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This project assessed how Scotland’s Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) can support a just transition to sustainable and regenerative agriculture. It found that while strong technical expertise and active farmer networks exist, the system is fragmented and lacks the coordination, long-term funding and transition-focused support required for whole-farm change. Farmers rely heavily on peer learning and practical experience rather than formal advisory systems. The research highlights the need for a more coherent, relational and well-resourced AKIS to enable meaningful and inclusive agricultural transformation.

^{Photo credit: Luz Maria Lozada}

After 10 years, SEFARI Gateway, Scotland’s Centre of Expertise for Knowledge Exchange and Innovation for the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) Research Portfolio, closes today (30^th April 2026). 

In a letter of 15^th January 2026, the Scottish Government explained the decision to no longer fund the Centre, and praised its “extraordinary work”:

 “The Scottish Government has decided not to take up the final extension year for the Centre for Knowledge Exchange and Innovation (SEFARI-Gateway). 

“This does not reflect at all on the extraordinary work that you and your team have put in since its conception a decade ago. 

“Unfortunately our Centres of Expertise Budget has been significantly reduced and we are therefore unable to fund CKEI in its fifth year. I know just how much time and energy has gone into the Gateway over this period, and the quality of work has been extremely high.”

SEFARI continues to deliver the Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture (ENRA) Strategic Research Programme for Scottish Government and the SEFARI Institutes are currently developing research in collaboration with partners across Scotland for the next Strategic Programme, due to commence in April 2027. 

The SEFARI website, representing research delivered across the ENRA Portfolio as well as SEFARI’s wider research across Scotland, UK and internationally, will continue to operate, providing continued access to the Strategic Programme research reports, case studies and impact assessments, as well as continuing to serve as an archive of past strategic research.

The SEFARI Gateway team is enormously grateful to all the researchers and stakeholders with whom we have worked over the past decade. SEFARI Gateway has made it a mission to forge lasting relationships across environment, land-use, agriculture, food sector and rural communities and, in so doing, has worked across policy, industry and communities to break down barriers, open ‘silos’, and fund and collaborate on crucial high priority research needs for Scotland. SEFARI Gateway has worked tirelessly to support a legacy of impact, both from our work and more widely from that of the Strategic Research Portfolio and SEFARI. 

Director Charles Bestwick said: “We are hugely proud of what we have achieved and hope the legacy of our work will continue. The Gateway team has seen many changes over its 10 years but has always retained an enduring focus on working through partnership. 

It is a crucial time for delivering innovation and change through research, with huge pressures facing Scotland, wider UK and the world relating to environment, food, health and economic security.  These pressures are immediate and accelerating. Genuine partnership working, often maintaining relationships to deliver change long after the original funding for the research has ended, is a crucial challenge for all, but at the heart of what SEFARI Gateway endeavoured and so often achieved 

“Whether we are a researcher, knowledge broker, policy officer, agency, sector body or community group, we all have responsibility for driving success from research and ultimately its impact - and we very much welcome the emphasis on a widening of the impact culture at the heart of the forthcoming Strategic Programme”.

“Ultimately our successes in Gateway have been forged in and built on collaboration - and we once again thank all our partners for the help and support that they have given to SEFARI Gateway over the past 10 years, it has been a privilege to work with you”

For more information about publishing research, reports, case studies and impact studies on the SEFARI website contact Amy.Cooper@hutton.ac.uk or info@sefari.scot 

This research used participatory approaches to identify inefficiencies, challenges and strengths across Scottish ruminant supply chains. Stakeholders from across beef, dairy, sheep and wider industry contributed their perspectives. The findings highlighted both shared and sector specific challenges, the complexity of the supply chain and the importance of incorporating stakeholder views into policy development.#

Learn about the full SRUC project through the following link: Data driven innovations for improved sustainability of ruminant productions systems | SEFARI

This guidance seeks to safeguard the Scotch Whisky industry’s peat supply chain and credibility by outlining clear criteria for responsible peat extraction and harvesting. It expands on the Scotch Whisky Association’s Commitment to Responsible Peat Use, notably its first pillar of Responsible Extraction1, which should be read in conjunction with this guidance. It provides the industry with clear, actionable guiding principles and 
serves as a toolkit for responsible approaches to existing and future peat harvesting. The guiding principles of responsible extraction are underpinned by evidence and advice provided by key organisations, including NatureScot and SEPA, who have worked to deliver peatland management and restoration at scale across Scotland as part of broader efforts towards mitigating climate change and restoring biodiversity.  

Authors: Dr. Rosie Everett, Imogen Cadwaladr-Rimmer, Jack Zuill

SRUC