Description: 16 Agricultural Area Offices provide local support for agricultural issues. This information then feeds into Agricultural Headquarters in Edinburgh.
Description: Agricultural parishes are based on Civil Parishes which were abolished as an administrative unit in Scotland in 1975. Agricultural parishes continue to be used for boundary and statistical purposes. There are 891 agricultural parishes in Scotland and they are used in the Agricultural Census and for the payment of farming grants and subsidies. The dataset contains parish boundaries, parish names and parish codes.
Description: These are the 5 animal health regions in Scotland. These are part of State Veterinary Service who are an executive agency responsible for delivering agreed services in public health and animal health and welfare within Great Britain (GB). SVS deliver on behalf of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and work closely with them to help develop government policies that are both deliverable and focussed on outcomes, whilst being sensitive to the needs of those we deliver to.
Description: In recognition of the different physical and socio-economic characteristics across the regions, the European Union introduced the Less Favoured Area (LFA) designation to support farming where production conditions are difficult. The criteria for LFA designation were first established in European legislation in 1975 (Directive 75/268 EEC and accompanying measures). There are 3 types of LFA's; all in Scotland fall into the category of simple LFA's marked by poor soils and low agricultural income. Scotland's LFA's are defined by: - The presence of poor land of poor productivity, which is difficult to cultivate and with a limited potential which cannot be increased except at excessive cost, and which is mainly suitable for extensive livestock farming. - lower than average production, compared to the main indices of economic performance in agriculture. - a low or dwindling population predominantly dependent on agricultural activity, the accelerated decline of which could cause rural depopulation
Description: Marine Planning Zones are defined in the Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Order 2007. The Zones designate marine areas for which planning authorities discharge their functions with regard to fish farming developments.
Description: Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are areas within Scotland that contain surface water or groundwater that is susceptible to nitrate pollution from agricultural activities. They are designated in accordance with the requirements of the European Commision's Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC, aims to protect water quality across Europe by preventing nitrates from agricultural sources polluting ground and surface waters and by promoting the use of good farming practices. The Scottish Government is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of the aquatic environment, and carries out a review of the NVZ areas every four years. In 2016, five areas of Scotland were designated as NVZs under the following regulations: The Designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (Scotland) Regulations 2014 (SSI 2014/373). The five NVZ areas were designated as nitrate levels from agricultural sources either resulted, or would likely result, in a concentration equal or exceeding 50 milligrammes of nitrate per litre of water in either surface water or groundwater. The five areas within Scotland, currently designated as NVZs, are: Aberdeenshire, Banff, Buchan and Moray, Strathmore and Fife, Stranraer Lowlands, Edinburgh, East Lothian and Borders, and Lower Nithsdale.
Description: This dataset comes from an amalgamation of classes 1 and 2 of the MLURI Land capability classificaton. LCA Class 1 - Land capable of producing a very wide range of crops LCA Class 2 - Land capable of producing a wide range of crops Land Capability for Agriculture maps at 1:250K scale were produced and published in 1982. These maps provided a national and regional appreciation of the location and areal extent of the Land Capability for Agriculture classes and were specifically designed for strategic planning purposes. More detailed maps of the main arable areas of Scotland were carried out and published in the mid 1980's. These covered classes 1, 2 and 3.1. The purpose of these maps was to assist planners and agricultural officers in assessing cases made for development and determining priorities in relation to retaining areas of high quality agricultural land.
Description: This dataset was created as part of a piece of casework. The areas the boundaries show relate to specially identified areas for hill farming.