SAOS Update Winter 21/22

update

News from, and for, Scotland’s farmer co-ops - Winter 2021/22

Remember this? SAOS Conference Returns to Dunblane!

Our conference 2022 programme is shaping up nicely and we hope you will join us on Thursday 27th January at Dunblane Hydro. We are very excited about the prospect of getting everyone together again and having the buzz of a ‘real’ event.

Our chosen topic for the day is one never far from our minds #workingtogether - and we’ll focus on how, by doing so sustainably, we can shape a future we can all be proud of. We’ll hear about great examples of work already going on we’re involved in and within our membership, some of which there’s more of inside. Our 2022 conference will be about actions, not just words - do join us!

Working Together for a Sustainable Future

Supported by

We’ll hear from Mark Brooking from First Milk on their work with members: Working Together to Achieve Net Zero Through their First4Milk sustainability programme, First Milk has committed to achieving net zero by 2040 (at the latest) and to sequestering an additional 100,000 tonnes of carbon per year through the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by their members with business benefits across the supply chain.

Graham Barr, Pentlands Land Managers Association will tell us about: Working Together to Manage our Environment During the pandemic, farmers in the Pentland Hills Regional Park experienced a surge in problems caused by inappropriate public access. The group formed to find ways to ensure that public access wasn’t detrimental to those who live on and manage the land there and are now exploring other beneficial opportunities working together.

Matt Waldie, of the GrainCo Oat Producer Group, will tell us about: Working Together to Farm Sustainably at Scale LEAF and Quaker share a commitment to helping UK farmers reduce their environmental impact through championing more sustainable, regenerative farming practices. Working together with the GrainCo Oat Producer Group, they are developing a significant opportunity to deliver more sustainably-grown oats to consumers as well as realising significant commercial benefits for their farmer members.

Taking onboard feedback, we’ve ‘upgraded’ our conference lunch to a finger buffet and allowed more time for everyone to enjoy it.

In the afternoon we have three forum sessions - and, again as requested, we’ve built more time in to the schedule, allowing for tea and coffee in each session and 15 minutes for chat, comfort breaks and ‘relocation’ between each session.

As usual, we’ll even keep you right on what you’re doing when!

Forum A Consumer Insights SAOS’s Amanda Brown, Project Director for the SF&D Partnership’s Knowledge Bank, will share the latest findings on key sustainability drivers, current trends and predictions - and we’ll discuss how to make the best use of these.

Forum B Promoting Opps in Food/Farming With help from Scene & Herd, we’ll explore how we maximise opportunities by working better together as an industry, recognising and realising opportunities and embracing a more joined-up approach to actions as well as to communicating consistent messages.

Forum C Data Use - it really is that smart We will share some of the myriad ways the team has been working using data since our last conference to drive sustainability improvements. Discussions will focus on how to get more people involved and benefiting from smart farming, to achieve more efficiency/ sustainability wins.

After the forums, we’ll gather back together for feedback on what we’ve learned and discussion on how we move forward, working together more effectively and sustainably for the future - we want this conference to finish with actions not words.

We’re delighted be joined by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, who we’ll hear from at dinner, so please join us for our pre-dinner drinks reception and the Ed Rainy Brown Award presentation.

After our successful auction last time, we’re passing the auctioneer’s reins to our own Bob Yuill to help raise some funds for RSABI following our meal. From start to finish, it promises to be a belter of a conference - again kindly supported by NFU Mutual. Book now at: https://saosconference2022workingtogetherforasustainablefuture.eventbee.com

Patrick Hughes Joins SAOS to Lead New Agri Exports Project

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We are delighted to announce that Patrick Hughes has joined the SAOS team to begin work on a new project, in collaboration with NFU Scotland, the Agricultural Export Hub, which has been launched to develop new opportunities for the benefit of farmers and growers in Scotland.

The success of the food and drink industry has been one of Scotland’s key growth sectors – domestically and internationally – representing a £15 billion industry, and employing 120,000 people in communities across the whole of Scotland. However, the successes of Scotland’s farming exports have been limited to a small number of products such as seed potatoes. With funding from Scotland Food & Drink, SAOS, in partnership with NFUS, have launched the Scottish Agri Export Hub to focus on the potato, cereal, fruit and vegetable sectors.

The Agri Export Hub will work in collaboration with existing support stakeholders such as Scotland Food & Drink, Scottish Development International and the Scotland Food & Drink In-market Specialist network, to assist in identifying market opportunities for the Scottish agriculture sector.

The purpose of the Hub is to expand the market horizons for primary produce and to seek out markets where a higher return may be possible, to help drive more value across the supply chain. The project will encourage greater collaboration within the sector to support capability building for supplying export markets successfully and sustainably, and to develop longer-term export strategies for agricultural businesses.

Patrick Hughes, the former Head of Potato Export Development at AHDB and former Head of Seafood Scotland, has joined SAOS to drive the initiative forward. Patrick brings more than 25 years of experience across the agri-food sector to deliver this project and will be supported by an NFUS farming steering group.

Patrick said: “I am delighted to be involved in this project to help develop new opportunities for farmers and growers in Scotland. Building capability in the supply chain will help to realise export opportunities, and managing the relationships within the identified export supply chains is also key. There is clear potential to build on the existing platforms in the potato sector and these offer exciting opportunities for cereals, fruit and vegetable producers.”

NFUS Chief Executive, Scott Walker, added: “UK and Scottish Governments have put a lot of resources into opening market access and export promotion. We want to see some of the benefit of these activities coming back to farmers. The Scottish Agricultural Export Hub is intended to realise some of these export market opportunities by linking producers here in Scotland with export opportunities. Diversifying where farmers can sell their products can only help in sustaining Scottish farms and supporting profitable production. This is a new initiative built on a strong partnership delivered by NFUS and SAOS on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership and supported by Scottish Government. We have an opportunity to develop new supply chains and support existing ones.”

Our C2 Network is live!

SAOS’s new initiative to promote collaboration between our co-ops and affiliate members launched in November.

Over seventy participants from across the sector joined the event, chaired by SAOS’s Alan Stevenson, to hear how working together makes a real difference to the range of organisations, businesses and groups that currently support the sector. The pivotal role that the C2Network will play in making this happen featured in a Q & A session.

Speaker, Prof Lorna Dawson from SEFARI noted: “By working together with innovators on the ground, we can collectively rise to the many challenges we currently face in agriculture.” She included climate change and market uncertainty as two of the key areas where research institutes can help stimulate new thinking.

Speaking for agri-tech business, Tom Woolnough from ICENI Earth highlighted the Network’s potential to support start-ups like his own. He identified the key role it would play in providing access to end users as co-innovators and enabling collaboration on tech-focused solutions as they move forward with their work in this field.

Grampian Growers’ Mark Clark expressed his enthusiasm for working with the C2Network and with both new and current partners in finding creative solutions to identified challenges, while Claire Dyce (GG’s Business Development Manager) highlighted the webinar themes for Year 1 on climate change and decarbonisation as being key issues for many co-ops, including her own.

John Hutcheson, SAOS Chair, closed the webinar stressing how important collaboration is in the current climate and how initiatives like this can play a pivotal role in leading a culture of positive change to deliver real practical solutions.

There was general agreement across the group that access to knowledge, new technology and future fit approaches will be crucial in addressing key areas that the sector has identified as priorities going forward. Helen Glass, Project Manager for the C2Network emphasised the wealth of expertise that is available to support the C2Network and the opportunity that exists for some exciting initiatives to be delivered.

The first webinar in early 2022 on Decarbonisation: Strategies on Farm will address alternative strategies for co-ops and farmers to explore.

For info/how to join, contact c2network@saos.coop

In Conversation (resumed) with Chairman, John Hutcheson

saos news and views

In our last issue, we learned that co-operation is in the Hutcheson blood, with John being the fourth generation of co-operators at Leckerstone. We pick up with him now on Climate Change, the next generation, and his ambitions for SAOS. What would you be happy for SAOS to have achieved in three years from now?

I see the first priority for SAOS as getting ourselves on a sustainable financial footing, having income streams that don’t rely on Scottish Government funding. We need a business model going forward that is developing sidelines which should be revenuegenerating, and feeding back in to our core business and funding the provision of cooperative advice, helping co-ops start-up, nurturing existing ones and identifying new opportunities. That’s quite difficult to fund from the membership fees as they are such a small part of our income. Scottish Government funding enables us to do all sorts of work, very good work and very rewarding, but in terms of mine and the board’s goals and priorities, we need to try and diversify the income stream so that we are not so reliant on central funding which is bound to be under pressure now.

If you succeed with that, what are your other, broader goals for your tenure?

Going back to our bread and butter - co-operation at grassroots levels - so much more can be done. There are so many more producers that can be brought into the fold, my ultimate goal would be to have more co-operation, more marketing groups. I think the dairy industry, as an example, is crying out for more collaborative marketing producer organisations to get some power in the market place like we’ve experienced with some of the arable groups. There are many sectors that could benefit from that.

And collaborative working is going to be vital for the changes that are coming with regard to the carbon reduction that we need to achieve. So much is already being done, and I think now everyone accepts that we must get on with it, but it’s so complicated and everyone seems to be pulling in slightly different directions with different schemes and measurement tools. So it’s important to get some kind of consistency, and a verifiable consistency, so we’ve got a scheme that can be trusted. Getting everyone together behind one scheme, even just heading in one direction - working collaboratively on this will be vital for future generations.

And as for future generations, do you see them being more co-operatively minded/better at working together?

I think they need to have some sort of exposure to co-operation to see the real benefits and then want to get involved.

The biggest change in attitude I think is that they have far greater awareness of the climate and the environment.

They are taking climate change very seriously, it’s almost ingrained in them because they’ve grown up with it,whereas for some of us it’s still a relatively new thing. A lot of people are still adapting to the concept that we will have to farm differently and for some farmers it’s going to be very tough.

I think the next generation is more open-minded and open to change than perhaps we are. Without doubt a good way to enable change is to co-operate so we maybe just need to make that link. One of the things that I will really try to push in my term is to try to get more co-operative teaching at Higher Education stage, it’s been a great loss that so many students are not even aware of co-operation. When you see how much they value and support co-ops elsewhere in the world, and the strength of some of these co-ops, it’s seriously impressively. We need to raise awareness of what’s possible through co-operation.

First Milk Launches Regenerative Farming Bonus First Milk has launched a unique digital tool to capture and create regenerative farming plans for each farmer member, linked to a bonus payment.

Members have each been asked to complete a plan by the end of March 2022. These plans will detail their current practices and planned changes to reduce carbon emissions and increase carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

To help make this process easier, a unique digital mapping tool has been developed to enable quick and accurate completion of regenerative plans, providing field-level data.

The new Regenerative Farming Bonus of 0.5ppl will then come into effect from April 1, 2022 for members that have committed to a plan.

This development follows the completion of 11 regenerative farming workshops across the country, which saw more than 300 First Milk members attend, to understand more about the benefits of regenerative

co-ops news

farming principles including soil health, climate resilience, water, plant diversity and soil biology.

Members also have access to video guides about regenerative farming, and a booklet, ‘Regenerating the earth every day’, with information about how these principles can be implemented on farm.

Mark Brooking, Sustainability Director, said: “We’re convinced that dairy farmers can be part of the solution to the climate crisis by adopting regenerative principles that store carbon in soil for the long term. The response from members has been overwhelmingly positive and we will support them as they develop their own regenerative farm plans. We will then test and monitor soil carbon levels across our members’ farms through our partnership with Agricarbon, providing clear, robust data on soil carbon sequestration levels and progress towards net zero as we move forward.” Hear more from Mark at our conference.

All Time Record Profit Share for United Oilseeds Members Break crop specialist co-op United Oilseeds has announced a rise in pre-tax profits to £1,511,249 for the year to end June 2021, up 34% on the previous year.

Also announced was a record profits redistribution payment to its trading members of £440,000, the highest profits redistribution payment United Oilseeds has ever paid to its members (38% higher than the previous year).

Annual turnover was also up, rising by 21 % to £171,973,546 from £142,522,102 the previous year, whilst its net worth rose 11 % to £13,553,754.

Chris Baldwin, United Oilseeds’ Managing Director said: “Over a 12-month trading period which featured the smallest rapeseed area ever planted in the UK, significant economic effects from the Covid pandemic and the UK’s exit from the European Union, United Oilseeds has delivered an outstanding performance with the help and support of its farmer members and staff.”

“We are pleased to announce the record profit share to our farmer members at a time when they are facing huge challenges from increased input costs, labour shortages and economic uncertainty. In the last 15 years, our co-operative has paid back a total of £5.35m to it trading members.”

United Oilseeds’ strong financial performance is reflected by an increase in market share of the UK rapeseed certified seed market - and its share of UK rapeseed crop trading – which have both risen to 30%.

Mr Baldwin went on to highlight some of the reasons why oilseed rape plantings will increase and why farmers should continue to include the crop in their rotation.

“Oilseed rape market prices are high and are likely to remain so. At one point this year, the price touched 700 euros per tonne on the Matif futures market (equivalent to £593.22 per tonne). These prices have certainly helped encourage farmers to grow OSR again, but it is always important to remember that one of the OSR market’s traditional characteristics is volatility.

“Reports so far indicate that this year’s OSR crop is doing very well with good establishment - particularly early drilled rapeseed - which will also help encourage growers to grow OSR,” he continued.

“Another positive factor for oilseed rape is the 41 % increase in winter barley planting this autumn. Winter

co-ops news

Barley is a good early entry for oilseed rape and its area has increased by 128,000 ha, from 312,000 ha last year to 440,000 ha in 2021. Growers favouring early drilling will also find a plentiful supply of over-yeared OSR seed available.”

Over the next few years growers will also have an increasing list of ever-improving OSR varieties, including ones with more stacked traits and the introduction of new “seventh generation” varieties which have many agronomic benefits. Growers also have the opportunity to reduce their risk with United Oilseeds “Produce of Area” contracts, which have no penalties should a grower’s crop fall short of the contracted tonnage, plus the increasing availability of seed breeder’s risk share establishment schemes.

“Growers can further mitigate their risk by selling their crops through marketing pools to shelter against dramatic price swings. For example, our Carte Blanche Pool is likely to deliver an average ex farm price of above £550 per tonne plus quality bonuses for its pool members, which is a very impressive result,” said Mr Baldwin.

UK Oilseed Rape Area and Production United Oilseeds calculates that the UK’s 2021 rapeseed harvested area was 279,099 ha following an estimated crop loss of 5 per cent. For 2022, the expected rapeseed harvested area will be 366,797 ha, assuming another 5% loss on this autumn’s drilling area of 386,102 ha.

“After many years of decline, the UK’s drilled rapeseed area has now begun to increase and we believe it is a trend that will continue. By 2023, we predict the harvested area will reach 450,000 ha, which would be a 23% rise on 2022.” concluded Mr Baldwin.

Tarff Expands Business on Islay - and ‘Let’s Get Employed in Agriculture’ Pilot Go Ahead Tarff Valley recently announced the acquisition of new business premises on Islay, formerly operated by D & L Currie coal merchants, the main suppliers of coal, gas and logs on the island.

The plan is to continue supplying these items whilst also utilising the coal yard to expand the co-op’s operation to stock more product lines and offer customers more choice.

The existing shop premises at Islay House Square will remain. Customers will be able to pick up their smaller agricultural sundries and other essentials from the store, whilst being able to collect larger orders, such as tote bags of feed, pallets of bagged feed, fencing and drainage materials from the newly acquired unit. Delivery of these items can also be arranged. Tarff is delighted to be expanding their presence and product offering on Islay and serving the community in this way.

And as we go to press, excellent news just in that funding support from South of Scotland Enterprise has been received to get Tarff’s newly-developed work experience programme, Let’s Get Employed in Agriculture (LGEIA), up and running!

co-ops news

Royalty and Recognition for Ringlink

Ringlink’s new head office expansion got the royal seal of approval in October when it was officially opened by HRH the Princess Royal.

The expansion of the Cargill Centre should have taken ten months to complete but took two years due to Covid-19 delays.

Ringlink Managing Director, Graham Bruce said that the expansion will support the continued growth of Ringlink and will play an important role in tackling the current labour crisis. He commented: “The Board approved the significant investment to expand the Cargill Centre, doubling the size of the facilities so that we can continue to operate efficiently and strengthen all aspects of the business, with a focus on providing additional value and services that are in the best interests of our membership for the foreseeable future.”

Ringlink Chairman, James Porter, welcomed HRH The Princess Royal to the premises: “We are a pragmatic, practical, hard-working, and dare I say it, an outspoken bunch on occasion. It is therefore a great pleasure and honour to welcome such a kindred spirit here to open the new office today.”

The newly-enhanced Cargill Centre, together with the acquisition of the land-based training centre (which we reported on in our Autumn SAOS Update) sees just over £1million invested by this forward thinking co-op to offer skills development opportunities for the local community and throughout Scotland. The extended facility will become a hub with modern training rooms offering an extensive range of short courses, to all levels of learners in various sectors.

Also in October, Ringlink Scotland was rewarded for its efforts in developing young people for the rural sector, when it lifted the Education Award at the national ‘Helping it Happen Awards’ for the Land-Based Pre-Apprenticeship Programme.

Eleven businesses and community groups from across rural Scotland won awards at a live, virtual ceremony, for their work on combatting climate change, habitat restoration and providing training and jobs. Organised by Scottish Land & Estates, and sponsored by GLM, the Helping It Happen Awards have become firmly established in recognising the role of estates, rural businesses and community groups who are helping rural Scotland thrive.

Scottish Farming Must Not Be “Easy Target on Emissions” - ANM In the run up to COP26, ANM Group launched a new campaign highlighting the hugely positive steps by Scottish red meat producers to reduce and offset emissions. With heightened focus on farming’s emissions and global temperature rises, ANM is standing up for its huge member and client base and illustrating the confidence and success in the Scottish red meat sector, which is built on farming systems that are sustainable, traceable, and rich in environmental provenance.

Grant Rogerson, Chief Executive of ANM Group, said: “The entire rural economy of Scotland depends on the continuing success of our industry, including our red meat sector - this debate is the front-line in securing a sustainable farming sector for future generations.

“As a group, ANM is determined to do everything necessary to stand up for the sector. Like many of our members, ANM has been frustrated by a series of illinformed reports and misinformation about the impact of livestock farming on the environment. As one of the largest co-operatives in the UK, we have ethical and sustainable operations in our DNA, and a responsibility to do everything necessary to support our members when they face inaccurate criticism.

“We aim to support all efforts to reduce climate change - that is at the core of our co-operative values - but we can and should do so without negatively impacting on one of Scotland’s great success stories - our red meat

production and the thousands of livelihoods that depend on it.”

“Too often, Scottish red meat production is misrepresented as a heavy emitter to global emissions, when in fact, this is simply not the case,” he continued.

“Figures show that Scottish livestock production accounts for less than 6% of the UK’s net carbon emissions, compared to 27% caused by transport and 21% by power generation and supply.”

“Scottish farmers and crofters have worked hard over many years to improve their sustainability, with sensible progressive change, and Scottish red meat is produced to world-leading environmental and welfare standards. It is a shocking misrepresentation to suggest that statistics on, for example, intensive livestock production units in the USA are in any way representative of our carbon footprint.

“Instead of advocating reduced red meat consumption, we should be making the case for a transfer of consumption from carbon intensive foreign production to Scottish produce founded on high environmental standards.

“Scottish red meat is the green alternative to sourcing from out-with our country and off shoring the problem.”

The campaign is set to continue through ANM’s 150th anniversary year, and will include promotion of members’ interests through the media and with politicians.

New LEAF Marque Partnership With PepsiCo’s Quaker Oat Growers

co-ops news

Exploring New Market Opportunities for Scottish Shellfish Farmers

supply chains

PepsiCo, one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies, is to fund the LEAF membership and support the achievement of LEAF Marque certification of its 300+ Quaker Oats farmers over the next two years to encourage regenerative agriculture. Quaker Oats are grown and milled in the UK, with 75% of the farmers within a 100-mile radius of their Cupar mill.

LEAF Marque is an environmental assurance system run by global farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), which requires farmers to take a rigorous approach to delivering more sustainable farming. Through the principles of Integrated Farm Management, crops grown at LEAF Marque-accredited farms support an improved environment for biodiversity, soil health, water and air quality, alongside the production of quality food such as oats.

As part of the partnership, PepsiCo and LEAF will provide Quaker farmers with tools and support as they work towards becoming LEAF Marque-certified and and put health and sustainability at the centre of their operations.

Caroline Drummond, CEO of LEAF, said: “LEAF and Quaker share a commitment to helping farmers reduce their environmental impact through championing more sustainable, regenerative farming practices in the UK. By working together, we have a significant opportunity to deliver more sustainably-grown oats to consumers, while the industry plays its part towards reaching net zero and enhancing biodiversity.”

Matt Waldie, member of GrainCo’s oat producert group who manages Gilston Mains, has been growing Quaker oats for a decade, close to Quaker’s mill at Cupar. He commented: “Growing Quaker Oats has always been a perfect match for our farm. The grain fits well into our crop rotation, and working with a local partner – only six miles away – means our crops barely have to travel before they are turned into the oats people enjoy every day.”

We’ll hear more from Matt on the partnership at our conference in January.

In September, Crown Estate Scotland published a report looking at possible ways in which Scotland’s shellfish producers can access new global markets and deliver lasting economic benefits for communities.

The report, prepared by SAOS and its partners Scottish Shellfish, New Nutrition Business and ThinkAqua, highlighted three areas that may offer opportunities for growth and diversification: • UK retail and foodservice sectors • The potential for nutritional pharmaceutical products • Possible markets for carbon off-setting or other ‘green investment’ opportunities Alan Stevenson, SAOS’s Supply Chain Development Director, said: “Among the key findings is a clear scope for the future growth and expansion of the Scottish shellfish sector, both in existing retail and foodservice markets and in new areas such as carbon offsetting, bioactive products and green investment. Carbon sequestration may be “The possibilities outlined in this report include food comparable to seaweed and forestry and mussels have, production, as well as a host of other potential markets by far, the lowest carbon footprint of any animal protein. for Scottish shellfish growers to tap in to. We know that There are also great opportunities for collaboration, diversification can be a key part of future-proofing a and potential exists to triple sea production and sales of sector, and this can help deliver real economic benefits to mussels to £60m by the 2030s”. rural communities around Scotland.”

The sector can play a big role in supporting the economic Dr Nick Lake, CEO of the Association of Scottish Shellfish development of Highland and island communities and in Growers, said: “The Scottish shellfish cultivation industry building Scotland’s blue economy. continues to develop both the scale and quality of production based on available natural resources and The report builds on previous work by Crown Estate rural enterprise. While traditionally supplying local Scotland such as a study on critical mass for viable markets, increasingly demand for such entirely natural farmed mussel businesses, and work is underway products has been more widespread and we’ve seen exploring possible opportunities for larger scale shellfish new opportunities emerging which also complement the and seaweed farming operations in Scotland. challenges of delivering climate change resilience.

Alex Adrian, Head of Aquaculture for Crown Estate “The sector has always been highly innovative in Scotland, said: “Scotland is known around the world developing production in harmony with the natural for excellent food and drink and now more than ever marine environment and the new market opportunities we want to support Scottish producers. We know that which have been identified within this report clearly shellfish farming provides huge potential and can indicate that such an approach will continue to deliver form part of Scotland’s green economic recovery as a benefits for businesses and the coastal communities.” sustainable and low environmental impact product.

supply chains

Wholesale Local Food Project The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA), with SAOS and Scotland Food & Drink has embarked on an ambitious project to help its members and the wider sector to engage with more local producers and help them to access new markets. The project is being delivered on behalf of the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, supported by Scottish Government.

The project, guided by high-profile individuals from national and regional wholesale businesses across Scotland, is exploring how wholesalers currently connect with local food producers, manufacturers and suppliers, identifying key barriers and establishing what is needed to increase local sourcing and distribution capability.

SAOS’s Fergus Younger said: “I’ve been struck by the enthusiasm for helping suppliers better understand the wholesale sector. It’s an important initiative designed to deliver tangible benefits for both Scottish suppliers and wholesalers, at a time when everyone needs all the help they can get to keep wheels moving and find new markets as we emerge from the pandemic. We know that many food and drink companies - of all sizes – don’t fully understand the wholesale sector and, crucially, how their businesses could benefit.”

A survey conducted by the SWA earlier this year showed that its members’ current local/Scottish food offering is around 30% of sales. Julie Dunn, President of SWA and Operations Director at Dunn’s Food and Drinks, highlighted: “SWA’s aspiration is to agree a target for increasing and benchmarking against this figure.

With the wholesale channel being worth £2.9bn [precovid], increasing this, even by a further 10%, would be a significant boost to food and drink producers in Scotland.”

SF&D’s Helen Wallace added: “From the research, we’ve identified the best ways for the wholesale sector to connect with producers, and a programme of activity is now being rolled out, including videos, handbooks, case studies, and wholesaler and producer workshops.”

There’s been high interest, with around 30 individuals taking part in the wholesale launch workshop and over 90 participating in the producers’ inaugural event, demonstrating the interest to develop closer working relationships and access new markets for local food.

In-depth workshops get underway in early 2022, followed by a Meet the Buyer opportunity in March.

Individual support will also be available for businesses.

Virginia Sumsion of Food From Argyll said: “We are very pleased this project will help build greater collaboration with wholesalers and give us new routes to market which we’ve been seeking for a considerable time.”

Participating in the workshops and hearing directly from the SWA will allow producers to learn about this route to market and the benefits, savings and opportunities it provides. It will offer an ideal stepping-stone to the Meet the Buyer events to follow.

In addition to the workshops, case studies have been developed from Summer Harvest Oils, Mackie’s of Scotland and A.G. Barr, who share their stories on how they ‘delivered growth through wholesale’.

With the initiative aligning to Scotland’s recovery action plans, as well as Scottish Government objectives of creating sustainable local supply chains, the initiative will be looking at the challenge of improving connectivity and logistics to help consumers access more local food across Scotland.

We’ll keep you updated and will hear more from the project in due course.

MIXED - Efficient and Resilient Mixed Farming and Agroforestry

collaboration

The MIXED project is a consortium of 19 partners from ten members countries, funded by the EU Horizon2020 programme. The project is exploring the benefits across member countries of mixed farming and agroforestry systems (MIFAS) to climate, environment and society in general.

The partner countries all have links with farmer networks of conventional and organic farmers to link with the project.

Within the UK, the partners are SAOS, SRUC and the University of Aberystwyth, and the farmer networks include the groups of farmers involved with SAOS’s east/west grazing project and SRUC’s winter grazing of cereals project.

Between them, the different farmer networks have a wide spread of knowledge and experience, making it ideal for knowledge exchange, and the project will create the opportunity not only for farmers to learn from each other, but also for researchers to learn and generate new knowledge from research done together with the farmers.

Initial meetings have been held with the Scottish networks to understand the types of mixed agriculture undertaken and the scale of the projects.

The focus of the project is to generate best practice resources in Mixed Farming and Agroforestry Systems (MIFAS) that can influence: • Thinking by the co-creation of knowledge and innovations • Farmers’ decision making to ease the transition to these systems • Policy makers, by demonstrating the multiple benefits from the introduction of these systems and the supporting policies that are necessary for MIFAS to flourish.

innovation

Study Confirms Potential for Re-introduction of Sugar Beet

Jim Booth shares his thoughts following the completion of the feasibility study into the possible reintroduction of sugar beet to Scotland. The study, which also involved Anna Robertson and Robert Logan from the SAOS Co-op Team, was in partnership with the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and SAC Consulting, and was commissioned by Scottish Enterprise.

“The re-introduction of sugar beet into Scotland could provide the essential renewable feedstock for accelerating growth of Scotland’s industrial biotechnology sector, allowing it to de-carbon by shifting from fossil fuels, whilst also providing new opportunities for Scottish arable farmers.

Market Demand The rationale behind the study was three-fold: to manufacture bioethanol locally, instead of relying on imports; to safeguard the future of the Scottish chemical manufacturing industry; and to develop the Scottish Bioeconomy by introducing a feedstock which can be used in a wide range of biobased processes (e.g. bioplastics, antibiotics and therapeutic proteins).

The focus of the study was principally on Scotland’s chemical manufacturing industry, largely based in Grangemouth, alongside the only Scottish refinery. The shift to E10 blended petrol this autumn effectively doubled Scotland’s ethanol demand overnight (currently all the bioethanol for transport fuel blending is imported from France). Growing sugar beet could create a new local supply chain, not only safeguarding the future of the Scottish chemicals sector, but also providing substantial carbon savings.

Production considerations There is no doubt we can grow sugar beet in Scotland. It’s currently being successfully grown as a feedstock for a number of AD plants. Sugar beet grows best on deep fertile soils but is more tolerant of heavier, less fertile soils than potatoes. Its reintroduction would provide Scottish growers with an alternative profitable break crop on land that might otherwise only be suitable for combinable crops.

An obvious downside of the crop is its late harvest (October through to February) however, modern 6-row selfpropelled harvesters with low pressure flotation tyres have greatly reduced the risk of soil structure damage.

Admittedly yields under Scottish conditions would be below the English average of 75t/ha, due to our lower temperatures and shorter growing season, but a 60-65t/ha crop should be achievable. A major risk for growers is virus yellow. The ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments has seen the rise of virus yellow which can devastate yields by as much as 80%.

Potential Processing Location Sugar beet is a bulky crop with a high-water content (75%), which imposes limits on its economic transport distance – a maximum of 30-miles from the central processing plant. A port location is also desirable to allow the flexibility of importing alternative products when sugar beet is unavailable, suggesting the optimum location would be Dundee in terms of production.

Conclusion To have an internationally-competitive processing plant, financial modelling showed the minimum size of plant would need to be 1M tonnes, requiring 16,000 ha of sugar beet. Creating a new industrial scale plant is a big ask.

One thing is sure, in terms of co-ordinating growers and ensuring Scottish sugar beet production was as efficient as possible, the only realistic way is through the formation of a producer co-op. Whether the project gets off the ground will largely depend on government policy to stimulate domestic capability, or to continue to rely on imports.”

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