A lecturer from the Aberdeen Campus of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) has won a prestigious six week summer study tour of North America which will focus on the historic links between land ownership in Scotland and the USA.
Dr Nick Prince is researching what Scotland can learn from the education system in agriculture in North America – and will include his findings in his teaching as a lecturer in Rural Business Management.
Nick leads the new Rural Surveying and Land Use stream of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited Rural Business Management degree.
As part of a bid to beef up the course – and attract more RICS students – he won a scholarship from the esteemed Farmers Club Charitable Trust to allow him to compare land reform issues between Scotland and North America.
Nick said: "The purpose of the study trip is to allow me to observe and review the role of land in agricultural education in North America - with a view to incorporating the good points and best practice into our teaching in Scotland.
"There are similar historic land ownership issues between Scotland and USA – despite the obvious differences in terms of size.
"I believe that academic study relating to rural and agricultural property rights in North America is much more akin to Scotland – given the contested nature of rural land in these two geographic areas.
"I am looking forward to seeing the huge farms and fields of crops – the proper mid-West farms that you see in the movies!"
Significance of land
A key focus of his trip will be to explore the significance of land as a means of making money – which Nick feels is at the core of the survival of the Scottish agricultural industry.
"I want to examine how they optimise land in the USA as I feel we ignore that in Scotland. I want to learn about flexibility in land tenure.
"We covet land in Scotland - we don’t have that flexibility. There is an assumption in Scotland that we need to chase economies of scale.
"But this scholarship will consider whether we actually need to question that view.
"We need to ask tough questions - what is the idea size of a small family farm in Scotland? Are we following the right model? Is there a better way for the future? If the industry wants to survive we have to address these issues."
The study tour has a hectic schedule starting with a visit to the Association of Agricultural Educators conference in Minnesota.
The itinerary then includes visits to two academic institutions – the Leopold Centre for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, and the College of Agricultural Sciences at University of Nebraska.
