Episode 23 Landward

We love to bring you the latest from the Scottish countryside,

but this week, we're stepping back in time with a load of old fossils.

Hello, and a very warm welcome to Landward.

In a moment, I'll be meeting the scientist

behind one of the most significant fossil finds in Scotland.

But first, here's what else is coming up on the programme.

Sarah checks out the latest farming gizmo.

I mean, technology is having such an impact on farming.

There's now tractors that drive themselves.

Is this the future of farming?

It's certainly going to be part of it.

In the news today, changes to tenant farming proposals.

Euan has the latest.

Just because you have a right to buy,

doesn't necessarily mean a tenant would exercise it.

And the photographer documenting the lives of Scotland's female farmers.

I think there's probably one picture that I should take,

which is of you two standing here.

-Oh, like drowned rats(?)

-THEY CHUCKLE

OK. Well, I don't know about you, but we're not looking our best.

One last image. OK, one, two, three...

Lovely, ladies.

Skye is known as "dinosaur isle"

because of the interesting fossils that can be uncovered here,

and earlier this week, an exciting new find was announced.

Our colleagues at BBC Earth were on Skye to witness the moment

scientists discovered hundreds of dinosaur footprints

near Duntulm Castle.

Skye is unique in Scotland for dinosaur hunters,

and the footprints are an important find.

-Hi, Dougie.

-Nice to see you. How are you?

-Come on in.

'Steve Brusatte is one of the scientists

'who discovered the footprints,

'and I met him back in his lab at Edinburgh University.'

So, let's talk about Skye. What did you actually find there?

Well, we were flabbergasted, gobsmacked -

whatever hyperbole you want to use when we found them.

It's one of the more exciting finds that I've made in my career,

and it was kind of a chance thing.

We were out in April when it was getting late.

It was about seven o'clock or so. Starting to get a bit dark.

The tide was coming in, the winds were coming in -

time to leave!

And we started to notice these things that looked

kind of like potholes in the rock and we noticed one,

and then another one,

and then another one and they seemed to be in this zigzag sequence,

hence we found huge track ways left by some of the biggest dinosaurs

that ever lived, these brontosaurus-type of dinosaurs.

-And when would they have lived, then?

-About 170 million years ago.

This is right in the middle part of the Jurassic period.

I walk in the hills often and, you know, you make a footprint -

next day, the rain comes and washes it away.

How can these footprints still exist?

Well, it's a quirk of geology.

These dinosaurs weren't actually walking on land,

they were wading in a lagoon.

So there was probably water up to their knees or so.

And then you would have storms come in

and dump a bunch of other sand or mud on top,

and that would kind of seal in the footprints

and those layers would get compacted over time into rock.

So it's one of these one-in-a-billion things that these

dinosaur footprints were preserved.

And what's so specifically good about Skye

for dinosaur hunters like yourself?

The amazing thing about Skye - and you never think of Scotland

when you think of dinosaurs, I don't think -

but Skye is one of the only places in the world where there's dinosaurs

from that age, from the middle part of the Jurassic.

And this was a really important time in dinosaur evolution because

this was when the first tyrannosaurs were getting their start.

The first stegosaurs - the ones with the big plates on their back.

The first birds were flying about in the middle Jurassic,

so Scotland is one of the only places in the world

where you can find fossils of those things.

And footprints aren't the only thing dinosaurs have left behind on Skye.

There's a small tooth here that we found.

'Steve's colleague, Tom Challands discovered this tooth.'

I was walking along, looking at boulders,

and this thing just glinted at me,

and I knew we had to get it out pretty soon,

because the tide was just, like, that far below it.

And, er, so I started chiselling, having a look at it,

trying to get it out without damaging it,

by which time the tide was now that far above it,

and sort of round my knees.

It was fully underwater and I was really worried that it might pop out

and just be washed away by a wave.

Thank goodness we did get it out,

because there's only about three teeth like this

from the Isle of Skye.

-What is this a tooth of, then?

-It's of a meat-eating dinosaur.

A small theropod meat-eating dinosaur.

Probably something like a velociraptor.

Skye is the only place in Scotland these things can be found,

and the island's becoming more interesting to palaeontologists.

We're now entering what we might call

a Renaissance of dinosaur hunting on the Isle of Skye.

So it's providing a very unique window into this period of dinosaur

evolution like you can't find in many other parts of the world.

We're very lucky to have it literally on our doorstep.

If you want to find our more about Skye's dinosaurs,

check out the BBC Earth website.

It's amazing to think that evidence of these creatures that lived

millions of years ago is out there, much of it hiding in plain sight.

Now, there is a Scottish Fossil Code

to protect these beautiful specimens,

so if you want to go out hunting, have a look at it before you go,

and who knows what you might find?

Now, from ancient history to the constantly evolving story

of Scottish farming.

Farming has come a long way since the 1950s and men in flat caps

and hoeing by hand,

to milking robots and driverless tractors.

And the latest bit of technology that is being touted

as the future of farming - drones.

We're more used to seeing them on sci-fi films,

but Simon Gibson-Poole from Scotland's rural college, the SRUC,

is investigating how drones can make a farmer's life easier.

-Simon, good morning.

-Hi, Sarah.

-How are you doing?

-What a fancy-looking gadget.

-Yes.

-What is it?

This is the college's octocopter that we built here on-site

to help us survey our crops.

Today, we're surveying this oilseed rape.

And we're essentially looking for variation

in the plots that we've got

to see if certain pathogens, like light leaf spot,

can be seen from the air.

-OK. Shall we get it in the air?

-Indeed. Let's do it.

The drone's flight path, height and distance are all programmed

and controlled by a computer.

Only take off and landing are done manually.

Yay! We're airborne.

Yep. It's up in the air, and it's now performing its mission.

How useful do you think this is going to be for farmers?

Erm, I think it's going to be very useful.

Areas of the field that you might not be able to spot easily

from the field boundaries or

unless you walk through the crop, which is not always a good idea.

So, for instance, things like potatoes.

When the canopy is closed, you don't want to be walking through it,

not unless you absolutely have to.

So getting an aerial perspective at those times is a bonus.

So, what sort of information can a farmer get from these images?

You might be able to spot points where the field's not

performing as well, where there's gaps in the canopy of the crop.

With better sensors, more complicated sensors,

you can do the health of the crops more and picking up things like, er,

certain pathogens maybe coming along -

you might be able to pick those up at earlier stages.

I mean, technology is having such an impact on farming.

There's now tractors that drive themselves.

Is this the future of farming?

It's certainly part of it. It certainly will be part of it.

Erm...

It's in an early stage still at the moment,

but in the future, I think we're going to see this an awful lot more,

especially as they become more automated.

They'll become more useful across the board.

I mean, for instance, the Japanese have been using

large radio-controlled helicopters

for spraying paddy fields since the 1980s, so they're using them -

there's no reason why we can't use them in the future.

'Once the drone is back on the ground,

'the footage is analysed to see how the crops are getting on.'

Drones might not be for every farmer.

Some will embrace them, but others might still want

that personal touch of inspecting the crops by hand.

But one thing is for certain -

it's going to be interesting to see how this technology develops.

If you've seen something that inspires you in the countryside

and want to share it, then get in touch

by going to our Facebook page or e-mailing...

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.

This week, I'm in the Fort of the Celts, Dunkeld.

So, what do the locals love about their town?

I do a lot of running, so it's brilliant.

There's loads of routes up here.

Lots of nice walking round about.

The Hermitage, which is just a mile away up north, is spectacular.

-Uh-huh.

-A lot of people come here and actually get married there,

as well as at the cathedral.

Once you're finished all that exercise, how do you chill out?

Where would you go?

Palmerston's, literally just there.

It's like a little bit of baking heaven.

That's what I think about while I'm running.

It's just that coffee and that fresh scone.

-What do you think is the best thing about Dunkeld?

-All.

All of it? So it's amazing?

What would you say that people are most proud of about Dunkeld?

Erm... Everyone's just so close. It's quite a tight community.

It's Crimewatch, Bob!

-Bob's going past.

-When are you back on Sportscene?

It's Crimewatch!

Where would you say is the best place to relax, chill out,

have a...whatever?

See, I'm in a dodgy position here.

-I can't just pick out one.

-Can you not?

No, otherwise the rest will get on to me.

"Why didn't you mention me?", sort of thing, so...

A pint in the Taybank, if it's a nice day

- which today is not -

you can sit out on the river and have a pint,

and watch time go by.

Tell him why you like Birnam Institute.

I like... I like all the...

HE RAMBLES

You know what?

That makes more sense than anything I've said all day.

So, that's what the locals think is the best thing about Dunkeld,

but I reckon this deserves a mention.

Before the bridge was built back in 1808 by Thomas Telford,

there used to be a ferry further upstream,

but cattle had to swim across, not all of them particularly keen.

Legend has it that a local enterprising farmer

used to rent out one of his water-loving beasts

to encourage the rest across.

I wouldn't fancy it. Far too wide and fast for my liking.

Now, over the next couple of weeks,

we'll have a guest presenter who hails from Dundee.

Martel Maxwell has been looking at her area's reputation

for innovation in tatties.

This week, it's a new way of selling to customers.

I'm a city girl, and I have to admit it's not always easy

getting my hands on the freshest veg straight from the farmer's field.

Then I spotted something pretty unusual in my local shopping centre,

and I just had to meet the man behind it.

The Grewars have been growing potatoes for more than a century,

and are one of the biggest names in the business.

They operate on a massive scale,

but for their latest venture, they're downsizing.

-Hi, Euan.

-Hi, Martel. How are you doing?

-Good, thanks.

You look busy.

-Tell me what you're doing here. It looks organised.

-Yeah.

'Today, Euan Grewar is packing veg to put into vending machines.'

If you could put four beetroot into each of the boxes,

that would be great. I'll put in some baking potatoes.

OK. Four beetroot in each.

Now, why vending machines?

How did you come up with the idea?

So, before we started the vending machines,

everything left here by the lorry load,

26 tonnes at a time,

and we have been asked to do bags of potatoes

and we were turning people away,

so the opportunity to sort of meet that market

was great, so we saw the vending machine

and thought it could really fit.

Is this all your own produce?

So, the potatoes, the beetroot and the leeks, we all grow,

and the rest is all local, in-season stuff.

Is this us done? Do we have everything we need?

Do we need the baby leeks?

Yeah, baby leeks in and then we're ready to go.

-OK.

-So, we go and load up the van.

Then we're on our way.

Today's destination is the Overgate Shopping Centre in Dundee.

How often do you come out to restock?

We stock the machines every morning.

Someone leaves with the van at six o'clock, half-past six,

every morning, and they're freshly stocked every day,

and sometimes more on weekends or busy times,

like the run-up to Christmas.

On our way to Dundee, we stop to restock one of Euan's

other vending machines on a local farm,

and we meet one of his customers.

Won't have beetroot today,

but usually, I buy everything here, you know,

eggs, carrots, sprouts, the lot.

And why do you come here rather than your local supermarket?

I just think you're supporting local suppliers,

you're helping the local farmers.

I come from a farming family, so I think it's a good thing.

And now it's back on the road again.

I have to say, a veg van isn't the usual way I get to the shops.

And here we are at the vending machine.

A-ha! What's been the reaction, Euan, when you first put this in?

-What are people saying?

-We've had some amazing reactions.

I mean, when we first put it in here,

we were installing the machine early morning,

and the cleaners that were here at the time

were a bit...thought we were mad,

in the middle of Dundee, trying to sell fresh fruit and vegetables.

But it's been amazing.

By Christmas time, they were pre-ordering their stuff

for us to set aside, because they loved it.

Euan, it's been a pleasure.

I guess you'd better go off and restock your next machine.

I'm going to hang around here and meet some of your customers.

-That's great. Thanks, Martel.

-Bye, Euan.

It reminds us what a great position we're in,

in terms of Dundee,

with all the fantastic agricultural land around us,

and we would be buying locally.

You've got your tatties and your eggs and your vegetables,

and you can make a meal from that without having to go shopping.

You've got to have your fresh fruit and veg, everyone knows that,

so having made it easier to get is surely better in the long run.

Somebody wanting to make a pot of soup,

-they've got everything here.

-Yes.

That's what I said. You've got all your ingredients for a pot of soup.

So, the people here seem to be convinced.

Well, I've certainly worked up an appetite,

so tatties for tea tonight.

And next week,

Martel meets the farmers using potatoes to make vodka.

Now, two weeks ago, we had a special programme

looking at the proposals for land reform in Scotland.

The aspect of the changes we didn't explore was farm tenancies.

Euan's tackling that now.

Almost a quarter of Scotland's agricultural land is rented,

but that's a lot less than it used to be.

Since 1982, the area of let land in this country has fallen by 44%,

so why are landowners so reluctant to let out their land?

First of all, they say they're concerned that

changes in the law may force them to sell off their land to tenants,

and secondly,

they can make more money just now by working it themselves,

due to the current farm subsidy regime.

What's the difference, you might ask?

Well, with the cost of farmland so high,

a healthy rental sector is one of the few ways available

for young people to get a start in farming.

Have a look at this.

For sale in the paper, a small farm of 126 acres

with a three-bedroom house in Aberdeenshire.

The asking price - £750,000.

Three-quarters of a million pounds.

Imagine a young person going to try and get a loan for that

and, to be perfectly honest, you might be struggling

to make a full-time living off a 126-acre farm.

When farms appear on the market,

they're often snapped up by neighbours looking to expand.

Unless they inherit a farm, leasing is often the only way

that a young person can get a start in the industry,

which is why the Scottish Government wants to promote the rental market,

and also to give some protection to tenants.

They want to expand the class of people who can inherit

a secure farm tenancy -

not just sons and daughters,

but nephews and nieces,

and partners' children too -

change the way rents are calculated,

to take into consideration

how much money a good farmer can actually make,

and introduce the right for a tenant to force the sale of the farm

if the landowner repeatedly fails to meet their obligations.

We have suckler cows as well, maybe 60 to 70 suckler cows.

'Ian Muirhead's family has farmed here in Stirlingshire

'since the 1880s. He doesn't think the proposals go far enough,

'and he wants farmers like him, with a secure tenancy,

'to be given the right to buy their house, steading

'and a proportion of their farmland.'

Although the bill is welcome,

a lot of the solutions in it are sticking plaster,

and they don't address the root problem,

which, in my view and the view of many people,

is that we have a concentrated land ownership pattern,

and if you look at the experience of European countries,

where they have brought in reforms, for example,

a conditional right to buy for tenant farmers,

which has led to less concentrated land ownership,

one of the upturns of that

actually has been much larger tenanted sectors,

which means there's more opportunity for young people to get a start.

Is it not a bit ironic, though,

this has all been driven by tenant farmers wanting security,

and if that goes through,

that'll mean the landowner doesn't have any security?

The clue is in the question, which is right to buy.

Obviously, a tenant would have to pay a fair price for the farm,

should they wish to buy it,

but at the same time, just because you have a right to buy

doesn't necessarily mean a tenant would exercise it.

Now, if you've got good relations with your landlord

and you share investment and things work well,

then the likelihood is, you'll say,

"Well, I have that sanction if things go badly wrong

"or if the next generation of landlord treats you unfairly,"

but at the same time, for those that are in a bad situation,

or want to invest or diversify,

and the only way the bank would allow them to do that

is if, obviously, asset-based finance,

then they have that option,

and you've seen that in the crofting situations.

People have that right to buy. It's like an insurance policy.

'Ian is on a secure tenancy,

'but other farmers on shorter contracts

'have told us they've been given notice by their landlords,

'worried about the coming changes.

'Sarah-Jane Laing from Scottish Land and Estates,

'the body that represents estate owners, recognises that picture.'

I think it's definitely happening,

and I don't think it's happening to traditional landlords.

I think you've got owner-occupiers

who are looking to maybe rent out a couple of fields,

they're not doing that because these guys do not feel confident

about putting their land in tenancies at the moment.

'Sarah thinks the system needs a shake-up.'

The old traditional ways,

I'm not sure if they're fit for purpose any more, if I'm honest.

I think we have to look at what the sector will look like in 20 years.

You've got guys here who are owner-occupiers,

they're also tenants, they're also contractors.

It's not just about you're either a tenant or an owner or a landlord...

-So you're not against change?

-Not at all.

The industry does need to change

to have the future that we're all trying to achieve.

What about the right to buy?

People talk about the absolute right to buy and there was a suggestion

that perhaps there could be a conditional right to buy,

you could buy the farmhouse, buy the barns.

-How would you respond to that?

-What you've got in the bill at the moment

is almost a conditional right to buy, a qualified right to buy,

where the landlord isn't meeting his obligations, and again,

I think that's something that can be justified.

I can't see any reason, any rationale, for giving somebody

a right to buy business assets against the owner's will, though.

This morning, the Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs Committee

issued their stage one committee report on the Land Reform Bill,

their take on the current proposals, if you like.

They say the government should consider introducing a right to buy

for secure tenants in certain circumstances.

They also said there should be a statutory code of conduct

to control the behaviour of land agents.

They're the people who negotiate farm rents on behalf of landowners.

Food security is usually considered a fundamental priority for any

agricultural policy, but getting this one right goes beyond that.

The future of our young people, the day-to-day lives of tenants,

and the rights of landowners

all rest in the balance in Holyrood at the moment.

It's a tremendous responsibility. Let's hope they get it right

or, at the very least, make a step in the right direction.

After all that legal argument,

I think we need something a bit different.

From law to art - Sarah has been to meet a photographer

documenting the lives of some of our farmers.

I'm on the road with professional photographer Sophie Gerrard.

She's no stranger to remote country tracks.

There's a narrow wee bridge here.

Sophie's spent the past three years travelling across Scotland

to photograph the women who farm the most isolated and inhospitable land.

Today, I'm joining her on a shoot in Dalmally, Argyll.

I think we're in luck. We've got a break in the weather.

It's really looking much nicer.

Does the weather really matter?

No. I think you take it as you find it, really.

So, why did you set out on this project?

For me, it was an exploration of my country

as I returned to it after living away for approximately ten years,

living down south and living overseas.

So, the landscape of Scotland, when you're away from it, I think,

for me was often reflected as this picture-postcard romantic view,

and I really wanted to scratch that surface, learn what was

the real story of our landscape, and reconnect with it myself.

-You feature just women.

-Mm.

-Why?

Well, the more research I did about the landscape, the more I realised

that the perspective of it is often seen through male eyes,

and I just wondered, where were the female voices?

And there's this feeling of a farmer's wife, you know,

the job description of a farmer's wife,

somebody very much behind the scenes.

These women that I'm photographing are not farmers' wives,

they're farmers. They're front and centre,

they're making life-and-death decisions every day,

they're responsible for the landscape and for the livestock,

and they feel a great sense of responsibility and custodianship.

They want to improve it for future generations.

-So, who are we meeting today?

-Today, we're meeting Sybil MacPherson.

She's one of the first people that I met when I started this project.

-Yeah, I recognise this photo.

-These old fleeces and this beautiful barn

-are one of the images from the series.

-Fantastic.

-Shall we find Sybil?

-Yeah.

-Morning.

-Hello, Sophie.

-Hello.

-Hi, Sybil, I'm Sarah.

-Very pleased to meet you.

'Sybil MacPherson has lived on her Dalmally hill farm her whole life.'

It's been in her family for more than 170 years.

-It's been in the blood for a long, long time?

-It has, yes.

It has, and I feel very, very attached to all of it.

Well, we're here to watch what you do.

You've got work to do and you've got photos to take,

-so shall we crack on?

-Yeah, sure.

And after three years, Sophie has a stunning collection of photos.

A selection of them is currently

on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

She's called the series Drawn To The Land.

I get the sense that you want to be

-as sort of unobtrusive as possible.

-Yeah, absolutely.

I think the sense of being a fly on the wall as much as I can,

and hoping that Sybil just gets on with...

CAMERA CLICKS

..her day, without really paying too much attention to me.

That's the idea.

Well, wowee!

I don't know about you ladies, but I'm feeling a bit damp,

a bit like a prune.

THEY LAUGH

-It's very damp.

-Very wet.

It's amazing, look at that.

Amazing view.

-Even on a day like today, would you be anywhere else, Sybil?

-No.

No, it's a fabulous place to be,

and I know how incredibly fortunate I am to be living and working here.

And how have you felt about being Sophie's muse?

I felt very nervous at first. I couldn't quite really think

that anything here was particularly fascinating, other than the view,

but Sophie made me think long and hard about what it meant to be

part of the ground here for generations and generations,

and made me really think a lot more and deeply about

how much I feel about the place

and about the land and about the nature and everything about it,

so, yeah, she's opened my eyes up

and become a really good friend, and it's been a fabulous experience.

I think there's probably one picture that I should take,

which is of you two standing here.

Like drowned rats? OK!

Well, I don't know about you, but we're not looking our best.

THEY LAUGH

One last image. OK, one, two, three.

Lovely, ladies.