An article highlighting the long-term impact that poor economic returns from farming in the Scottish hills might have on upland environments and rural communities is among the winners at a journalism competition organised by the Guild of Agricultural Journalists.
Scots freelance, Nancy Nicolson’s article, published in Farmers Weekly and on the magazine's website – with accompanying video footage – analysed the resulting depopulation from these areas.
Said the judges of the Guild's Agricultural Journalism Awards, sponsored by Yara: “Her use of case studies supported and illustrated the subject well, with sympathetic yet unsentimental reporting. It’s a story of interest to all concerned for the future of Britain’s marginal land.”
Nicolson's article won her the Environment prize.
The Arable category award was won by freelance Robert Harris, for an article in Crops magazine that explained the political and technical issues relating to tests for mycotoxins in grain; while Farmers Weekly’s Philip Clarke took the Livestock category award for an article exploring the effectiveness of National Farmers' Union proposals to secure the future of Britain’s dairy industry.
