SAOS Update - Spring 2022

update

News from, and for, Scotland’s farmer co-ops - Spring 2022

‘Last chance’ to book for SAOS Conference - now 31st March Bookings have been rolling in for our rearranged conference 2022 which will now take place at the end of March this year instead of our usual late January slot. If you haven’t signed up and can make the date, do it now!

We are sorry to ‘lose’ some of our regular farmer member attendees due to the date coinciding with an intensely busy period for many, but we are delighted that bookings are looking really healthy and things are shaping up nicely for a truly memorable event at Dunblane Hydro. To say we are very excited about the prospect of getting everyone together again and having the buzz of a ‘real’ event is an understatement!

Our theme for this year is always topical - #workingtogether - but we’ll be focusing specifically on how, by doing so sustainably, we can shape a future we can all be proud of. We believe that there is no ‘one’ solution - there are in fact thousands, and we’ll hear about great examples of work that’s going on that we’re involved in and within our membership.

Our aim is for delegates to come away from this year’s conference with actions, not just words - do join us!

Our key speakers are: • Mark Brooking from First Milk who will speak about the programme of work they’re undertaking with members: Working Together to Achieve Net Zero • Graham Barr and Jenny Cowan will tell us how the Pentlands Land Managers Association have been: Working Together to Manage our Environment • Matt Waldie with the help of our Chairman, John Hutcheson, of the GrainCo Oat Producer Group, will tell us about: Working Together to Farm Sustainably at Scale We have three stimulating topics for our interactive afternoon forum sessions, these will run three times:

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 how we can use these.

Forum B Messaging Opportunities

Forum C Data Use - it really is that smart

With Scene & Herd, we’ll explore how we maximise opportunities by working better together as an industry, embracing a more joined-up approach to actions and consistent messaging.

We’ll share ways we’ve been using data since conference 2020 to drive sustainability improvements and how we get more people involved and benefiting from smart farming, to achieve greater efficiency/sustainability.

We’re delighted to 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 in 2020, we’re passing the auctioneer’s gavel to our own Bob Yuill to help raise funds for RSABI following our meal. We have some great prizes already, including a host of golden daffodils, a Gleneagles trip and a whole butchered lamb! Please get in touch if you’d like to contribute something to be auctioned: saos@saos.coop It promises to be a belter of a conference - again kindly supported by NFU Mutual and Ledingham Chalmers - join us!

Book now at: https://saosconference2022workingtogetherforasustainablefuture.eventbee.com

Sustainability and the Co-op Advantage

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Robert Logan reports on the Co-ops and the Climate Challenge project which has been running for over two years now: Most SAOS members will be familiar with this initiative’s objectives: to raise awareness of the climate emergency and wider sustainability goals and provide context within Scottish agriculture, and to help our fellow co-op members explore and gain confidence to take appropriate action, understanding their scope of influence better, and allowing them to make positive change within the co-op business and to support their farmer members.

Until recently, most businesses (globally) would have considered sustainability to be a bolt-on function, in fact many still do. What this project has helped clarify is that doing sustainable business can deliver meaningful impact whilst offering opportunity. Importantly, the co-operative model (and particularly because of our unique relationship with our farmer members/owners/users) is in a strong position to help contribute meaningfully towards society and our communities, gain reputational benefit, add value, improve efficiency, and strengthen member engagement.

The First4Milk work by First Milk, which we covered in our last issue, sets a bold and confident commitment towards net zero and wider sustainability goals for others to follow. They are demonstrating an industry-leading initiative and we look forward to hearing more on this from Mark Brooking at the SAOS conference, and subsequent discussions through the day.

Until now, few agri-businesses have looked at life through a sustainability/green lens. As the diagram below shows, delivery should aim to align the so-called ‘triple bottom line’ by delivering economic, social, and environmental performance.

Practical implementation of good intentions poses some huge questions for all businesses: * Where are our biggest influences and priorities? * What are our resource gaps? * How do we measure success over time? * How would any commitment or change impact the rest of the business?

Remember we are looking for net gains and not moving a problem to another part of the operation, into the supply chain, or wider society.

These are big questions, but it is vital that producers own this space, and harness its potential, before others defer responsibility onto farm whilst cherry-picking the advantage!

Co-ops have a particular advantage. Groups of farmers coalescing around a shared vision (a producer co-op) can achieve far more than can be done individually.

Co-ops are, therefore, part of the solution for the individual business, their community, stakeholders, and society. It sounds rather grand, but co-ops are the link chain between national policy objectives and grassroots engagement and implementation. It is a proven rural development tool. Our producer co-ops solve ‘The Problem of Many Hands’, as ‘a collective is morally responsible but none of the individuals making up the collective is morally responsible’. A proactive and co-ordinated approach to sustainability fits best with the values of the co-operative identity: self-help and selfresponsibility, honesty, openness, social responsibility, having a ‘can do’ attitude and a leadership role within a shared/ collective agency. In particular, it is hard to see how the aims of a Just Transition can be more effectively delivered than through the co-operative model which is owned, empowered, and benefits those that use it, in its community.

Next steps - This programme of works identifies some exciting developments, which are only really getting started. SAOS shares Scottish Government’s ambition for our agricultural industry to be among the lowest carbon and most efficient food producers in the world. But there is much work to do to help our co-ops and their members identify those appropriate next steps, and to deliver the impact that builds on Scotland’s reputation for food and drink.

To realise that ambition fully, we aim to further our support for Scotland’s producer co-ops. Improving awareness of the co-op advantage amongst stakeholders and the farming sector will be imperative. And whilst this project has identified that the co-op model is, frankly, amazing at delivering value on a local level, we need a more co-ordinated approach to demonstrate collective, national, value.

Robert’s article, with his references for info/further reading, is in our ‘How we think’ web area: https://saos.coop/whats-new/

Scottish Agri Export Hub Hits the Ground Running

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For years, food and drink has been one of Scotland’s key growth sectors, both domestically and internationally, with a broad range of activity from farming, fishing and aquaculture to processing of raw ingredients into added value products. The performance of products such as salmon and whisky on the international stage have ensured that food and drink remains Scotland’s top export sector.

In November, in partnership with SAOS, NFUS launched the Scottish Agri Export Hub, to develop new export opportunities and expand existing export markets for Scottish agricultural produce. The new initiative focuses on the potatoes, cereals, fruit and vegetables sectors, to drive more value down the supply chain for the benefit of primary producers. The Hub is funded from the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Recovery Plan, which is supported by the Scottish Government.

Patrick Hughes of SAOS who leads on the new initiative told us: “The Hub is working in collaboration with export development agencies such as Scottish Development International and the Department of International Trade, to help the primary agri sector identify products capable of profitable and sustainable export, and to develop a longerterm export strategy. Ultimately, we hope to increase the number of primary producers with additional capability who can supply export markets.”

“In the first few months we’ve mainly been making introductions to key stakeholders and also to many of the agricultural businesses in the potato, cereal and horticulture landscape, to help determine the type of products that are currently being exported and to identify and explore further potential export opportunities.”

“And there certainly are opportunities – our produce is world-class and much of it is already well known around the world. If certain products are already in demand, there’s no reason why others wouldn’t be able to build on that.

International markets can offer huge opportunities to primary producers, and we can learn a lot from the sectors that have already been there and now ‘wear the t-shirt’!”

“Export opportunities will remain the focus of the Hub, but we’ll also be working with industry partners to highlight and, wherever possible, find solutions to the barriers to trade that affect the sector, whether these are close to home or from continued trade disruption due to Brexit. Interest on this has already been piqued further afield with ‘Les Echos’, the French financial newspaper, getting in touch for an interview.”

Scottish businesses can access the most up to date market insights and introductions to appropriate prospective buyers through the Scotland Food & Drink In-market Specialist network. This network of specialists based in key geographic locations of economic importance increase the on the ground support by helping to build Scotland’s reputation on a global stage. The next steps are for the Hub to engage directly with the In-market Specialists to identify export opportunities and match these with suitable businesses in Scotland.

If you’re new to exporting, the Hub can help you get started with the right markets. If you already trade internationally, we can help expand your sales and discover new opportunities. Contact: patrick.hughes@saos.coop

C2 Network First Webinar - Decarbonisation on Farm - 24th March, 10-11.30am The C2Network, launched in November, has already received great support from our co-ops and a wide range of organisations. The goal is for the network to act as a catalyst for innovative thinking on current challenges faced by the agri sector and address topics that are at the top of the agenda for our co-op members. The Network is designed to help participants explore how the latest technology developments and insights could provide collaborative solutions to a variety of issues.

Helen Glass, C2Network Project Manager, highlights: “Our co-op members are very much focused on their commitment to achieving Net Zero. Building new, expansive partnerships within the Network to support decision making, will be crucial. For example, the integration of lower carbon technologies on farm, and across the agri co-op landscape, will benefit from this high level of co-operation, collaboration and expertise. We know the decarbonisation journey in agriculture presents many opportunities, as well as challenges, so our first webinar topic is “Decarbonisation Strategies on Farm.”

There are already many examples of lower carbon practices implemented across farming enterprises, but what are the best ones to choose for the future? And what can co-ops do to facilitate such solutions on farm? The webinar, featuring three keynote speakers, will help answer these questions.

• Peter Murphy, Director of UK Water Ltd, will take us through the journey of collaborative decarbonisation and energy creation, using by-products from farms.

• Murray Forsyth, from Aberdeen Grain, will share the current challenges from a co-op perspective.

• Kerry-Ann Adamson, Global Strategy Advisor at Worley, will provide expertise on Green Hydrogen technology and how it can deliver value for agriculture.

They’ll be joined in a Q&A session by other experienced guests to give views and take questions from the audience.

Take the opportunity to join the conversation - we’re at @C2Network on LinkedIn and @C2Network_ on Twitter - you’re welcome whether you can attend the webinar or not! (And remember all SAOS member co-ops are automatically enrolled as members - get involved!)

FIA Prepares for Delivery of QMS Schemes

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SAOS’s new Food Integrity Assurance (FIA) business has the foundations in place in preparation for delivery of the QMS Assurance Schemes contract from April 1st.

FIA is part of the SAOS ‘stable’ and, as with the ScotEID livestock traceability system established with industry and Government in 2008, it will run entirely autonomously, with its own Board, management team and independent accreditation through UKAS. FIA’s Board of Directors will be chaired by ‘Uel Morton, who has extensive knowledge of the farming and food sector, and an innate understanding of the vital role farm assurance has in underpinning Scottish brands. He is joined by arable farmer, Anne Rae MacDonald; Dunbia’s Business Public Relations Director (UK), Isla Roebuck; Food Standards Scotland Deputy Chair, Louise Welsh; and assurance and accreditation specialist, Steve Belton.

Completing the Board are dairy farmer and SAOS Vice Chair, Rory Christie; and SAOS Chief Executive, Tim Bailey.

FIA is managed by Stephen Sanderson. As a former farm manager, Stephen gained experience of dairy, beef, sheep and cereal farming, before moving into quality assurance and certification as a farm assessor, then progressing to operational and technical management roles across a range of agricultural schemes and standards, including QMS, SQC and Red Tractor Dairy.

FIA has successfully recruited key operational staff who have already commenced work. All have significant experience of delivering QMS and other quality assurance schemes. They will be supported by a team of more than 50 farm assessors and processing auditors, based throughout Scotland, who will undertake QMS work with FIA from April.

FIA’s key priorities are to deliver a farmer-focused service, enabling good communication links with the office and assessment teams; and to work with QMS and other partners, across multiple sectors, to increase the practical assessment on-farm and use of technology to minimise ‘paperwork burden’. In addition, FIA will ensure that where farmers are certified to more than one scheme, for example QMS and SQC, or QMS and Red Tractor Dairy, they will continue to benefit from one joint assessment.

FIA is progressing plans to achieve ISO 17065 accreditation for the QMS schemes. This involves independent auditing by UKAS to ensure that the assurance schemes are being managed consistently, impartially and with experienced and proficient teams.

We are running our ever popular ‘Art of Being a Chairperson’ training course on the 25th May. Further details at https://saos.coop/events-and-training/how-to-be-an-effective-chairperson/ Places are strictly limited - please register your interest with allison.watson@saos.coop

New Online Training Academy for Rural Businesses - Discounts for SAOS Members PR and Marketing agency Scene & Herd Ltd has launched a new initiative, the OnFARM Academy, offering online training specifically designed and curated for rural and food and drink related businesses.

Run on a tailored online delivery platform, the OnFARM Academy launches with a series of communications-related short training courses/ workshops, specifically tailored to rural business. The suite of courses is set to grow to cover all aspects of communications and beyond, including HR and people management, business management and much more.

Initial courses include both Facebook and Instagram for Beginners, Working with Instagram Influencers and Using Storytelling to Improve your PR. In the pipeline are courses on how to conduct staff appraisals, mental health first aid and more - each delivered by recognised experts from within their field.

Courses start from £35 plus VAT and some courses on the platform will actually be free of charge

SAOS works closely with Scene & Herd (they’re running one of our conference workshops) and we have secured a discount for our members - co-ops and their members are entitled to a 15 per cent discount on all OnFARM Academy courses - use the code SAOS15.

The OnFARM Academy training can be accessed at: https://training.onfarmacademy.com/ You will need to set up an account and then enter your discount code when prompted.

Follow the Academy on social media to find out more or sign up to receive update newsletters at: http://eepurl.com/hhbzZf Scene & Herd also produces the OnFARM podcast, a (free) podcast sharing rural stories and knowledge with its audience, and which is now performing in the top 2 per cent of podcasts globally. SAOS and our members and directors have been involved in several episodes that are well worth a listen, go to: https://saos.coop/whats-new scroll down to ‘Latest News’ and select ‘PODCASTS’.

Or browse the full list at www.podfollow.com/onfarm

Does Your Co-op Have a Plan?

saos news and views

Jim Booth reflects on a busy few months helping co-op members develop new five-year Strategic Plans: ”It is well evidenced that if a business has a strategic plan, not only is it more likely to succeed, but it will also grow at a faster rate. Does your co-op have a strategic plan? (And if not, why not?)

Whose responsibility is it to ensure you have a plan? Well, the answer is the board, and in particular the chairperson.

Arguably, it is the main responsibility of a board is to establish the co-op’s purpose and future vision, to set clear business objectives, and to develop a strategy for their achievement.

If you don’t have a plan/know where you are going, how can you succeed? Strategic planning focuses the board and management to be proactive, to think about the future, what it means for the business and its members, and how to position the business to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the threats. A strategic plan provides clarity for the co-op in every aspect of the business. A business without a plan is like a ship without a rudder.

Of all the governance services we provide, facilitating board strategy planning workshop is by far the most impactful.

We know first-hand that, for many co-ops, the key issues are succession planning and skills deficiency. For any business to succeed, it needs to be able to attract and retain talented staff. With this mind, working for a co-op is different compared to other businesses.

Co-ops have a set of values and principles that set them apart. The co-op identity or ethos (how we do things) and the importance of a co-op’s ethical values such as honesty, openness, integrity, and care for the community, are a key point of difference. The good news is that these values are well-aligned to the needs of today’s job-seeking millennials, who want to work for a business that makes a difference to people’s lives. Co-ops need to exploit their difference more!”

If you have queries on developing a strategic plan, please contact any of the Co-op Team: jim.booth@saos.coop, robert.logan@saos.coop or anna.robertson@saos.coop (and NB our Chairpersons Training Course on 25th May).

Ship-Shape United Farmers Marks 50 Years

co-ops news

The year 2021 saw United Farmers celebrate its fiftieth year in business. To mark the momentous milestone in a suitably prestigious fashion, the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh was the venue for a black-tie dinner in November.

The event was the perfect opportunity for the current UF members, loyal suppliers and distinguished guests to gather and look back on the UF heritage, raise a toast to those who helped write UF’s long and illustrious history, and look forward to the challenges ahead.

Gracious thanks went to the past Chief Executive and Board members who joined the celebrations: Colin Owen who served on the UF Board for over 22 years (as its Chairman from 2003-09), Steven Clarke who served on the UF Board for over 11 years (as Chairman 2011-15), John Parton who served on the UF Board for 10 years (as Vice-Chairman 201518), ‘Uel Morton, the former Chief Executive between 1997-2006 and Mr Dairmid Gunn, OBE who has been tirelessly minuting every Board meeting for the past 44 years!

UF’s beginning were humble. What started out as an idea, then a coming-together of a handful of Scottish businesses willing to strengthen each other by presenting an enhanced buying power, quickly blossomed into a remarkably viable business proposition and a truly UK-wide federal co-op.

In 1971, the first year of trading, there were ten co-operatives in membership of – what was then called – United Scottish Farmers, with a turnover of £423k. Within 13 years, as more members joined from various parts of the UK, the name was changed to the familiar-sounding United Farmers Ltd. Currently counting 34 businesses with a turnover of over £119m per annum, UF’s main function continues to be to consolidate members purchasing volumes and negotiate advantageous terms for all members. Over time, however, UF’s mandate grew - it now also helps its members with ‘Country UF’ own label products, with over 220 product lines and bringing £9m annual purchasing by members. To facilitate that further, web-based training is being offered to members’ staff to help them understand the products and benefits ‘Country UF’ range brings and to aid its effective communication to their customers.

The founding principle of co-operatives and co-operation is that members acting together can achieve greater things than by acting independently. This synergy of action is apparently evident in UF and the many great things this co-operative of co-operatives has achieved for and with the help of its members.

For the next fifty years and beyond, let it be full steam ahead for United Farmers!

Aspatria Farmers Welcomes new Chief Executive, Philip Sharman

co-ops news

Philip Sharman was the unanimous choice of the Board to join Aspatria Farmers as their new CEO, their Chairman, William Graham told members. He continued: “Philip joined the Oliver and Snowdon Division of Carrs Agriculture as an Area Sales Representative in 1985 after studying agriculture at college in Durham.

Philip progressed into the role of Branch Manager at Hexham and then Regional Branch Manager for Carrs stores in the North East, covering an area from Hawes in the South to Morpeth in the North. That business, with a turnover of £35m, ran through a branch network of retail stores and workshops, supplying farmers with tractors and farm machinery, nutrition, retail and arable products and all the other inputs required by milk, beef and sheep farmers.

With Philip’s wide experience of all aspects of an agricultural supply business and machinery franchises, he then took on responsibility for the Product Management Team which worked across the whole Carrs business and also ran the Carrs Billington/Wallace Oils fuels business and new projects.

Philip was on the Senior Management Team of the Carrs Billington Agriculture business and brings with him a vast knowledge of the suppliers and products that are important to our members.

Philip lives at Hexham with his wife Mandy and has a son, Matthew who is finishing school this year. He is a lifelong ex player/coach/supporter of Tynedale RFC and very much enjoys the countryside and his involvement in farming.

We are all looking forward to Philip joining the business and supporting him to continue to build Aspatria Farmers into the best farmers’ co-operative in the UK.” We are delighted that Philip is booked up for the SAOS Conference and look forward to welcoming him then.

ANM Marks 150 Years With Campaign Helping Safeguard Industry for 150 More ANM Group is celebrating 150 years in 2022, with their #ANMbeyond150 campaign highlighting the good work which Scottish agriculture is delivering to protect our environment and our climate.

The food and drink sector is Scotland’s biggest economic driver, worth over £15 billion, and our red meat sector is at the heart of a thriving rural economy and making great strides towards net zero.

Climate change presents a challenge to us all, and every individual, business and organisation must take steps to address it. Steps are being taken now on farms to cut emissions, and with 56% of farmers already focusing on the future and sustainability Scottish agriculture has seen a 15.9% reduction in net emissions over the last 30 years.

ANM Group is proud to support its members and customers in producing a product which is rich in provenance, supporting Scotland’s world-renowned food and drink sector, and sustainably produced. The co-op is helping members, and the wider agricultural community, in a way which meets the climate challenge head-on.

And, at the same time, challenging the often-misleading reporting about our industry’s contribution to climate change. 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. #ANMbeyond150 is celebrating the good work that is underway on farms across Scotland to cut emissions, sequester carbon and enhance the environment and biodiversity, as well as highlighting the positive actions of members and customers to help secure another prosperous 150 years.

ANM is calling on members to celebrate the good work

being done, and asking for members support for the campaign in the following ways: Tell ANM what you are doing! They would like to hear from members on the actions you are undertaking in your business - no matter how big or small - to reduce your environmental footprint and secure the future of the agriculture sector for another 150 years. Get in touch at marketing@anmgroup.co.uk.

Share the #ANMbeyond150 content. Look out for the #ANMbeyond150 hashtag on social media, and like and share posts and videos.

Join the discussion. Add the #ANMbeyond150 hashtag to any photos and videos you are posting from your agricultural business and join the discussion.

ANM Group also has a year of celebration events planned, to raise funds for their three chosen charities: Abbie’s Sparkle Foundation, Charlie House and Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH).

The provisional dates (some details to be finalised) are: • 1st March – Pancake Day – pancakes served in The Gallery with all proceeds going to the chosen charities.

• 2nd March - Annual Royal Northern Spring Show – ‘Thainstone to Shetland and back again’ cycling challenge. Throughout the day ANM Group staff, member and customers will be invited to hop and cycle the target of 754.6 miles with all donations going to the charities.

• 18th June – Thainstone BBQ for past and present staff, members, and customers • 20th Aug – Caithness Anniversary BBQ for past and present staff, members, and customers • 5th Nov – ANM 150th Anniversary Black Tie Dinner

Delivering Growth Through Wholesale programme

supply chains

Over 70 scottish food producing businesses have now gone through a series of workshops and 121 support meetings to prepare them to enter the wholesale channel. These producers are now preparing for a ‘Meet the Wholesaler’ event at Dunblane Hydro on 15th March where they have the opportunity to meet with wholesalers and explore the possibilities of working together.

As we reported in the last issue, the DGTW programme is a partnership project between SAOS, the Scottish Wholesale Association and Scotland Food & Drink, supported by the Scottish governments recovery plan. The initiative has its origins in Scotland’s food tourism strategy, and the key aim is to make more Scottish products available to Scottish hospitality and retail, as the route to market through wholesale has often been a challenge for producers in the past .

The programme has set out to demystify the channel, by providing producers with a clear manual on the wholesale sector and giving them the knowledge of where they might fit, and also the skills to negotiate and build relationships with wholesalers. The process has been two-way, with wholesalers taking part in their own workshops to help them engage more positively with scottish producers and gaining a fuller understanding of what a range of Scottish products can do for their businesses. Recent research indicates steady growth in consumer demand for local, regional and Scottish products.

SAOS’s Fergus Younger, who manages the project, says: “It has been a great project to work on so far with a really committed team from SWA and SF&D and training provider, Levercliff. Despite all the Covid issues and the challenges the industry has faced, we have had excellent engagement from participants. We are all super excited to see how the event goes and are really hopeful that we’ll see a big uplift in the number of Scottish products listed. This is a multiyear project, so we are hopeful we can continue to build numbers and volumes as we progress.”

The meet the Wholesaler event at Dunblane hydro is the first step for producers and wholesalers to meet and begin to build relationships. Moving forward, further support will be provided by the team to help producers and wholesalers build profitable relationships. During April and May many wholesalers hold their own trade shows where there will be opportunities for new producers to showcase their products to the wholesalers customers.

Borders Monitor Farm Adapts for the Future

collaboration

In January, with Covid rules relaxing, the facilitation team of Fergus Younger, SAOS; Colin Macphail of Macphail Consulting; and Stephen Young of Scottish Land and Estates, (pictured right with Stuart Mitchell, far right) revisited the Mitchell family at Whitriggs Farm near Denholm.

As with many monitor farms, the transformation of farmer and farm does not stop with the end of the three year programme – and the Mitchells and Whitriggs did not disappoint.

During the Scottish Government-funded, QMS/AHDB-led programme, the Mitchells took some very big decisions; to come out of sheep in favour of deer, and to convert the farm to organic.

The move out of sheep was a decision brought on by the presence of Maedi Visna virus in the flock, and the need either to renew the flock or take a new direction. Stuart put a lot of time and energy during the MF process to research the potential of deer farming and its suitability to Whitriggs. Fast forward 2 years and tens of kilometres of selferected deer fencing, new deer sheds, converted sheep sheds and a new handling system are all in place, along with an expanding herd of 400 hinds. The deer operation is proving to be more profitable than the previous sheep and with children/grand children now on the scene, it is taking less labour and freeing up family time.

Now two years into organic conversion, the Mitchells are all relishing the challenge of learning new soil fertility skills and the reality of not buying Nitrogen fertilisers. The rotations have now switched to arable oat crops and rotationally grazed species rich herbal lays and forage production of hay and silage. One of the biggest changes has been a switch to outwinter all the 150 suckler cows, and strip grazing long grasses with supplementary hay and silage. This has had a significant impact on costs to the business, cutting all bought in feeds and straw and removing the need to cart dung around the farm. The margins on the cattle are greatly improved.

Fergus observed: ”It is fantastic to see on the ground what ‘Team Mitchell’ has achieved in such a short time. Most impressive is their openness to change and to grasping new challenges, creating a more profitable business and greater work life balance. The MF programme has an amazing ability to give farmers the confidence to take on transformative change.”

collaboration

The Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards are Back!

After a two-year hiatus, the SF&D Excellence Awards will return on Thursday 8 September, taking place, for the first time, during Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight. The awards are open to all Scottish food and drink companies whose products are wholly or mainly produced, processed and packaged in Scotland. Deadline for entries is Fri 8 April 2022.

For full details go to: https://excellenceawards.foodanddrink.scot/

innovation

Smart Rural to Help Angus Council Improve Digital Connectivity

Angus Council is set to improve digital connectivity throughout the region as they create a core infrastructure that will provide greater digital accessibility to businesses and citizens in rural parts of Angus.

The new infrastructure consists of several fixed radio masts that will provide connectivity in rural Angus for an effective solution to reaching remote and rural properties via high quality wireless solutions.

Receiving funding from the Tay Cities Region Deal, the introduction of a new core infrastructure will improve digital connectivity and be a critical factor in the development of knowledge intensive businesses across Angus.

Angus Council is working with Rapier Systems Ltd to build the core infrastructure, and partnering with SmartRural to accelerate the digitisation of the region by trialling and delivering a range of innovative use cases using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. It will also provide Internet Service Providers with the infrastructure to deliver Superfast Broadband to rural residences and businesses Initial trials will see Network Rail, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) and other rural infrastructure owners and operators, explore the use of sensor technology and IoT devices to monitor, manage and extract real time, insightful data. This data will then enable them to transform their operations, creating and delivering safer, more productive communities and environments and to deliver sustainable energy saving solutions and cost efficiencies, whilst making substantial steps in delivering Net Zero.

Angus Council leader, Councillor David Fairweather said: “Connectivity is a vital part of how businesses across Angus improve productivity, unleash new and innovative businesses processes and open up new opportunities and markets.

“We view our commitment to investing in digital infrastructure being as vital to economic growth as the physical infrastructure of our roads, rail and buildings. Our commitment to ensuring digital is at the heart of everything that we do, ensures that we will continue to deliver an inclusive economic growth, reform our public services and prepare our children for the workplace of the future.”

Paul Lindop at SmartRural said: “Angus is at the forefront of trialling and delivering a whole range of rural Use Cases supporting the digitisation of rural Scotland – from agriculture to rail infrastructure; from tourist locations to power network operations. We are extremely pleased to see that SSEN are already using SmartRural’s LoRaWAN Pictured L to R: Alison Smith, Paul Lindop, Councillor David network to perform field trials of devices that could potentially form Fairweather, Mark Davidson and Richard Watson (as well as part of their future smart grid, delivering decarbonisation of transport Rapier engineers, Martin and Naomi - atop the mast!) and heating for rural areas. We look forward to seeing other parties come forward and use this unique rural asset that Angus Council has created.”

Richard Watson, Managing Director of Rapier Systems, added: “It is really encouraging to see a local authority play such an important part in a project like this, helping to leverage real-world benefits for rural businesses, such as those in Angus. Obtaining connectivity speeds previously the preserve of larger towns and cities will enable the broadband playing field to be more level than it has ever been before. We are delighted to be working with them and thrilled to be delivering this innovative connectivity service across the area.”

George Noble, SAOS’s Data and Connectivity Manager, concluded: “Establishing a significant network footprint in rural Angus is a milestone in the evolution of SmartRural, allowing digital solutions to be deployed across a variety of use cases and sectors. SmartRural services will be available to Angus farmers in the coming months as the network build nears completion and we’re already engaging in dialogue with member co-ops in the area.“

Supply Chains

Working together to shape the future of farming and food.

If you have any suggestions for future SAOS Updates, or you no longer wish to receive it, please contact: jennifer.grant@saos.coop

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