Episode 9 Landward

There's a bit of a bovine feel to this week's programme,

as we feature both the dairy and beef versions

that graze Scotland's lush summer pastures.

Hello, and a very warm welcome from Bute.

In a moment, I'll be looking into the ongoing crisis

in Scotland's dairy sector

and meeting a farmer desperate to hold on to his herd.

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

Nick visits the cattle thriving on a singular diet.

Beautiful day to be a cow out on grass.

I hope they appreciate it.

Sarah turns detective to investigate rural crime.

You're asking farmers to perhaps change decades of practice.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing.

It's a funny looking thing, isn't it?

And we taste Scotland's newest superfruit, the honeyberry.

Quite tart, isn't it?

It's a cross between a raspberry and a blueberry,

but it's got that added zing as well.

You know, I'm old enough, just,

to remember the clink of milk bottles on the doorstep

early in the morning,

and those not-so-nice warm cartons at school.

Nowadays, I have it every day - in my tea, I have butter on my toast,

and I like a glass of wine with a slice of cheese.

But the dairy farmers that are supplying me

and millions of others throughout the country are struggling,

and some are even considering giving up.

The beautiful island of Bute is only 15 miles long and four miles wide,

and it's easy to feel cut off from global events.

But it's what's happening round the world

that's affected dairy farmers here and across Scotland.

Russia has banned imports from Europe,

China has decreased the amount of milk it's buying in,

and EU producers are creating more milk after quotas were lifted.

That's led to the world having too much milk.

Supply is greater than demand,

so the price that farmers receive has fallen dramatically.

-Is this the first time you've brought cows in?

-No.

-No?

-Does it look like it?!

-No!

Alec Nairn is one of the Bute farmers

who's seen his income slashed.

He receives 14.6p for every litre of milk he sells,

but it costs him 23p per litre to produce.

His costs are lower than the UK average of around 28p

because he's laid off staff, only takes a tiny wage,

and he's had to restructure his loans.

What level of loss are you experiencing every month?

Well, we produce roughly 100,000 litres a month,

so 1p is £1,000.

Right.

So if we are 5p, 6p, 7p a litre below the cost of production,

that's thousands per month.

You're sort of in excess of £7,000, £8,000 a month you're losing?

-Yeah.

-Goodness me.

-Yeah.

-How sustainable is that?

-It's not sustainable.

That's why we're where we are. It is not sustainable.

It can't be done.

Most producers sell their milk to processors,

like Arla, First Milk, Muller and Graham's,

who bottle it or turn it into cheese or butter.

The farmers on Bute are paid less than most for their milk

because the cost of moving it to processing plants on the mainland

is factored in.

So, do you fear for the future of milk production here on Bute?

Terribly. Terribly. It's...

How long can you go?

And people think you're mad -

"You must be mad, you're never losing that much money".

But as a farmer, you put your heart and soul into the job.

And you're not going to give it up without a fight.

But for some, the fight is already over.

We reckon maybe 150, 200 years

they've had dairy cows in Drumachloy.

Duncan Lyon still has 50 cows.

But last year, he had 220.

Soon, he'll be giving up dairy farming for good.

It was probably the hardest decision ever to make.

But you've got to be realistic in business and not be...

What's the word I'm thinking of?

Thinking about sentimentality.

Do away with sentimentality and think of your business,

and that's what I've had to do.

-Yeah. Tough, though.

-Awful. Absolutely awful.

Making the decision was just...

unbelievable.

-Actually having to un-employ my employees was worse.

-Yeah.

It's pretty tough, isn't it? It's clearly in your blood...

It's in my blood, and that's what I've lived for, is work.

That was my drive in life, was working.

The farm has been my hobby, my business and my life.

It's very difficult to give it up.

Duncan and all the other farmers on Bute

sell their milk to the processor First Milk,

who dictate the price they receive.

'Jim Baird from Lanarkshire is one of the directors of First Milk.

'He believes the low prices are out of the processor's hands.'

So, Jim, what kind of pressures are processors facing just now?

I think...

It's just a global market nowadays for dairy milk.

All of us are hanging on

on an auction based in New Zealand which happens every two weeks,

which basically determines the tone

for the whole dairy market right round the world.

Unfortunately, the last two years, that market has collapsed

and for the last year, at least, it's been right on the floor.

Is there a danger that First Milk might pull out of Bute, then?

We will pay what we get from the market,

and minus haulage or whatever else it takes to get it to the market.

It's up to the guys to decide how that works for them.

But, no, we won't be pulling out of Bute.

If some dairy farmers are going to go out of business

and maybe have to change,

I would imagine a lot of these have been in families for generations,

and that's going to be a tough thing to do.

Yeah, I mean, farming is a way of life. They always say that.

But we need to be careful with this "way of life" thing,

because at the end of the day, it's got to be a business,

and if we don't treat it as a business,

there's a danger that we do it, you know,

because we don't know anything else,

and it can become self-imposed slavery.

Jim's advice to those who are having difficulty is,

don't bury your head in the sand.

Instead, speak to advisers and your bank.

For many in the dairy industry,

this is the worst crisis they've ever seen,

and no-one knows when it's going to end.

Some are moving into producing cheese and yoghurt

to bring in extra cash.

But that's a competitive market and it takes time to set up.

So in the meantime,

our dairy farmers face some very difficult decisions.

Hang on in there, change the way they run their business,

or get out.

Scotland's dairy cattle thrive on rich pastures.

But it might be a surprise to many people

that the vast majority of beef cattle are not fed on grass alone.

Much of their diet is made up of grain and other supplements.

Now a movement called Pasture For Life

is promoting the old ways of rearing cattle.

Nick's been to Perthshire to find out the benefits for farmers,

the livestock and the consumer.

This is Hugh Grierson Organics in Perthshire.

It's a 350-hectare mixed livestock farm

that's been built up over the last 35 years,

and it's been a certified organic farm since 2002.

I'm here because this farm is part of a relatively new campaign

called Pasture For Life,

whose aims are to promote the benefits

of livestock that's fed entirely on grass, clover and herbs.

-Hugh, do you need a hand?

-Nick, hello. Welcome to the farm.

Tell me, Hugh, what do you produce on the farm?

Well, we're an organic farm, so we have a mix of livestock and crops,

and we have a butchery, too, so we're selling our own meats,

particularly beef, lamb, pork and chicken.

What I'm really interested in are your grass-fed cattle.

-Can we go and have a look?

-Absolutely.

-Let's go and find them.

-Right, OK.

What a beautiful day up in Perthshire.

Isn't it a lovely day?

Yes, beautiful day to be a cow out on grass.

I hope they appreciate it, how lucky they are to be here.

So, Hugh, how did you get into Pasture For Life?

Well, I suppose I was talking to my customers

and, for years, my customers had been asking me

how we produce our beef and where we get the food from.

And I was always having to explain it to them, and what we did,

and then I found Pasture For Life, and they have a very simple message,

which helps me tell my customers how we do it

and that we're doing it the best way we can.

Can you grow enough grass to keep the cattle fed all year round?

Absolutely.

Grass is one thing that does grow really well in Scotland.

It's just a case of getting the right sort in front of them

at the right time.

How do you manage the cycle 365 days a year with grass?

Cos grass is at its best in the summer,

and it's harder in the winter.

They're grazing grass right through the summer,

and in the middle of the summer,

there's more grass than they can graze.

At that point, we cut it for silage,

and we keep it and feed it back to them in the winter

to keep them going through the winter

when there really isn't any grass growth.

What are the benefits of meat that is entirely grass-fed?

Well, it's better for the environment.

It locks carbon into the soil.

It's better for human health.

We're eating better quality meat with higher omega-3 fatty acids.

And it's better for animal welfare.

Their guts are designed to digest grass, and not grains,

so it's higher for animal welfare

and it probably means they're outside, which is better again.

There must be a downside to this.

Well, I can't think what it is. It makes perfect sense.

Can we go down to the butchery

-and actually look at some meat?

-Let's go and see.

So, Nick, what can I get for you?

Well, later in the programme, I'm going to be cooking in the food van,

and I want to do some little steaks with a peppercorn sauce.

So I reckon fillet.

-Right. Well, we've got a piece here.

-Fantastic.

-How will that do?

That will do very nicely, thank you very much.

And you can see what Nick does with this grass-fed delight

when I join him in the food van

to see if the people of Stirling can taste the difference.

That is sensational. That's melt-in-the-mouth.

Throughout the series,

I've been showing you some of my favourite places to visit.

But as we crisscross Scotland

filming sometimes in remote locations,

there's one question that often springs to mind.

Where can I spend a penny?

That certainly not a problem in Rothesay,

where the Victorian toilets aren't just a public convenience,

they're a tourist attraction.

TOILET FLUSHES

This impressive gents lavatory was built back in 1899

when Rothesay really was in its heyday as a holiday destination.

And I really love it in here.

The quality of workmanship is incredible.

It's pretty much all original.

And if you wanted to buy this back in the late 1800s,

it would set you back £530 for the lot.

Now, obviously, I love these loos.

And so does Audrey Howard.

She's been in the toilet for almost a quarter of a century.

Thank you.

I love working here.

And the reaction that you get from the different people that come in...

From all over the world, actually, they come.

They love to sign the visitor book,

they love to give us different comments.

-It's all good.

-All good.

Who's the most famous person you've had through these doors?

Our most famous one is the Duke of Rothesay, Prince Charles.

He made an unscheduled stop.

TOILET FLUSHES

It'll be a busy summer now they've put it on Landward.

Oh, well, hopefully! Keep busy!

-See you later.

-Cheers, bye.

Yes, thanks, Audrey.

Although she did charge me 40 pence to spend a penny.

Now, on the other side of the country,

Euan's been to meet a pioneering farmer whose new wonder crop

could revolutionise Scotland's fruit industry.

The honeyberry.

Angus is the soft fruit capital of Scotland.

So where better to launch a brand-new fruit,

a superberry, a berry that has been hailed as the grape of the north?

And I've come to meet the man

who's introduced the honeyberry to Scotland for the very first time.

-Stewart...

-Hello there.

-How are you doing?

-Nice to meet you.

-This is the magic berries, is it?

-It is indeed. It is.

-Wow.

-This is the honeyberry.

'Stewart Arbuckle decided to plant honeyberry bushes

'on the family fruit farm near Dundee three years ago.

'His very first crop will be ready to hit the shelves next month.'

-It's a funny-looking thing, isn't it?

-It is.

It's kind of like a... It looks like a blueberry, really.

-It's got that kind of blue waxy skin that you can see.

-Right.

But then if you bite into it, you'll see that...

there's a deep purple juice all the way through it,

whereas on a blueberry, it's clear all the way through.

-It's quite tart, isn't it?

-It's tart, it's tangy.

It's a cross between a raspberry and a blueberry, taste-wise, I suppose.

But it's got that added zing as well.

-And growing well, obviously.

-Well, we like to think so.

We're the first people to plant them in Scotland.

We've got the first 12 acres of them here.

And we hope other people will start replicating us

and form a bit of an industry.

It's very addictive. I'm almost getting...

..a bit of gooseberry and a bit of raspberry...

..and a bit of blueberry.

-So there's everything in there.

-What's so special about it?

Well, it's its own thing.

It's from the edible honeysuckle family.

It's native to Japan and Siberia and it's been treasured,

particularly in Japan, for decades actually as a real sort of delicacy.

-So, how easy are they to grow?

-Well, let's go have a look, shall we?

-Yep.

High in antioxidants, vitamin C and potassium, the high-fibre

honeyberry has got a lot more going for it than just taste.

It's also ideally suited to our climate and is easy to harvest.

Stewart is confident, if consumers can be persuaded to try them,

then the honeyberry is potentially a lucrative crop.

So this is our honeyberry orchard.

As you can see, it's plants in the soil,

similar to a blackcurrant orchard,

so it's very low-cost and that's what we're aiming for.

There's no expensive infrastructure

like you'll have seen in our polytunnels.

There's no irrigation required.

So they're pretty well adapted to be grown in Scotland, then?

Well, we like to think Scotland is actually the perfect place for them.

They love the cold, for starters. They survive to -40.

The flowers survive to -7 in spring,

which is ideal from a spring frost perspective

and the best part of it all is that you can machine harvest them.

Labour costs are going up for picking year-on-year.

With these, we machine harvest them, it keeps our costs down.

So what about the future, then?

Are more farmers getting quite excited about this?

We've had plenty of interest anyway.

We are looking to make the new varieties of these plants

which are the sweeter varieties, the higher yielding ones,

available from Dundee this autumn actually,

for growers to get on board and join the honeyberry revolution.

Now, I've tasted them already. They're great just as a soft fruit,

but what's the potential? Where do you see the market for this?

So there will inevitably be a fresh and frozen market,

but the great thing about these berries

is they allow people to get creative.

Chefs are very excited about them from a culinary point of view.

We've got great interest from the distilleries

and the growing craft distillery movement in Scotland,

because these have more tannins than the grape in them,

so they're a fantastic opportunity from the alcohol perspective.

You've got your first gin and liqueur arriving in today.

We do, yeah.

Pretty exciting stuff,

so you'll get to taste it for the very first time today, as will I.

-Here we go.

-Let's give it a taste.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Mm! That's delicious. I'm happy with that.

You can kind of taste the berry,

the tartness of the berry coming through...

It's very distinctive, isn't it?

..the tannic quality of it. It's definitely distinctive.

-I've not tasted anything like that before.

-What more could you want?

-Berries, sunshine and gin and tonic. Cheers.

-Cheers.

And if you've got any other ideas for things you'd like to see on

the programme, you can get in touch via our Facebook page or e-mail.

On a beautiful day in Tayside, crimes seems very far away.

But, as Sarah has been finding out,

lawlessness can take place any time, anywhere.

She's further up the Tay in Perthshire to investigate

the latest approach to tackling rural crime.

Farm manager Jamie is making the most of his new quad bike.

His last one was stolen in the middle of the night

and has never been found, and that's a familiar story.

More than 120 were snatched across Scotland last year.

The good news is that rural crime is decreasing.

The bad news, though, is that it costs £2 million a year and victims

in countryside areas often feel more isolated and vulnerable.

It's left Jamie suspicious of those around him.

-Jamie, hi.

-Hi, Sarah, pleased to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

-Likewise.

So, is this the scene of the crime?

Yep, this is the container that was broken into,

end of November last year.

You can see the handle there where they cut through, took the bike.

-Gone.

-Yeah.

-And you're quite isolated here.

-Unbelievably so.

How they found us, you know...

We can't get folk here when we want them here,

so how they found it, no idea.

-Can you show me where they came onto the farm?

-No problem.

-Fantastic.

Over here, Sarah, we have the fence that was cut.

The perpetrators obviously cut it and they rode in

when they came for the bike.

Caused us another bit of aggro, really, with stock getting mixed.

-So they were fairly brazen?

-Oh, extremely brazen, yeah.

To come in through the fields, cut the fence, yeah,

takes a bit of neck.

-It's quite a circuitous route to get to the bike.

-Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they've done their homework.

They knew what they were doing, yeah.

And have you had any issues since?

A week after the bike was taken, we were actually

broken into again through a different route,

but I would imagine it has to be the same folk.

It shook us at the time,

the fact that folk had obviously been watching us.

To help ease the fears of farmers like Jamie,

the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, or SPARC,

has been set up.

It's a new community initiative with a very old message.

Chief Superintendent Gavin Robertson heads the partnership.

We have arrested people for rural crime in Lanarkshire,

where quad bikes were particularly vulnerable,

up into Tayside and Fife,

across the Highlands and up into Aberdeenshire,

where groups of criminals have been arrested,

they've been remanded in custody and they await trial.

I live in the countryside, in a rural community, and most

of the people I know in that community never lock their doors.

-Should we be reviewing what we do?

-Yeah.

I think it's important for me to say,

I don't need people to be alarmed, crime levels are low,

however, crime does occur and it does occur in the country.

So for me, while I absolutely understand why people

talk about not locking their doors,

for all the extra effort that we take and the massive increase

in security that we deliver, I think it's effort worth spending.

I mean, you're asking farmers to perhaps change decades of practice.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing.

To help farmers reduce their risks,

SPARC has been offering security advice.

Sadly, the majority only listen

once they've been a victim of a crime.

'Constable Willie Johnson is with the Specialist Crime Division

'and he's showing me some common mistakes.'

So, Willie, a crime prevention officer would come to a farm

and what are they looking out for?

Straight away you're looking for padlocks on the gates,

things like that.

A big thing that farmers do is they'll put a padlock on there

sometimes, but they'll forget to turn the hinges on the other side.

So the hinges will be left like this.

OK, you've got the bolt there, but usually you can just lift it.

-Easy to lift off?

-Yeah, you just lift it off the hinges.

Willie also has concerns about the lack of lighting on this farm

and the amount of equipment lying around.

We're conscious of the fact that they've got work to do,

so the weather, it's very seasonal,

so when the weather is there,

they're trying to get their work done.

So they might put off today what they can do tomorrow.

Yep, you've got it in one. "We'll get that tomorrow. Tomorrow."

But sadly, tomorrow can be the morning after

criminals have been in and stole their property.

I grew up in a city where I never thought twice

about putting on the alarm, or locking the door

when I left the house, and when I moved to a farm,

I pleasantly surprised about how relaxed things were -

the door was always open.

But things seem to be changing and the sad fact is that,

no matter where you live, you could be the victim of crime.

Earlier in the programme, Nick visited an organic farm

in Perthshire where the cattle are fed purely on grass.

Now, I've joined him in the Landward food van

to give the people of Stirling

the chance to taste some of that expensive delicacy -

fillet steak raised on a grain-free diet.

Will they notice any difference?

Look at that. That looks a mighty piece of beef.

A fabulous piece of beef fillet.

Now, this has come from Grierson's Organic

and it's part of this new scheme called Pasture for Life,

which is promoting livestock that's been entirely fed on grass,

-no grains at all.

-How does that impact on taste, do you think?

-That's what we're going to find out.

-Right. OK.

So what I want to do is cut some little mini medallions,

pan-fry them and I'll make a little peppercorn sauce

that people can dip it in if they want.

If you cut something about this size here...

-Okie doke.

-..and no bigger.

So what would you say are the benefits of the farmer

to have grass-fed beef and also for us in terms of the consumer

who's going to be eating this?

The advantages are it's a better system, better farm system,

and most farmers find it easier to be self-sufficient in grass

than to grow grain and process the grain to feed them grain.

A little bit longer to grow to maturity and that's a good thing

as well, because that impacts on the quality of the animals.

Amazingly, I think there are only two farms in Scotland at the moment

-that are part of this scheme.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-My goodness.

Season them first.

So pepper is the key for this, I think. You're quite good at that.

That's quite good action.

The salt goes on at the last minute. As you know, salt is hygroscopic,

so it's going to pull the moisture out of the beef

and it's going to make it harder to get the colour on the outside.

In with the beef, don't crowd the pan.

It's important you keep the heat really high,

so what we're looking for is this caramelisation

on the outside of the pieces of beef.

-Butter for colour and flavour.

-I guess something like this, as well,

it's very important not to overcook it,

because this is real beautiful meat.

So, we're going to get them out of there,

-otherwise, you're going to lose that beautiful moist interior.

-OK.

For the peppercorn sauce,

Nick deglazes the pan with some whisky and a bit of chicken stock.

It's a pepper fest in here.

He adds plenty of pepper and reduces it down.

A bit of double cream and the sauce is complete.

And you've let these rest for a while, have you?

Yeah, really important.

If you cook them for ten minutes, rest them for ten minutes.

So what we've got is 100% grass-fed Scotch beef fillet.

-I'll take one of yours.

-Oh, thanks!

The taste is huge. The peppercorn sauce adds to it,

but the taste of the beef is unbelievable!

It's succulent, it's tasty and it's incredibly tender.

-Unbelievably, yeah.

-It's just amazing. That is...

-That's definitely some of the best beef I've ever tasted.

-It's...

I'm delighted and overjoyed with just having a taste of that.

You're so lucky, people of Stirling!

Will they agree with us and taste the difference?

It's really tender.

Melts in your mouth.

Oh, it's wonderful.

It's fabulous, yeah!

-Sir, you want a wee taste of this?

-No, thanks, pal.

-No?

You can taste the difference.

It's really nice. Mm-hm. Really good.

-This is beef?

-This is beef.

-I don't eat beef.

-You can't...? OK.

That is sensational. That's melt-in-the-mouth.

-Is that all?

-That's all. You can have some more, if you want.

-Would you actively go and look for grass-fed beef after this?

-I would.

I thought that they all ate grass.

-Are you kidding me?

-No.

-What do beef eat?

What do cow eat? They eat grass.

A lot of them eat grain as well. Supplement their diet.

-A lot of the commercially produced...

-You're kidding me.

I'm not. I'm genuinely not.

That is perfect.

Sir, you want a wee tasty? You've been standing watching us all day.

-Aye, I'll have that, aye.

-This is 100% grass-fed beef.

Just another wee taste. It's not going to kill me.

It is quite better than the steak I usually have.

I usually have fillet steak quite a lot.

HE MUMBLES

You want more?

Have you had anybody from Mississippi here?

No, we have not. Come and speak to us.

It's amongst the best fillet steak I've had.

Tender, tasty...

What other "T" can I use?

Tremendous.

Very, very, very pleasant. Very nice.

Very nice? Excellent. Thank you very much.

-We don't have anything in Mississippi that good.

-Really?

Well, we thought it was great. What about the people of Stirling?

-Unanimous. They thought it was great as well.

-Loved it.

-Absolutely.

Not a single person said it was anything other than fantastic,

but what was interesting was a lot of people didn't realise

that cattle don't just eat grass,

they eat lots of other things as well,

and I think that's a great peg to hang this on,

that the grass-fed thing equals quality.

It's absolutely delicious, it tastes wonderful

and we've got much more good stuff coming up next time around.

There will be two editions of Landward next week,

both coming live from the highlight

of the Scottish countryside calendar -

the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston.

Over the weekend, we'll have a whopping 90 minutes of action

from Scotland's premier outdoor event.

Join us live next Friday on BBC Two Scotland at 7pm,

and on Sunday at 12:15pm, again on BBC Two.

So, until then, from Nick, me and all the Landward team in Stirling,

thank you so much for your company. Bye for now.