Episode 18 Landward

Hello and a very warm welcome to one of the best views in Scotland,

and it'll be even better when it's finished.

This is the new Forth Crossing.

Hello and a very warm welcome to Landward.

If you don't have a head for heights,

I suggest you don't look down

because I'm currently more than 600 feet above the River Forth.

Pretty soon, I'll be heading over there to Edinburgh to eat a meal

made from food destined for the bin. Can't wait(!)

But first, here's what's coming up on Landward's menu.

Sarah meets the young couple trying to establish themselves

as working crofters.

Well done, Maddy.

Oh! This one's massive!

Euan investigates the ongoing controversy

over genetically-modified food.

And I complete my motorbiking journey

around the north of Scotland,

with a blast along Loch Maree.

In years gone by, people were buried on islands

to make sure that the wolves didn't get anywhere near the graves.

Every year, around a third of the food we grow in the world

doesn't make it onto our plates.

That's about 1.3 billion tonnes of waste - a staggering amount.

In Scotland, our farmers work all year round to produce food

and it's in no-one's interests to see so much of it going to waste.

I've been to meet a woman who is doing her bit

in the battle against food waste.

This is Donna McArdle. She's preparing to head out

into Edinburgh on a foraging trip with a difference,

and I'm joining her.

-Hi, there, Donna.

-Hello.

-Hi, nice to see you.

-How are you doing?

I'm very well. So, what are we actually going to do today?

Well, we're actually off to intercept some food.

-Intercept some food?

-Yes.

-What does that mean exactly?

Well, basically we're going to go and pick up some food

that would've otherwise gone in the bin or gone to landfill

from two suppliers up in Morningside and Bruntsfield.

-Sounds great. Shall we go?

-OK.

Donna is one of the directors of

the Edinburgh Real Junk Food Project.

Tonight, with the help of enthusiastic volunteers,

the food we collect today, along with other previously-rescued food,

will be cooked up and served in a special pop-up restaurant.

The original Junk Food Project was started in Leeds

and now the model has spread around the world.

Nice! Oh, that fruit looks like it might be heading for a crumble.

Hello! How are you doing?

Yeah, good, thanks, and you?

Excellent. Mike, this is Dougie.

-Hello, there. Nice to see you.

-How are you doing?

-Very well, thank you.

So, what have you got for us?

-Is that rude?

-No. It's fine. I'm much ruder normally.

HE LAUGHS

So, we've all this for you. It's...

There's loads of slightly-soft big tomatoes, that...

'All this fruit and veg is perfectly edible

'but it's rejected by shoppers

'because it's slightly wonky or a little soft.'

-Thank you very much.

-My pleasure.

-Cheers, Mike. Thank you, as always.

Thank you. See you later.

-So, how many people are you feeding tonight?

-About possibly 60.

-We'd better get a shift on.

-Aye!

'Next stop is Fruit-A-Licious in Morningside.

-'Owner Jamil Ibrahim...'

-Hello, how are you doing?

'..is happy to donate produce he can't sell.'

I'm just glad somebody could use it, rather than throwing it out.

There's...stuff that sometimes gets damaged by a customer,

but it's not all bad.

So...

It's better someone using it than throwing it out.

Oh, fantastic. Excellent...

'Jamil gives us a couple of boxes of produce to take back

to the kitchen...

'..where the volunteers have already made a start

'and it's time for me to get stuck in, too.'

Time to get cooking.

It's estimated that an average household in Scotland

throws away £470 worth of food every year.

Part of the project's mission is to show its customers what can be

achieved with food that was otherwise rejected.

We do them not to make money and not to say that we're going to

rescue all the food waste in Edinburgh.

-We actually do it to highlight food waste, generally.

-Uh-huh.

So, you know, we bring that to the attention of everybody that

-comes to eat or to volunteer.

-Uh-huh.

And it makes them more mindful, as well.

FIDDLE AND GUITAR PLAYS

This evening is just an occasional pop-up event.

The musicians have arrived

and the cafe is buzzing with hungry customers.

I'm kept busy waiting,

and folk seem to be enjoying what we're serving up.

-It was really delicious, thanks.

-Thank you, I'll pass it on.

A three-course meal is on offer tonight,

including two choices of soup to start,

stuffed marrow and, of course,

my beautifully-chopped salad.

Diners are only asked to pay what they feel the meal is worth

and there are other attractions, too.

I came to this thing quite a few times around the festival

and just loved it, cos...

the food's really great and people are lovely,

always start chatting to interesting folk.

I really like the communal style of tables

and obviously, the initiative itself of intercepting food and stuff.

So, yeah, I just love it.

I think food waste is a complete tragedy.

Considering the problems in food poverty that we face,

and the environmental impact of growing food,

I think it's completely inadmissible to throw food away.

I've noticed you're not eating your salad.

Yeah, I'm a salad dodger.

Yeah, well, I made that salad, OK? So...

I'm taking that as a personal slight.

I'll have to give it a try now.

GENERAL BUZZ OF CROWD

You know, food waste around the world

and in Scotland is a huge problem,

and throwing something like this away

simply because it doesn't look right

is a daft thing to do. The work that the Junk Food Cafe

and other projects like it are doing are addressing that problem,

maybe making us think very seriously about putting this in the bin.

And that's got to be a good thing.

SHEEP BLEATING

One traditional way of life where nothing would ever go to waste

is crofting. Today, the majority of crofters are over 50 years of age

and the government is keen to encourage young people

into this way of life.

Sarah went to Rogart in Sutherland, to meet the crofter

having to learn her trade from scratch.

Come on, chicks! Chi-chi-chi-chi-chicks!

Maddy Norval, at only 25,

is less than half the age of the average crofter,

but she's not only a young crofter, she is also new to crofting.

Just over a year ago, Maddy and her partner, Rob,

bought Tigh Na Noone Croft.

Our boundary's that crag...

Maddy is giving me the grand tour of the 65-acre croft.

What made you want to become a crofter?

Well, we had this dream of a self-sufficient lifestyle

where we could grow our own food and live off it

and that was what inspired us to try and start this mad enterprise!

SHE LAUGHS

Then, eventually, when we found this piece of ground,

it had this word "croft" associated with it

so we had to start doing all our research into what a croft was

and found that it matched the lifestyle perfectly,

the self-sufficient lifestyle that we wanted.

It ticked all of the boxes and we were like, "Crofting!"

That's what it was that we wanted to do, crofting. We became crofters.

-Here you are with your own croft.

-Yep.

So, why did you choose to become a crofter and not, say,

a small-scale farmer?

Erm...this piece of land is a croft.

It's a legal definition.

It's actually part of the crofting law that this is a croft,

so I couldn't just call myself a farmer or a smallholder.

-So, you are officially a crofter?

-Officially, a crofter.

There isn't a handbook, How To Be a Crofter,

so the young couple have had to learn on the ground.

Robin Calvert has been a crofter for nearly 30 years.

His croft is a few miles away

and he is a regular support for the newbie crofters.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-How are you doing?

-Crofter to the rescue.

-Thanks.

Starry had her calf, Oonagh, just a few weeks ago

and Robin has been called in for advice,

as Maddy thinks the new mum may have mastitis.

-Have you tried milking the quarters out?

-Tried milking the back ones out

-a little bit.

-Just see if you can get a squirt out of everything.

-OK.

There's milk there, so there's no problem there.

-Which quarter are you worried about?

-This one.

-A lot of milk in there.

Let's try the other two before we go any further. Any milk there?

I think I'm just getting a little bit.

-There we go.

-Yes, that's fine.

With no sign of infection, Maddy is reassured by her crofting mentor.

You've come to Maddy's rescue somewhat,

because Maddy was unsure of what was going on.

How much do you enjoy, I suppose, sharing your expertise

and knowledge with a new crofter like this?

If you can help anybody, that's what crofting's all about.

That's what crofting's entirely about is helping each other,

cos if we didn't help each other, you'd never get anywhere.

What do you think about this, sort of, new way of crofters

like Maddy and Robert, coming in from outside the industry?

It's got to be a very good thing.

Unless you get new entrants coming in with new ideas,

then crofting itself's going to die out.

It's hard enough to make it work at all,

particularly the old traditional methods

and to be seeing something like these new Shetland cattle coming in,

which are sort of breaking the mould a bit to what most people keep,

it's possibly a good way forward.

So, what have been the biggest challenges you've encountered?

We had a real disaster with a cow and a calf last year.

-I remember that.

-Yeah.

The cow gave birth, but the calf didn't get up within the first 14...

24 hours actually, before it actually got up

and it was a freezing cold night and when it did eventually get up, it

just wouldn't suck, so Rob lent us a calf bottle and we went to the vet's

and got colostrum and things, but the calf just didn't pull through.

-So, things have gone wrong?

-Yeah.

Heartbreakingly wrong, cos we actually ended up losing

the cow, as well. She just started going downhill after that

and the vets couldn't work out what was wrong with her.

We had three different vets on,

trying to find out what it was that was wrong with her.

And I suppose, from a crofting point of view,

when you've got a small herd and a limited amount of land,

-losing a cow and a calf is pretty big.

-Absolutely, yes.

Yes, the impact and as you can see,

you get a lot closer to your cows, when you've only got a few.

You get to know them a lot better.

They become part of the family, really.

Today, Maddy and Rob are selecting the lambs that are ready to

go to Dingwall.

In the crofting tradition, they have called in another neighbour to help.

Once they have the lambs penned,

it's time to choose the lambs for the slaughter.

I'll go for this.

The big one, there?

Well done, Maddy.

-Oh, this one's massive!

-Is this the first time you've sent lambs away?

Yeah. This is the first batch we've sent away from this year's lambs.

Um...

It's really weird, because we've like helped them grow up from tiny

wee cute lambs and now, here they are, these hulking great big boys.

How do you feel about sending them to slaughter?

Kind of mixed. Like... It's cute wee lambs

and we put everything we have into raising them.

I'm just so excited to eat them.

It sounds ghoulish, but I think they're just going to be delicious.

-Needs must.

-Exactly.

-Right, next one.

-All right.

-I'm not even out of breath.

That's it.

Can you get that branch?

-There we go. Have you got all the papers? The documents.

-Yeah.

-Cool.

-OK.

-See you, Rob. Cheers. So, final thoughts?

-Just...

It's weird seeing them going off, but it's really exciting,

because it's our first big step towards proper self-sufficiency.

Your dream is to be self-sufficient.

So, how close are you to achieving that dream?

We're actually quite a way off, really.

In reality, we haven't got the polytunnel up,

we still don't have a shed or utilities or anything,

but at least we're sending away our first-year lambs.

-So, small steps.

-Small steps towards big gains.

-Give them a wave.

Crofting is not an easy option, by any means. It's a tough way of life.

Whether you inherit the family croft or you're new to the community,

like Maddy and Rob, young people are vital to secure its future.

And we wish Maddy well, as she gets to grips with crofting life.

If you hear of anyone doing anything remarkable in the Scottish

countryside, we want to hear from you.

Get in touch via our Facebook page or e-mail [email protected]

As we travel about Scotland, we like to stop and ask the folk

we meet on the street what they love about the local area.

Today, I'm in right royal South Queensferry.

What makes it so special to the people here?

Got a long and varied history.

Most of what happened in Scotland probably happened in a smaller

version here.

We've had covenanters, smugglers... You name it, we've had it.

The cobbled streets, the painted houses that we all look after

so well. You feel like you're on your holidays every day

you walk down the high street. It's great.

My thing is always just to come and look at the bridges. It's just...

It's spectacular.

Go down the beach and throw some pebbles in.

Well, that was a world record, that one.

All the way to Fife. Beautiful.

Well, there's a lovely island called Inchcolm,

which we often sail out to. Inchcolm used to be a monastery.

It's now owned by Historic Scotland and there's a beautiful church

on Inchcolm that you can actually get married on.

-Is that a proposal?

-No.

-It's a great shame.

-Yes, darling. I love you.

Well, on the first of January, a good time to have it,

you get hundreds of people...

I think we've probably now touched thousands - who march along the high

street and then run into the icy waters of the Forth, which is

-called the Loony Dook.

-The Loony Dook.

-The Loony Dook.

I tried the Loony Dook once, but it left me with...

Far too small to talk about, so...

I have no intention of ever doing it again.

The thing I love about South Queensferry is its location

on the beautiful Firth of Forth,

with its great wildlife and rich history.

Back in the 11th century, pilgrims crossed these

waters on their way to Dunfermline and St Andrews.

They travelled on a ferry paid for by Queen Margaret

and that's how the town got its name.

Now, from the fun and frivolity on the Forth to one of the most

controversial issues in food and farming.

The debate around genetically-modified foods has raged

for decades and is one of the most contentious issues in modern farming.

So, when the Scottish government announced a ban of GM crops

being grown here, there were strong reactions.

Euan has been finding out more.

The finest Scottish whisky.

Produced using the finest Scottish grains.

Salmon, caught from the freshest water.

Healthy porridge oats, growing in popularity as a superfood.

All with a worldwide reputation.

Exports of Scottish food and drink were worth over £5 billion

last year and image is everything.

Many of these products were sold on the idea of being natural

and high quality.

But the Scottish government is concerned that clean, green

brand could be damaged, if GM crops are grown here.

So, they've taken advantage of new EU rules and they've banned them.

But our world is changing.

Populations are growing, our climate is unpredictable

and new pests and diseases are infecting our plants.

Scientists believe they should be allowed to exploit

GM technology, to help tackle these issues.

A genetically-modified plant is one which has had a gene either

inserted or altered in the lab, often to increase hardiness,

get more minerals, get more nutrients, or to improve yield.

Opponents of this technology call it "Frankenstein food".

Supporters say it's perfectly safe

and a great way to meet nutritional and environmental challenges.

At the James Hutton Institute, on the outskirts

of Dundee, Professor Robbie Waugh is showing me a potato

which has been made healthier by the addition of a microalgae gene.

So, Astaxanthin, the compound that these potatoes are making,

has got a number of health claims around it.

It's proposed that it is a very strong

and potent anti-inflammatory,

it provides increased brain health and cardiovascular health,

and part of the reason it is it's a powerful antioxidant.

And you couldn't do that by natural selection.

In this case, no.

We couldn't do it, because the potato plant either here nor in the

wild contains all of the genes that are required to make this compound.

So, you have to use a genetic-manipulation approach.

And the team have also been working on potatoes which have

had their genes altered, to give better heat and drought resistance.

Now, the impact of that, I guess, is quite significant,

if you consider that in the UK,

about 60-70% of the irrigation of water is used in potato production.

And as you know, with climate change,

temperatures are increasing and drought is increasing

throughout the growing season, so potentially, there could be

a role in agriculture for this type of manipulation.

Many researchers believe the decision to ban GM crops

was made on political, rather than scientific, grounds.

But we're not alone in turning our backs on GM.

20 other European nations, including France, Germany

and Italy are doing the same.

That means that traditional crossbreeding techniques

will become even more important, as a tool to improve crops.

-Archie. Good morning.

-Euan. How do you do?

-How do you do?

-There are your tatties?

-Indeed. Yes.

-OK. So, what have we got here?

-Athlete potato, which is...

'Archie Gibson is the director of seed potato giant Agrico.

'He's showing me a variety that's been bred for increased

'resistance to blight.'

So, how long would it take to develop one of these strains?

It takes typically about ten years and then a further number

of years - four or five - to bring a quantity to commercial availability.

So, why not go down the GM route

and then you'd have something like this ready for market within a year?

The timeframes associated with developing

a conventionally-bred potato and a GM one are more or less the same.

With GM, the difficulty is that, when you mix genes,

what you don't know is -

is it going to knock out the gene that gives you the eating quality

or the frying quality or the boiling quality

or whatever it is in that particular new crossing?

So, that all takes time and doesn't particularly gain any

time advantage on conventional breeding techniques.

You're chairman of the Scottish Food and Drink Federation.

What are your colleagues saying about GM and how they feel about it?

Well, they're all very commercial organisations, as you can imagine,

whether you're doing soft drinks or haggis or food

and, at the end of the day, it's about what the consumers want

and the consumers at this present time in North Europe do not have

an appetite for GMO products.

It's hard to imagine a time

when everybody will agree on GM foods. Balancing the concerns

of consumers with increasing population

and growing environmental pressures will be difficult.

So, scientists in Scotland will continue to work

on GM in the laboratories and in the greenhouses, but whether

the fruits of their labour ever reach fields is questionable.

Scotland has some amazing roads and, in the summer months,

they're choc-a-block with tourists from all over the world,

taking in the stunning landscapes, vistas and views.

This summer, we asked Landward viewers on Facebook to suggest

Scotland's best roads - the ones you enjoy driving the most.

And we were inundated with ideas.

This week's route has been suggested by Alastair Muirhead

and Frank Hendry, as I leave Gairloch and head

all the way back to where my journey began, in Inverness.

It's 70 miles east from coast to coast, through some

of Scotland's most-spectacular scenery and just 20 miles

into the journey is one of the most stunning vistas in all of Scotland.

I've got to stop and soak it up, especially when the sun is out.

When you come over the hill from Gairloch,

you're treated to this incredible sight.

Slioch on the left there,

the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve over on the right

and in the middle, the magnificent Loch Maree.

I love it here.

Back on the road, it's the first really beautiful day of my trip

and I'm determined to make the most of it.

Oh, yes. Very nice, indeed.

But not everyone is happy taking the same leisurely pace.

I have got an appointment, though.

I'm meeting Eoghain Maclean, the ranger at the Beinn Eighe

and Loch Maree National Nature Reserve.

-Hi, how's it going?

-Hello.

-Good to see you. All right?

-Lovely day, yeah?

-Absolutely glorious day.

'Loch Maree is the largest loch in the northwest Highlands.

'And it's deep, too. Up to 110m.

'The loch contains around 60 tiny islands - home to fragments of the

'original Caledonian pine forest, some of the oldest trees

'in Scotland. Eoghain's taking me out for a look.'

This is Isle Maree.

I think, in all honesty, the pine woodland is possibly

one of the most natural bits of woodland in the UK.

It hasn't been touched much by man for centuries.

So, that's a big attraction, as far as Loch Maree's concerned.

So, were these islands inhabited?

Isle Maree has been inhabited since 800 AD.

'Nobody lives here now, but the traces left are extraordinary.'

It's quite strange. It was started by Queen Victoria as a wishing well.

A wishing well, obviously filled in,

and people started using the tree for putting their coins into.

There are coins in there.

-And the trees eventually died from copper poisoning.

-They do.

I have to say that I wouldn't have expected to find a graveyard

on an island this small, but there are so many graves around here.

It is very interesting, in actual fact.

The most recent ones are from a settlement on the north shore

of Loch Maree.

And in years gone by, people were buried on islands to make

sure the wolves didn't get anywhere near the graves.

How old are some of the gravestones here?

These ones are...

The most recent ones are 1800s.

Some of the smaller ones are dating back to 1400, 1500.

So, there are centuries of history here.

Loch Maree is a beautiful, beautiful place and, in weather like this,

I could stay all day.

But I've got to get to Inverness, so it's time to leave Beinn Eighe

and hit the road.

The A832 takes me towards Achnasheen,

with Loch Maree in the distance behind me.

After around 350 miles of pretty windy roads,

we're now heading towards Inverness

and the 16-mile stretch between Achnasheen and Garve

are some of the straightest roads in the country.

It's just a hop, skip and jump now to Inverness

and the end of my journey.

It's a shame to be saying goodbye to the relatively-quiet roads

of the Highlands and heading back into dual carriageways.

It feels like I've travelled halfway round the world,

but in reality,

my summer tour of Scotland only took in 400 miles of some beautiful

parts of the country, from the biblical rain at Berriedale

to the wild vastness of Sutherland

and the beauty and joy of Loch Maree.

It's been a truly amazing, remarkable trip,

and if you suggested one of the routes on Facebook, thanks so much.

Now, that's only four journeys done. Scotland has so much more to offer.

I reckon we should do this again.