Files relating to the Edinburgh Centre for Rural Economy, 1986-1993

The Edinburgh Centre for Rural Economy (ECRE) was instituted in October 1947. It was the result of the vision of Sir Stephen Watson, then Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy of the University of Edinburgh, of a large rural science park on land acquired by the University for the purpose around the Bush Estate, near Penicuik. The two founder organisations were the East of Scotland College of Agriculture and the University Department of Agriculture, with support from the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland (DAFS). Some ten autonomous research organisations were to set up laboratories and field stations on the Bush Estate, for which the ECRE conducted factoring duties and facilitated the sharing of resources and research. In 1989 the ECRE was superceded by the Edinburgh Centre for Rural Research, who fulfilled a similiar role (minus the factoring duties, which were taken over by the University of Edinburgh). In 2012, the ECRR became the Scottish Consortium for Rural Research (SCRR) to reflect its national membership.