Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.

At Scotland's First Nature Friendly Farming Summit, Minister Jim Fairlie announced the return of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme for a 2026 funding round and a commitment to continue the scheme through to 2030. This announcement brought a degree of certainty to the policy landscape and has allowed farmers and crofters to plan for the future and how the industry continues to embed and build nature into their businesses.

Fresh off the release of the approval lists for the 2025 funding round, in this episode we sit down with Environmental Consultant and Lead on the Ecology Knowledge Network, David Brown from SAC Consulting to discuss the successes of the scheme historically and look forward to what this new round will bring. We cover changes to eligibility criteria, spatial targeting, scoring and more – stressing the importance of getting the right advice and getting it early. David also speaks passionately about his involvement with the Farm Wildlife Walks initiative and the willingness of farmers and crofters to meet the challenge of nature decline head on.

Want to get in touch with David? You can get a hold of him via telephone on 01835 342919 or by email at david.brown@sac.co.uk.

FAS Resources

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) - FAS

https://www.fas.scot/environment/biodiversity/agri-environmental-climate-scheme-aecs/

Other Related Resources

Agri-Environment Climate Scheme

https://www.ruralpayments.org/topics/all-schemes/agri-environment-climate-scheme/