Led by the Scottish Crofting Federation in partnership with NICRE, Wild Streams is a programme of coaching, support and peer networking for a group of women crofters across Scotland to further their innovation in agriculture and enterprise. Wild Streams launched in January 2026 and is funded by the Scottish Government.
The name ‘Wild Streams’ was suggested by the women themselves and reflects the twists and turns of their personal and professional journeys, and their commitment to knowledge and support flowing out into their communities.
The Wild Streams network began as part of the GRASS CEILING academic research project, funded by Horizon Europe, to better understand and support women innovators in agriculture.
The Scottish Government supported the GRASS CEILING Living Lab in Scotland, and continues to support the Wild Streams programme, signalling their ongoing commitment to rural women’s innovation across the country.
This phase marks a transition from academic project to a business network initiative. Wild Streams aims to expand the existing network of crofting women through a peer-led support and coaching programme that reflects the participants’ ambitions:
The Wild Streams programme evolved from a network of crofting women who were brought together as part of GRASS CEILING, a €2.8m project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme.
GRASS CEILING aimed to increase the number of socio-ecological innovations led by women in agriculture, and to empower rural women. NICRE and CRE led the UK ‘Living Lab’ in Scotland, which was one of nine Labs set up in countries across Europe.
In partnership with the Scottish Crofting Federation, the Lab explored attitudes to innovation in the Highlands and Islands area, providing women with a set of tools to support their ideas and drive future innovations across a three-year programme.
When the GRASS CEILING project ended, the women engaged in the Scottish Living Lab worked with the Scottish Crofting Federation and NICRE to secure funding to maintain the network, and develop it into an innovation coaching programme for crofting women across Scotland.
I’m Head of Business and Innovation at NICRE. With 25 years working in rural business support in a variety of roles from practical environmental projects, supporting businesses to start, grow and export as well as training both businesses and community organisations, I bring a wide range of practical and applied experience to NICRE. My role is to engage with the wide range of organisations, businesses and stakeholders operating in rural areas to promote the work of NICRE, to help them find the support that they need to grow and to provide a range of training and best practice sharing events. I also support the Living Lab innovation projects, supporting organisations and communities to get involved and disseminating their findings to interested parties. As someone who lives, and raises a family in a rural community, the work of NICRE provides an exciting opportunity to play a part in shaping the future of those communities and helping to tap into their natural ability for innovation and extend their business talents for a sustainable future.
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