Launch event: Future Farming East Lothian

*We have had a huge amount of interest in this event and as a result have increased ticket numbers. We ask people to only sign up for these extra tickets if they are a farmer or land manager.* 

We invite farmers and landowners across East Lothian to the launch event of Future Farming East Lothian (FFEL). FFEL will be a cluster (network) of farmers that looks to support farming, business and nature in a changing climate.

What and why

The Scottish Government is supporting the development of a multi-year Scotland-wide project called Farm Cluster Connections for knowledge exchange around more climate resilient and nature friendly approaches to farming that aim to retain or boost business profitability. Eight initial cluster areas are being set up, one of which is focused on East Lothian.

Balanced Horizon, as an independent charity already working collaboratively with landowners and farmers across East Lothian, will lead and coordinate the East Lothian cluster, in partnership with the East Lothian Climate Hub.

We aim to pull together the wealth of good work already taking place across East Lothian and explore how we can learn from each other to address challenges, identify practical solutions and highlight where extra support is needed. 

We are well aware that farming businesses currently face many challenges in uncertain economic times. We hope the establishment of an effective cluster network for East Lothian, a form of support that is already operating successfully in many parts of England and Wales, will create a forum at a local scale to enable the exchange of practical knowledge around good practice, valuable interventions, and useful external support. This might be around addressing changes to weather patterns, the health of our soils, water management, food security, farm support programmes, natural capital investment or farm profitability. 

We will bring in specialist experts where useful but we would ideally like discussions to be driven by network members. This means you can have direct influence over the areas you would find most valuable. Over time we hope the FFEL Network will encourage learning and knowledge creation and strengthen links with others in your local area.

Launch event details

Our first introductory event will take place at Sunnyside Farm at 6:30pm - 8.30pm on Wednesday 28th January 2026. This event will be a chance to hear about your experiences in East Lothian, what challenges you face and what themes you would like FFEL focus on to make the cluster supportive for farms, business and nature across the county.

David Cunningham, a bio-agronomist and Director of Dods of Haddington, will join us to talk about regenerative farming to boost nature and farm profitability.

Food will be provided.