of the Callander family;

• Swinside Townfoot, Jedburgh, farmed by Peter Hedley.

Finalists have also been announced, following two regional heats, in the AgriScot Business Skills Competition, with the winner of its £1000 prize to be announced on Feb 9.

AgriScot Business Skills Competition- sponsored by NFU Mutual and supported by SRUC

• Emily Mosley; a Harper Adams graduate, originally from Derbyshire but now working as a farm administrator in Tain;

• Ben McSporran; a third-year BSc Agriculture student at SRUC Edinburgh who combines his studies with part-time work on farms near his Peeblesshire home farm;

• Stewart Shaw; a partner in his family farming and contracting business in the Scottish Borders. Stewart is also a keen SAYFC member.

The AgriScot Silage Competition, where £5000 worth of prizes are up for grabs, courtesy of sponsors and organisers Watson Seeds, received a healthy number of entries back in December. The shortlisted entries – based on chemical analysis reports – were then collected, from pits and bale stacks, all over Scotland and the north of England and subsequently frozen. These samples will be defrosted, judged and the winners announced by Hugh McClymont from SAC Crichton Royal Farm as part of the live stream.

To tune in to the online award ceremony, point your browser towards www.agriscot.co.uk/video-hub/ from 11:10 am on February 9.