Projects per year
Organisation profile
Organisation profile
The Hill & Mountain Research Centre, with its team of systems-scale researchers, is based at Kirkton and Auchtertyre Farms, a 2,200 ha estate near Crianlarich in the west Highlands of Scotland.
The site is set within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and ranges from productive low ground fields to high altitude (over 1,000 metres above sea level) semi-natural habitats of high nature conservation value.
We are a Linking Environment & Farming (LEAF) Innovation Centre and a member of the Global Farm Platform initiative.
Our work aims to seek economically, environmentally and socially sustainable land management systems in the context of international, national and local land use policies.
In particular, our research and demonstration activities help highlight how precision livestock farming approaches can be used to address agricultural and environmental challenges.
The size and diversity of the farms mean that we can investigate a wide range of questions of relevance to current and future land management in the mountains.
Examples include:
- We are assessing how different types of technology can help hill farmers and crofters improve livestock management and while also reducing costs, improving record keeping and saving time and labour
- We have established a Long Range Wide Area Radio Network (LoraWAN) on the farms and are investigating what types of agricultural or environmental sensors can be used in remote, mountainous areas to improve decision making
- We are using modern genetic selection approaches – such as Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) – to show how best to enhance the productivity, profitability and environmental footprint of sheep flocks on mountain farms
- We are assessing the Public Goods associated with different types of land management in the mountains and demonstrating how a greater focus on biodiversity enhancement can be integrated into mountain farming systems
- We are involved in a range of international research projects and knowledge exchange activities as conditions in Scotland’s mountains are very similar to rangelands elsewhere across the globe
Keywords
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Animal Science and Zoology
- Forestry
- Plant Science
- Soil Science
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
Fingerprint
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Profiles
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John Holland
- Integrated Land Management, Hill & Mountain Research Centre - Research Fellow
- Scotland's Rural College - Research Fellow
Person: Academic contract that is research only
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Nicola Lambe
- Integrated Land Management, Hill & Mountain Research Centre - Reader
- Food Security Challenge Centre
- Scotland's Rural College - Reader
Person: Academic contract that is research only
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Fiona McAuliffe
- Rural Economy Environment And Society, Environment & Countryside - Lecturer
- Scotland's Rural College - Lecturer
- Integrated Land Management, Hill & Mountain Research Centre
Person: Academic contract that is teaching only, Ph.D.
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Reducing sheep methane emissions: sustainability in practice via new breeding goals
Lambe, N. (PI), Conington, J. (CoI), MacLeod, M. (CoI), McLaren, A. (Researcher), McLean, K. (Technician) & Gordon, J. (Technician)
1/04/24 → 30/04/27
Project: Research
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Feasability study for development of methane yield breeding value in Welsh Hill flocks
Lambe, N. (PI), McLean, K. (Technician) & Gordon, J. (Technician)
8/01/24 → 31/03/25
Project: Other
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Breeding low methane sheep
Lambe, N. (PI), Kaseja, K. (CoI) & Conington, J. (CoI)
1/06/23 → 31/05/26
Project: Research
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Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems Advisory Note: Advisory Note from the meeting of the Group on 5th February 2024
Academic Advisory Panel, 19 Dec 2024, Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board, Scottish Government.Research output: Book/Report/Policy Brief/Technical Brief › Policy Brief
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Assessing the future uptake of digital tools and technologies by sheep and goat farmers in the meat and dairy industries
McLaren, A., Grova, L., de Boer, A., Keady, T. W. J., McClearn, B., Giovanetti, V., Acciaro, M., Depuille, L., Klein, R., Godo, A., Piirsalu, P., Kenyon, F., Halachmi, I., Llach-Martinez, I. & Morgan-Davies, C., 10 Sept 2024, Book of Abstracts of the 75th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science. Vol. 34. p. 285 1 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
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Climate ready farming: integrating livestock and trees
Pollock, M. & Holland, J., 2024, Reforesting Scotland, Spring/Summer, 69, p. 8-10 3 p.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Open AccessFile
Datasets
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Long term management effects on leatherjackets - data
Moffat, A. (Contributor), McNamara, L. (Contributor), McCracken, D. (Contributor) & McCracken, D. (Contributor), Unknown Publisher, 15 Jan 2024
DOI: 10.58073/SRUC.25000007.v1
Dataset
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Data from: A critical analysis of the potential for EU Common Agricultural Policy measures to support wild pollinators on farmland
Cole, L. (Creator), Kleijn, D. (Creator), Dicks, L. V. (Creator), Stout, J. (Creator), Potts, S. (Creator), Albrecht, M. (Creator), Balzan, M. V. (Creator), Bartomeus, I. (Creator), Bebeli, P. (Creator), Bevk, D. (Creator), Biesmeijer, J. (Creator), Chlebo, R. (Creator), Dautartė, A. (Creator), Emmanouil , N. (Creator), Hartfield, C. (Creator), Holland, J. (Creator), Holzschuh, A. (Creator), Knoben, N. (Creator), Kovács-Hostyánszki, A. (Creator), Mandelik, Y. (Creator), Panou, H. (Creator), Paxton, R. (Creator), Petanidou, T. (Creator), Pinheiro de Carvalho, M. (Creator), Rundlöf, M. (Creator), Sarthou, J.-P. (Creator), Stavrinides, M. (Creator), Suso, M. (Creator), Szentgyörgyi, H. (Creator), Vaissière, B. E. (Creator), Varnava, A. (Creator), Vilà, M. (Creator), Zemeckis, R. (Creator) & Scheper, J. (Creator), Dryad, 20 Jan 2020
Dataset
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Data from: Estimating demographic contributions to effective population size in an age-structured wild population experiencing environmental and demographic stochasticity
Trask, A. E. (Creator), Bignal, E. M. (Creator), McCracken, D. I. (Creator), Piertney, S. B. (Creator) & Reid, J. M. (Creator), Dryad, 1 Jan 2018
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.68kk0, https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.68kk0
Dataset
Prizes
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Awarded Professorship in Agricultural Ecology
McCracken, D. (Recipient), 2013
Prize: Other distinction
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Activities
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Speeding up sustainable land management
McCracken, D. (Invited speaker)
1 Oct 2024Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
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Challenges and opportunities for farms in Northern Ireland and Scotland
McCracken, D. (Invited speaker)
12 Sept 2024Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
File -
Setting the south-west of Scotland in context
McCracken, D. (Invited speaker)
1 Jul 2024Activity: Talk, evidence or presentation types › Invited talk
File
Press/Media
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Combating nature loss: Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (podcast)
Fisher, H. & McCracken, D.
28/01/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media
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