A tractor will visit every primary school in the Scottish Borders on Thursday 9 March to raise awareness of RHET.

RHET has arranged the ‘tractor tour’ to increase the profile of its Scottish Borders arm, RHET Scottish Borders, and to make schools aware of the range of free services the non-profit, educational charity provides in the area such as free farm visits for pupils , classroom talks by local farmers, teaching resources and teacher training.

Eight tractors will visit 62 primary schools, and during each school visit the pupils will be invited to come out to see the tractor and get their photograph taken.

The driver on the tractor will be ready to answer any questions the children may have before heading off to the next school on the tour.

As part of the tractor tour, RHET will be creating a recipe book. Recipes for the book will be gathered from each school, with a focus on the use of produce from the Scottish Borders.

The book will be divided into multiple sections and will feature recipes by celebrity chefs.  Ally McGrath, chef and owner of Osso Restaurant in Peebles, will feature as the main chef in the book. The award-winning chef will be providing one of his recipes and the book’s foreword.

The recipe book will be on sale in May, with the proceeds of each sale going towards continuing the work of RHET in the Borders. The books will be available on the RHET website and also sold at agricultural shows and at some of the primary schools.

Allan Murray, the chairman of RHET Scottish Borders, said, “The tractor tour will make primary school children much more aware of food production and farming in the Scottish Borders. With the help of the recipe book, they will become familiar with what is produced on local farms.”

After the tractor tour, RHET will be offering to arrange for one of their volunteers to visit a classroom to deliver an educational talk. These talks will consist of a detail discussion on food, farming or any other aspect of rural life.

The tractors and freebies for all schools during the tractor tour will be supplied by Rose of Lamancha, Thomas Sherriffs & Co Ltd, Ancroft Tractors, Lloyds Tractors, George Marshall, Kelso & Lothian Harvesters, Rickerby, Henderson Grass Machinery, and Drew Oliver. Thanks also to Harrison & Hetherington Ltd.