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Lanark-Based Consultant Wins SAC Award

SAC News Release Ref. No: 09N39
Published: 14 Jul 2009

Lanark-based SAC Farm Business Consultant Grant Conchie is an award winner. At the recent SAC Graduation ceremony at the University of Glasgow he was presented with the Sir R C Stewart Prize for what was described as “his contribution to the advancement of farming through effort and excellence in outreach activities”. The award is named after a former President of SAC Governors.

The citation described Grant Conchie “as a Farm Business Services Consultant who achieves a significant and challenging workload of everyday technical and business consultancy and yet is also a consummate trainer/facilitator.  He has established a valued and productive working relationship with LANTRA in Scotland."

In presenting the award, SAC Principal and Chief Executive Bill McKelvey described Grant as “one of the highest performers in Farm Business Services.  He has a manner that gives clients confidence in his advice and the knowledge that Grant will complete his commitments on time and to a high standard. He is an excellent example of how a consultant can operate to high standards and deliver the needs of the farming industry."

Grant Conchie has also managed to secure funding from other sources (South Lanarkshire Council) to facilitate wider community projects such as the Catchment SRDP collaboration in 2008/09 which examined the potential for collaborative SRDP applications within the region. This resulted in additional consultancy activity from the individual businesses involved.

In 2007/08 Grant delivered the pilot “Farming Succession Programme”, with a high degree of success. The legal and financial issues surrounding succession planning for a family business can be difficult to address, especially where family tensions arise. This often means succession planning is ignored by the business and, as Grant recognised, that inactivity can damage the business, and the wider industry unless addressed.

The following year Grant worked closely with LANTRA to develop a submission to the Scottish Government seeking support for “next generations” training in 3 regions. This training can be of immense benefit to the recipients, a proportion of whom receive 1:1 advice on succession planning for their business.

In the current programme, some 90 families will receive support and information on succession planning through organised workshops and seminars. The programme has been widely recognised and praised, largely thanks to the effort of Grant Conchie with both SAC and LANTRA credited with the ability to tackle this difficult issue.

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News Release Contacts

SAC Contact

Mr Grant Conchie
Senior Agricultural Consultant (Area Manager)
SAC (Scottish Agricultural College) Work SAC Consulting, 57 High Street,
Lanark
ML11 7LF
TelWork 01555 662562
Fax 01555 663166

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News Release Issued By

Mr Ken Rundle
Senior Communications Officer
SAC (Scottish Agricultural College) Work SAC, King's Buildings, West Mains Road,
Edinburgh
EH9 3JG
TelWork 0131 535 4196

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