This Work Package is centred around the aim of enabling best-fit practices in farm diversification. Successful diversification is critical to the resilience of Scottish farming communities, post-COVID, Brexit and amid the rising energy costs.
Building on considerable past RESAS research on Scottish farmers’ diversification, this Work Package emphasizes enabling digital platform use.
The use of digital platforms is a powerful tool for farmers to grow markets and develop new income streams, particularly for agrotourism and alternative food production. However, the digital divide between those with computer literacy and those without can be most pronounced within rural areas. This Work Package therefore focuses on the Scottish Highlands and Islands, in order to address this issue.
This research aims to develop the concepts of responsible innovation, highlighting innovative business models and collaborations, in order to establish a good practice guide for farm and rural business digital platform use.
This part of the project will run until March 2024.
Publications
Policy brief concerned with the role of social media platforms for diversified farm businesses in Scotland.