The sale of a teaching farm will not impact further on education at a Fife college, it has been claimed.
The Elmwood Campus Farm, which used to provide agricultural education to students, is being sold off following the transfer of teaching resources to West Lothian.
It is on the market at just under £1.9 million and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), the operators of the Cupar site, say that the farm had been redundant following a merger three years ago.
A spokesperson for SRUC said: “The farm was put on the market for sale on September 1.
“The agricultural programmes that were taught there ceased in 2011, prior to the merger of Elmwood, Oatridge and Barony Colleges with the Scottish Agricultural College to create Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).
“A farm manager continues to be based on site and will be managing the land and farm until a sale takes place.
“At the time of the merger, all the agriculture teaching provision that had been provided at Elmwood transferred to Oatridge campus while, at the same time, greenkeeping courses transferred from Oatridge to Elmwood.
“This strategic decision allowed students to access quality specialist resources on each of the respective campuses and furthermore allowed for focused capital investment.”
Elmwood College, as it was known in 2012, merged with Oatridge, Barony and the Scottish Agricultural College three years ago.
Promises were maintained by the Elmwood board that land-based education would remain a priority.
The farm itself features land and agricultural buildings, as well as a number of homes.
The estate is being offered for sale as a whole or as seven smaller lots.
Keen to emphasise the continued importance of such courses to Elmwood, the spokesperson added: “Our campus in Cupar continues to provide a number of land-based courses in its curriculum which include gamekeeping, rural skills, countryside management, internationally recognised golf management and greenkeeping, and animal care.
“SRUC remains committed to providing land-based education and our Elmwood campus is very much part of that strategy.”