What Is The Farm Advisory Service?

If you’re working in Scottish agriculture, or thinking about it, then the Farm Advisory Service, FAS for short, is here to help.

The goal of FAS is to provide information and resources on how to increase the profitability and sustainability of farms and crofts across Scotland.

This video focuses on the One to Many side of the FAS project, there is also a one-to-one side of the programme advising on a range of grants for Integrated Land Management Plans, Carbon Audits, Specialist Advice and Mentoring.

Co-funded by the EU and Scottish government, it has been running since 2016 and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

FAS connects you to expert consultants, policy makers, academics, and other farmers and agricultural workers like yourself, with the goal of keeping you up-to-date on what’s happening in Scottish Agriculture. And how others are responding to the different challenges facing the sector.

FAS is for everyone, whoever they are, and wherever they are in Scotland. Regardless of your geography, the scale of your business, or the type of business, we can offer support and advice. Almost all of these services are entirely free for the consumer, and intended for you to use.

The FAS website acts as the hub for all of the resources we produce, from the fundamentals of farming, to more granular, technical advice, soft skills, and future-planning. Furthermore, we also cater to different learning styles, with digital, analogue, written, audio, and visual content on offer.

To help you quickly find the information you need, the website is broken up into sections. These are
• Livestock
• Crops & Soils
• Environment
• Rural Business
• And Discussion Groups such as Women in Agriculture

Each section is filled with useful information and there are many different branches and subjects for you to explore. If you can’t find the information you’re looking for on the FAS Site, you can contact the helpline directly, and will be put in touch with an expert who can help.

The Farm Advisory Service continues to develop further, needs-led resources based on the demands and interests of Scottish Agriculture. These include the recently re-launched FAS Companion App, which aims to put the many different tools used by farmers on a daily basis in one easy to access place, and the upcoming online video series ‘FAS TV’, Which will put farmers at the forefront of important knowledge and skills transfer.