Hi I'm
Ewan Johnston

I am a Principal Consultant based in the Thainstone office providing agricultural consultancy services in Aberdeenshire (covering most of River Don & Ythan catchment areas).  I have over 25 years of experience and work with a wide range of farming and rural business clients, providing technical (crop and livestock), financial & business management, subsidy, agri–environmental and organic farming advice. This can either be as one to one advice, writing articles, delivering talks, teaching students, facilitating groups or supporting staff as I’m FBAASS, BASIS and FACTS accredited.

My career with SAC Consulting started in Shetland, and then Morayshire before moving to Aberdeenshire, which has provided me with a good understanding of agricultural systems throughout Scotland from hill, upland and crofting livestock based systems to lowland arable systems.

A demand for organic farming advice in the 2000’s led me to study for my MSc in Organic Farming, and this knowledge has enabled me to utilise a holistic approach to farming and grassland (clover based) systems whether clients are farming conventionally, organically or regeneratively, with a focus on soil and nutrient management.  I am also on the Scottish Organic Producers Association (SOPA) technical advisory committee and teach students studying organic farming at SRUC.

I’ve recently undertaken Carbon Literacy training to help provide context and a focus to farmers who are doing Carbon Audits to help them improve their efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint.

Outwith work I also run a small beef and sheep farm in partnership with my wife and am a past Chairman of the Royal Northern Countryside Initiative (RNCI) teaching schoolchildren about food and farming in North East Scotland, as well as a past participant of the Scottish Enterprise’s Rural Leadership Program.