How it has created opportunities for new entrants to farming through its publicly owned land.

The Scottish Government has created a notable amount of opportunities for new entrants into farming and crofting on publicly owned land. This has been spearheaded by the coordinating efforts of the Farming Opportunities for New Entrants (FONE) Group. The FONE Group membership has key public body representatives including Forestry and Land Scotland, Scottish Ministers’ Estate, Scottish Water and Crown Estate Scotland to name a few.One of its core functions is to get public bodies around the table to explore what opportunities they can offer new entrants. FONE Group members publicise opportunities where they can and promote the positive impact of new entrant stories to the likes of private estates and owner occupiers in Scotland.More than 80 new entrants have been given opportunities on over 8,000 hectares of publicly owned land, due to the efforts of the FONE Group.Also, the Scottish Land Matching Service (SLMS), has facilitated over 300 individuals and formally matched over 50 joint-ventures, some of which includes publicly owned land.