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Co Operation Pays off for SAC Students
Felled logs (opens in new window)
Four SAC students ideas for helping Borders farmers capitalise on the biomass market have won them a trip to Mondragon, in the Basque Country. Mondragon is renowned for its co-operative economy.
The winning quartet, all on the SAC Rural Business Management degree course in Edinburgh, were taking part in a national competition run by Co-operative Education Trust Scotland (CETS) in partnership with Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS).
Douglas Mathison (22) from Cardrona, Alasdair Brooks (21) from Hexham worked with Hilary Bennie (21) from Thornhill, Stirling and Hawick man Andrew Tullie (21). They prepared a 'Borders Farm Forestry Co-op' marketing plan to help farmers and landowners recycle waste wood and timber into woodchip and saw logs for domestic and commercial heating.
As well as generating additional revenues, the scheme helps forestry management and contributes to national renewable energy targets. It meets the competitions brief in offering an nitiative that could add real value to Scotland's economy.
"It was a big surprise to win but we're really excited about going," said Douglas Mathison.
"Demand for woodchip boilers in homes is pushing up the price of biomass and making it more attractive for farmers to use their woodland in this way. By joining forces, farmers can benefit from economies of scale in clearing, processing and marketing wood that might otherwise rot on the forest floor."
CETS is a charitable education trust that promotes co-operative enterprise across all levels of Scottish education. CDS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Enterprise set up to grow the contribution of co-operative and employee owned business models to Scotland's economy
SAC’s BA (Hons) in Rural Business Management is a unique qualification offered vat the Edinburgh and Aberdeen campuses. It is a Business Management qualification and students can specialise in agriculture, enterprise or animal. Applications are still open for the academic year starting September 2011 and students should contact Doreen Hislop, Programme Leader at Doreen.hislop@sac.ac.uk for further information.