Hundreds of Scotland’s prestige food companies were warned that their essential raw ingredients could not be guaranteed in future unless farmers start to get a fair share of their margins.
More than 350 delegates at the Scottish Food and Drink (SFD) conference in Edinburgh heard NFU Scotland president Allan Bowie say that the “disconnect” in the food chain was no longer acceptable, and farmers must be valued and rewarded for what they produced.
“As a farmer I’m your conscience,” he said. “I’m the one who delivers the traceability, the trust. I’m the one who goes out in all weathers to produce the food you want.
“I need you to be profitable and innovative, but I also need to get a return back to the farmer who takes the risk. I want you to start valuing the true cost of food and the traceability of food.”
In a passionate speech to the industry the union leader called for traceability, transparency and partnerships that “mean what they say”.
“I want strong market signals that make me feel part of a good supply chain,” he said.
SFD chief executive James Withers pointed to the same discrepancy, and said farmers and fishermen need to think of themselves as food producers.
“The connection between the primary sector, farming and fishing is unfinished business.
“Farming has huge problems and challenges, with the lowest agriculture commodity prices since 2009. We’ve seen a real crisis in the dairy sector but there’s a disconnect there,” he said.
“I talked about success (in the food sector) but that’s not being felt on farm. We’ve got to connect that better. We need that foundation to provide the raw material to come through. There are going to have to be different supply chain models to make that work.”
SFD’s conference came the day after the publication of the body’s study into the origin of cheddar cheese and butter in Scottish supermarkets and the call from Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead for sales of Scottish cheddar cheese to double across the UK over the next five years.
Robert Graham, managing director of Graham’s Dairies, called for increased collaboration and commitment from grocers to address the issue.
“It’s clear from this report that we need to find fresh, new ways to promote Scottish produce more effectively. While clear labelling plays a part, we believe that supermarkets should continue to offer more shelf space to home-grown food and drink . . .”