Two competitions in the winter farming calendar will go ahead, almost as normal this year, organisers have announced.
The AgriScot Product Innovation Award and the AgriScot Silage Competition are each now open for entries and the unveiling of the winners is set to be a key attraction among the online seminars planned for Agr-e-Scot day, Wednesday November 18.
AgriScot Chairman, Robert Neill, explained:
“Everything is coming together for the online events we plan to stage on November 18.
“We cannot fully replicate a live, face-to-face AgriScot, but we are confident that our virtual version – unofficially christened Agr-e-Scot – will have something to interest everyone.
AgriScot is all about showcasing best practice and forward thinking; this is certainly the ethos behind our Product Innovation Award and also our Silage Competition. It is great, therefore, to announce that we are going to stage both of these competitions for 2020.
Traditionally, only AgriScot tradestand exhibitors are invited to enter their latest machine, livestock product, piece of software into the Product Innovation Award.
However, for 2020 the net is being cast wider and organisers state that any business with an eligible entry is welcome.
There are two broad categories for the award: ‘Animal Health and Husbandry’; and ‘Machinery and Equipment’.
Entries must have been introduced to the market since AgriScot 2019 and will be judged based on a submitted video clip which explains the service and shows the product in action.
10 entries will be shortlisted for judging based on the video submitted and thereafter the views of two users or owners of the product entered will also be sought and considered by the judges.
Silage competition entries now open
The AgriScot Silage Competition, which is also now open for entries, is sponsored by Watson Seeds Ltd, providing a prize value of over £5,000.
The competition has classes for ‘beef/sheep’ and ‘dairy’ clamp silages and also big bale silage. Entries can be from any cut of silage.
There is also a special young farmers class for producers under 26 years-of-age to enter any pit silage.
Competition organiser, Andrew Best, from Watson Seeds, commented:
“The weather has been inconsistent over the main grass growing and silage making months of 2020.
I guess that silage quality, and indeed quantity, is likely to be extremely varied across the country and indeed even across the different cuts taken on the same farm.
“With the likelihood of such variability in clamps and bale stacks, the importance of having silage analysed is clear,” he concluded.
