DINGWALL, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (April, 24th) sold 5 prime cattle. Prime heifers (5) averaged 225.2p (+2.5p) and sold to 230.0p per kg and £1,413.60 gross.
Payments worth more than £300 million to farmers and crofters have begun, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has confirmed. In the coming months, eligible farmers and crofters will receive the final balance of their Common Agricultural Policy Pillar 1 entitlement for the 2017 scheme year, having already received up to 90% through the government's loan scheme in early November.
More pupils in Scotland will be enjoying high quality school dinners thanks to our Food for Life programme receiving £1.2million from Scottish Government. This is huge, fantastic news and means we can get more children eating fresh, local produce - helping them stay healthy while supporting local producers..
Statistics on quarterly planning performance in Scotland have been released today by Scotland's Chief Statistician. These detail the number of planning applications decided across Scotland and average decision times for most types of application including housing and business and industry.
Scotland's leading creative industries festival, XpoNorth, has unveiled the next wave of speakers for the one-of-a-kind event this summer in Inverness. Taking place 27-28 of June 2018, XpoNorth 2018 will see a range of leading voices from across the national and international creative industries gather in the Highland capital to deliver one of the most exciting, inspiring, informative and unique events of its kind.
LOCHMADDY, Dingwall & Highland Marts Ltd., (April, 23rd) sold 68 store cattle and 14 OTM cattle. Bullocks (30) averaged 222.5p and sold to 262.7p per kg for a 335kg Limousin cross from 4 Tigharry, Lochmaddy and £1,200 gross twice for 735kg and 740kg Charolais crosses from 50 Balgarva, Eochar.
First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, unveiled a new manufacturing line at Norbord's Inverness plant on 23 April, following a £95m investment. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) also awarded Norbord a £12m development grant, on top of Norbord's investment, to help fund the expansion.
Brexit creeps ever closer. For businesses of all sizes there may be many consequences.
Highlands & Islands MSP and road safety campaigner, David Stewart has asked drivers in the rural areas of the Highlands &Islands to rein in their speed and give plenty of room to horses and their riders when passing them. David said " This is an issue that a lot of motorists forget about.
HIAL increase passenger numbers yet again. The latest airport passenger figures from Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) reveal a 7.4% increase in passenger numbers in the financial year 2017/2018.
KP Technology is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation, the UK's most prestigious business accolade, for its pioneering development of an air photoemission system (APS) for materials analysis. This invention uses ultraviolet light to measure intrinsic energy levels of electronic materials.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) welcomed Lord Duncan of Springbank, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scotland Office, to its Dounreay site to see decommissioning progress. Lord Duncan travelled to Caithness to learn more about work on Scotland's largest nuclear clean-up and demolition project.
Week commencing 16th April 2018 Tourism: In the week that we celebrated World Heritage Day it is good to see Highland Council advertising for a fixed term post to progress the long-held aspiration that the Peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland become a UNESCO World Heritage area. You can view the job description and background to the appointment at https://www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/highland-council/jobs/world-heritage-project-co-ordinator-114206 Enabling activities: Recruitment continues this week for the successor to CNSRP Independent Chair Sir Anthony Cleaver, whose last meeting as Chair of the Partnership's Executive Board will be in June this year after ten years successfully leading CNSRP's programme of work.
NHS bosses have had a contract with a medical centre for almost 20 years without any formal tender arrangements being put in place to ensure value for money, a leaked report has revealed. NHS Highland also made payments to Nairn medical centre without a signed agreement on services in place, it added.
The First Minister confirmed today that the Scottish Government has commissioned a review of corporate governance of the Board of NHS Highland. Nicola Sturgeon stated: "At the tail-end of last year we commissioned a pilot review of corporate governance in NHS Boards which is being led by John Brown, who is the Chair of NHS Glasgow and interim Chair at Tayside, and that started in NHS Highland.
Top Project of the Year 2018, Scotland — Caithness-Moray Electricity Network Reinforcement in the RICS Awards (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). The Caithness-Moray electricity network reinforcement took the top prize after being named winner in the infrastructure category, one of eight in the RICS Awards 2018 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh.
For the 8th year running, Scotland's population has continued to increase and stands at a record high of 5.42 million, according to statistics published today by the National Records of Scotland (NRS). The figures relate to Scotland's population as at 30 June 2017 and show the population continuing to age, with just under one in five people (19%) aged 65 and over, compared to 16% in 2007.
Caithness may not get the soaring temperatures in the next few days but it will be warmer than it has been recently - finally. Still some good advice here for heading off on holiday.
A package of support for farmers and crofters to help address the impact of recent extreme and adverse weather has been announced by Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing. This includes a new £250,000 fund to help farmers offset the cost of retrieving fallen livestock.
The Office for Natioanl Statistics today (18 April 2018) released the inflation figures for March 2018. Main points The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.3% in March 2018, down from 2.5% in February 2018.
