Two well-known faces in the farming sector are part of a driving force to boost the economic development of the north-east of Scotland.
Former ANM Group chief executive Pat Machray and well-known farm consultant Peter Cook are working to boost the region’s food, drink, fishing and agriculture industries through their work with Opportunity North East (ONE).
The private sector led economic development agency is the brain child of oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who has backed his commitment to the region with an initial £25million commitment over five years.
The agency’s focus is split into four distinct areas, one of which is food, drink and agriculture.
A special board for that area is headed up by Mr Machray and Mr Cook is responsible for bringing the board’s vision into fruition.
Last year ONE invested £1.4million in projects across the region, securing match funding from the public sector and industry partners of £1.6million.
This included £200,000 of funding for food, drink and agriculture projects, backed up by £250,000 of match funding.
Funding for the sector included a business growth programme for food and drink companies, work carrying out feasibility studies into the future of dairy farming in the north-east, and the co-funding of a pig monitor farm project with Quality Meat Scotland.
Mr Machray said the agency plans to invest up to £800,000 in food, drink and agriculture over the course of the next year, and secure the same amount in match funding.
“We have a long-term commitment of £5million towards food, drink and agriculture over the next five years,” added Mr Machray.
He said ONE’s focus was to provide funds to enable development and business growth, ideally complementing programmes and funding schemes already in existence.
Mr Cook said work in the food and farming sector was split into five key areas – business growth, innovation, skills, market development, and supply chain development.
He said a special business growth programme, which currently involves 20 different businesses, was working to tackle the barriers to growth in food and drink firms.
Meanwhile, aspirations to boost innovation in the sector have resulted in ONE taking the lead on plans to secure funding for a new £20million Agri-Food and Nutrition Hub for Innovation in the area, and the skills work of the agency is focused on finding ways to attract people into the sector and plugging the skills gap, particularly in food product development.
Mr Cook said market development work had resulted in ONE co-funding a market development manager for the north-east at Scotland Food and Drink – a move which should place businesses in the region in a better position to get their products sold across the UK and abroad.
Lastly, he said work to strengthen the supply chains would ensure primary producers and producers were not left in a fragile position due to their distance from the main market.
