Preview
15 June 2017
The Royal Highland Show
7
Realising your ambition A Scottish farm has doubled its turnover thanks to a rural leadership programme By William Peakin Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have joined forces to give rural businesses in the Highlands and Islands an opportunity to join the Rural Leadership Programme. This year’s programme will see 15 Highlands and Islands businesses join 45 businesses from other areas of Scotland for the 13-day programme. The programme started in 2006 and since then has supported over 450 rural leaders to help them create additional wealth through leading, team working, networking, influencing and driving ambition. Independent evaluation of the Rural Leadership Programme shows that it is having a direct and positive impact on the rural economy. “I came away realising that my wife and I had a good, diverse farming business - washing, packing and processing our freshly grown produce - but that we could take our 430-acre farm based at Lunan Bay a lot further,” said Andrew Stirling, a previous programme participant and owner of Stirfresh.
“My wife and I had a good, diverse, business but we could take our farm a lot further” Andrew Stirling
To grow they decided to invest £150,000 in equipment, allow them to supply to retail. They began supplying Aldi with fresh soup packs and, within six months, Maris Piper potatoes. At the same time, they began supplying over 850 schools with potatoes, fruit and vegetables in Tayside, Fife, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. The company is also providing pre-cooked baked potatoes to Aldi, along with four new ‘prep veg’ lines and five new lines into Lidl. In two years, turnover has increased from £2.8m to more than £5m and they have plans to undergo a £1m expansion of their premises over the next two years. The Rural Leadership Programme is delivered on behalf of Scottish Enterprise by SAC Consulting and is aimed at business managers and employees from rural businesses who have a desire to develop their leadership skills and grow their business. These include farmers, vets, estate managers, tourism managers, and managers from processing and supply businesses. “Rural industries are constantly facing new challenges, having to adapt to new technology and public policy, both in the UK and internationally. That’s why we’re opening this year’s programme to Highlands and Islands businesses as it’s essential that our rural leaders, wherever they are in Scotland, are equipped with the necessary skills to help them realise their ambitions,” said Julian Pace, head of rural at Scottish Enterprise. “This programme provides rural businesses with the skills and networks to help them overcome barriers, challenge the status quo through continuous innovation and meet likeminded people who can play a part in ensuring that our rural industries continue to make a vital contribution to the Scottish economy.” Douglas Cowan, Director of Strengthening Communities at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, added: “Opening up this fantastic opportunity to become a pan-Scotland programme ensures business leaders acquire, develop and apply a broad range of personal leadership skills that are important for the sustainability and development of a prosperous rural Scotland. We’ve had a high level of interest from businesses in the Highlands and Islands area and we’re urging enterprises to come forward to register their desire to be part of this excellent leadership programme.” Companies wishing to register their interest or ask questions about the programme should contact Julia Latto, Scottish Enterprise Project Manager on julia.latto@scotent.co.uk
Generations of expertise get the creative treatment One of Scotland’s most iconic breeds, the Clydesdale, has been unveiled as the hero image for the 2017 Royal Highland Show following the success of last year’s Morag the Highland Cow. Jennifer, has been bred by the esteemed Clydesdale breeder Ronnie Black from Newton of Collessie Farm, Fife. Jennifer is the fourth generation of Best in Breed
at the Royal Highland Show with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother having each being awarded the prestigious rosette. Building on the ‘Generations of the Country’s Best’ creative, Ronnie and Jennifer’s journey has been captured on a short film detailing the care and expertise that goes into creating the country’s best.
A farming showcase Thousands around Scotland get a chance to see where their food comes from By William Peakin More than 75% of Scotland’s land mass is under agricultural production, with the country home to over one million head of beef cattle, around eight million sheep, producing 4,600 tonnes of strawberries and 131,000 tonnes of oilseed rape grown for oil used for cooking and industrial purposes. But despite Scotland’s agricultural abundance, in 2016, a LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) survey found that one in five visitors who attended the organisation’s flagship Open Farm Sunday event had never been on a farm before. Open Farm Sunday celebrated its 12th anniversary last weekend, as farms throughout Scotland invited people to learn more about how their food is produced and meet the farmers who care for our countryside, day in, day out.More than 350 farms around the UK opened their farm gates, all of them intent on showcasing farming and food production, giving the public an opportunity to understand
more about how and why farmers do what they do. Each farm offered something different, but activities include going on a farm walk, watching the milking, feeling the texture of sheep’s wool, smelling the fields of home grown crops, listening to the birds, hearing the tractors as they prepare the land or tasting fresh fruit straight from the vines. Scottish Co-ordinator Rebecca Dawes has been involved in Open Farm Sunday since it was first introduced, opening her family farm on ten occasions and supporting the campaign in Scotland since 2013. “There is a real appetite in Scotland for Open Farm Sunday with over 20,000 people visiting farms across Scotland during 2016’s event,” said Dawes. ““We know the impact of the day is helping both the consumer and industry with 91% noting that they appreciated farmers more because of their experience on this one-day. 73% went one step further and confirmed they would actively look to buy British produce. “It is incredibly important that we help the public discover and understand the world of farming. I’m sure many would be fascinated to hear that there are approximately four million egg-producing hens in Scotland providing us with over 853 million eggs annually. As a country, Britain
consumes 11.7 billion eggs per year, but only 12% of these are purchased direct from the farm, butcher or small independent. “Therefore, a staggering 88% are selecting their eggs straight from the supermarket shelves with little or no knowledge about how those chickens have been reared. Open Farm Sunday provides the opportunity to see what the hens eat, where they graze, find out how many eggs they lay each day, where the eggs are sold and maybe pick up some good tips on how to cook this staple food.” Most of the events are free to attend or ask for just a small donation towards charity, and are widely spread across Scotland. The success of Open Farm Sunday has been achieved through collaboration with sponsors, industry organisations and the hundreds of dedicated farmers and their helpers who put on such great events. In Scotland LEAF is delighted to work with a range of organisations including Quality Meat Scotland, NFU Scotland and RHET (The Royal Highland Education Trust). Principal sponsors of Open Farm Sunday 2017 included AHDB, Arla, Asda, BASF, Co-op, Defra, Farmers Weekly, Frontier Agriculture, LEAF Marque, Marks & Spencer, National Farmers Union, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose.