Associate Feature: Setting an ambitious new course for Scottish red meat

It is the one. It is the biggest, the most important and the most influential. It is the event which farmers from all over the country mark in their diaries as soon as the dates are announced. 

But this year The Royal Highland Show will have an even greater significance, both for Scotland’s red meat sector and for Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).

This year’s gathering at Ingliston will mark the start of a process which will see Scotland’s premier meat marketing body set a clear and ambitious direction for Scotland’s red meat sector the rest of the decade.

The aim is simple - to make Scotland the choice for premium red meat. 

Simple, yes. Easy? No. This will take considerable time, energy, collaboration and commitment.
It will also take a clear strategy, which is what QMS will be unveiling – at least in part – at the Royal Highland Show this year.

The strategy has come together following extensive discussions with all the groups and stakeholders in the Scottish red meat supply chain, from auctioneers to feed manufacturers. They were asked: what do you want QMS to achieve?

That simple strap line – making Scotland the choice for premium red meat - is the one-line distillation of their feedback.

So we now have the goal and what the strategy will do is set out the path to get us there.
The five-year strategy will be finalised, formalised and adopted this year before being implemented next Spring, taking the red meat sector through to 2029.

But, as everyone who has ever been in this position knows only too well, strategies are no good in isolation, they have to have context, they have to be informed with data and they have to have real measurable outcomes.

That is why the strategy will not be the only theme to feature prominently at this year’s show.

We will also be unveiling a major new report which analyses the impact QMS has had – and is having – on the red meat sector in Scotland. This is a new way of reporting for us, demonstrating the value of our work to farmers and processors.

The results will be unveiled later this week at the Show but they are interesting and, I would suggest, very, very encouraging. They show how much the Scottish red meat premium is worth and where that premium comes from.

There is a natural correlation here. If we can generate a significant premium here, that is an excellent first step in making sure that Scotland is the source for the premium red meat throughout the world.

But the future strategic direction of QMS is not just about QMS, it is intricately bound up with the entire red meat sector. That is why another detailed piece of work has also been commissioned.

This won’t be ready for publication at the Royal Highland Show but it will be available in the summer and key parts will be released in time for the show.

This report quantifies the economic impact of the red meat sector for Scotland as a whole. How big are our herds of cattle, sheep and pigs? How many people does our sector employ? What do all these people generate, in terms of economic support for our communities and where does that money go?

The last such piece of work was done in 2016 so this new report will build on the 2016 analysis, showing how different aspects have changed through the disruption of Brexit, the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.

These two pieces of work will give all those involved in Scotland’s red meat sector the baseline evidence so they can see the five -year strategy in its proper context.

The Royal Highland Show has always been a time when Scotland’s farming community comes together to celebrate success, to renew old acquaintances and, importantly, to look ahead.

We look forward to doing all three but it is the last of those that matters most to us.

Like many others, our sector has been through a difficult and turbulent time over the last few years and, with inflation still high, uncertainty in the market and the cost-of-living crisis still with its hold on many, there are more difficult times to come.

But we also see a really bright future, a future where Scottish red meat is not only the best in the world, but it is accepted and acknowledged as such by all. I believe it is a prize worth aiming for and I am really looking forward to taking the first steps towards it this week.

This article is sponsored by Quality Meat Scotland

www.qmscotland.co.uk