Scottish Agritourism Conference Set to Focus on Meat Supply Challenges
A key session at the upcoming Scottish Agritourism conference will be a focused discussion on the challenges preventing visitors to Scottish farms being able to enjoy food and drink from that farm and in particular, meat.
The national agritourism strategy for Scotland has set an ambitious target that 50% of farms in agritourism will offer guests a food and drink experience that incorporates the farm’s own produce by 2030. This is in line with the success of the agritourism sector in other countries where a core agrifood offering reinforces that agritourism businesses are wholly based on food producing farms, underpinning the main point of difference between agritourism and other forms of rural tourism.
Small producers face particular challenges around logistics and processing in Scotland and often struggle to secure a margin that makes production worthwhile. The conference, which takes place on the 6th and 7th December at Perth Concert Hall, will hear from Nikki Storrar, left, from award winning Ardross Farm Shop, who is also Scottish Agritourism’s Destination Leader for the Fife area. All the Scotch beef and Scotch lamb reared at Ardross is sold through their own farm shop and Nikki will provide an oversight of challenges in the supply chain and processing that need to be overcome to make offering food from farms a profitable and worthwhile experience. Nikki will present case studies from a number of Scottish Agritourism members and discuss her own business.
Also sharing from experience will be Louise Urquhart, pictured top, an Aberdeenshire farmer who sells pork and lamb direct through farmers markets, deliveries and an on-farm pop-up shop and has a growing catering business. Faced with the challenge of a lack of private butchery services, Louise has developed her own butchery business and is now processing her own meat and offering butchery services to other agritourism businesses.
Kate Rowell, Chair of Quality Meat Scotland, will provide insights into the supply chain in Scotland particularly in relation to the needs of farmers selling direct and the agritourism sector.
This session will be chaired by Jim McLaren MBE, farmer and Chairman of NFU Mutual, platinum sponsors of the Scottish Agritourism Annual Conference.
Jim McLaren said: “People visiting Scotland’s countryside want to sample its full glory including our farmers’ fantastic range of produce.
“Making it easier for farmers to offer their own produce will not only enhance tourists’ experience of Scotland but also help spread the word across the globe about the quality and excellence on offer.”
As well as the focusing on food and drinks from farms, conference delegates will hear from a range of inspiring agritourism entrepreneurs sharing insights into their businesses in two key sessions on the sustainability of the family farm and becoming an agritourism destination.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Islands, Mairi Gougeon, will address delegates and provide an update on the implementation of Scotland’s agritourism strategy.
The conference will also be the focus for sharing data gathered from the 2022 agritourism in Scotland growth tracker with delegates meeting in workshop groups to find out how agritourism is progressing both by region and by agritourism type, across the country.
Caroline Millar, Scottish Agritourism Sector Lead, said: “We look forward to welcoming everyone with an interest in agritourism to Perth in early December. Whether you are an established business or you are a farmer or crofter thinking about starting up in agritourism, the conference will provide a great opportunity for the sector to come together, to meet new people and to learn from the range of inspiring speakers who will be presenting over the day and a half. We have had a few ticket bookings already from farmers based elsewhere in the UK and we would encourage anyone who wants to find out more about this growing sector to come along. Everyone is welcome.”
More information and a link to buy ticket at https://scottishagritourism.co.uk/conference-2022/