Glensaugh research highlights
At Glensaugh, the James Hutton Institute is pioneering climate-positive farming through innovative research and sustainable land management.
Our diverse projects encompass agroforestry, peatland restoration, renewable energy, and biodiversity conservation, all aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing ecosystem resilience. By integrating scientific research with practical applications, Glensaugh serves as a living laboratory, demonstrating transformative approaches to agriculture that benefit both the environment and rural communities.
Explore our research highlights to see how we’re shaping the future of sustainable farming:
Agroforestry is a land management system which combines livestock grazing and forestry – the old experimental system at Glensaugh has been in place since 1988; and the new one since 2023.
We are assessing whether blanket bog restoration can aid in protecting or enhancing recovery from the impacts of nitrogen deposition.
FARM TREE: balancing farm and landscape-scale demands for integrating trees on agricultural landF ARM TREE is funded by the UKRI Future of UK.
Testing the natural Capital Protocol in an upland farm in Scotland: The Glensaugh case study
This research is investigating how innovative grassland management, combining plant species diversification with rotational grazing, can reduce GHG emissions and produce multiple benefits for livestock, biodiversity and climate resilience.
This research compares the impacts of heather moorland managed by muirburn versus by brushcutting. This trial has focussed on studying early changes in carbon stocks, plant litter decomposition and soil nutrient availability.
This long-term experiment was set up in 2005 to examine above- and below-ground processes operating during succession from moorland to woodland.
This project aims to better quantify the impacts of upland peatland / blanket bog restoration on carbon and water dynamics.
OurSmartFarm is a new two-way data exchange and simulation modelling research platform serving as a bridge between farmers and scientists to help resolve the challenge of meeting multiple production and environmental objectives which requires a better understanding of the key factors limiting crop yield and quantification of the within-field spatial variation.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) have been promoted as a way to help address these emergencies and support Scotland’s green recovery.
This long-term experiment is tracking how pine trees grown from seed from Caledionan pinewoods across Scotland respond to climate change, pests and diseases.
This experiment is investigating whether increasing the number of plant species in grazed grasslands can help other biodiversity and increase the quality of the forage.
VisitGlensaugh is a scoping study accumulating understandings of what the farm has to offer consumers, tourists and other visitors by building on the Glensaugh story, past, present and future.
