Gregor is a director of Scotlean, which brings together progressive pig producers across Scotland and England, pooling resources and opportunities for production and marketing.
Rory founded The Milk Supply Association (MSA), a positive story of farmers working together to tackle the problem of insufficient business returns. MSA acknowledges that many parts of the milk supply chain – including buyers – are under pressure and tries to find solutions to help dairy farm businesses survive.
Rory is also a director of the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS), which provides Scottish farming and seafood co-operatives with advice on strategy, formation and management, as well as innovating and adapting to the changing production and market environment.
The Natural Environment
We can’t hide from the difficult circumstances of the economy and climate change. In fact, we actually have a huge opportunity to become a nation of environmentally-sustainable food producers. Key to this are Scotland’s moderate climate, sun and rainfall, all of which enable us to produce a full range of food, including dairy, meat, soft fruit, vegetables and cereals, without the need to import water or energy. Our soils have been well looked after for generations and we have plenty of organic matter and a great ability to continue sinking carbon.
Regulation and the Market
This won’t just happen by itself; we will need support from consumers and the government as well as achievable climate change targets. It will take genuine investment to support the change; it won’t happen if we just leave it to the market to sort out. The number one thing we have to consider is that value is not the same as price and that the new factor is the environment. This does not suddenly mean that we must all eat a purely plant-based diet, rather we need a better idea of what value the food we eat delivers, so that we can take fully informed decisions for the future. In the short term, we should most definitely all be eating a balanced diet of wholesome Scottish or British produce’
