Rich pickings

Scotland has an uneasy relationship with what it eats.
The food and drink industry north of the border employs more than 350,000 people and while other areas struggled during the recession, it weathered the storm and has continued to see huge economic growth.
Each year records for exports and turnover are broken and readjusted upwards and both government and businesses predict there is much more to come.
But at the same time, when the Scottish Government set out its Good Food Nation strategy in June this year, it highlighted a “profound paradox” between a nation now renowned worldwide for high quality produce and a poor food culture that has left many people who live here “disconnected” from their food, with unhealthy diets and attitudes towards food and drink.
The consultation on the strategy, which closes on 17 October, includes a plan to set up a new Food Commission and appoint local champions to drive a change in food culture as well as proposing a vision for what the food landscape should be in 2025.
Sales of Scottish food and drink brands in the UK have risen by more than one third in the last six years, but Scotland Food and Drink maintains that there is still a vast potential for growth.
Chief executive James Withers said a further £1bn of growth has been identified by 2017 and in addition, there is further scope to export more food outside the UK.
Withers said: “At a global level, markets are increasingly looking for world class, premium products – and that is what Scotland does well.  We don’t have an endless production line of products; many of our iconic products – like whisky, beef, salmon and seafood – are limited in supply. So growth is not about volume alone, but will be about value too.”
How is this achieved? Withers says there needs to be greater collaboration between key industry players and the public sector and adds: “We’ve made huge strides on that with the creation of the Scotland Food and Drink partnership but we’re going to need another big step forward.”
This growth presents the industry with both a major boost, but also, a huge challenge. It is estimated that across the UK it will need 170,000 new recruits by 2020 – not just in primary production like farming, but in STEM subjects.
Dr Colette Backwell, director of the Scottish Food and Drink Federation (SFDF), which represents food and soft drink manufacturers, said there had been a huge effort to help fill this future skills gap.
Its Future In Food programme, funded by the Scottish Government, is aiming to build up partnerships between schools and the industry, including having companies come into classrooms and providing teachers with information and links they can download and use as part of the Curriculum for Excellence.
She said: “We are promoting food and drink as a career destination of choice; we’re making the point to students that it is not just about food production. You can have a good career in the industry in HR, or finance, there is a whole range of opportunities open to you.”
The industry in Scotland is primarily made up of SMEs, so the skills gaps and challenges vary from business to business, but there has been a focus on food technology, food science and engineering. Backwell said there was “a pipeline of qualifications” to encourage young people in the industry, ranging from apprenticeships, new SQA qualifications and degrees at research institutes and universities across the country. In addition, Sheffield Hallam University is seeing the first intake this month for its new Masters course, collectively funded by large multinationals who see this as an issue that needs to be dressed.
One of the major challenges for Scotland on food is the health and nutrition side, but it has also meant the opportunity for more innovation to create healthier food products.
For the last three years, SFDF has been running a programme with the Scottish Government working with small companies who would not otherwise have the technical resources to look at reformulating.
Attention has also been paid to ensuring producers can reduce their waste costs, cutting their overheads – but also contributing to reducing carbon emissions.
Collectively, the industry has reduced CO2 emissions by one third since 1990 and water use has been cut by 16 per cent. While a great deal of focus is paid to the producers and SMEs that are the bottom line of the food and drink sector, supermarkets still have a large role to play.
Asda, which has 61 stores and depots in Scotland, employs about 20,000 people and serves 1.9m customers each week, has been one of the stores keen to show how it is helping to develop the industry and the Scottish brand.
Polly Jones, Asda’s corporate affairs manager for Scotland, said Asda and supermarkets “have a huge role to play”.
Since 2011, the company has run a Supplier Development Academy alongside Scotland Food and Drink, providing expert advice to suppliers on supermarket trading disciplines. It also has a series of FarmLink schemes to strengthen its relationships with suppliers and says its stores are able to both buy local produce as well as introduce Scottish companies to wider markets.
Jones added: “Supporting the supply chain is very important to us. It is not in anyone’s interests to have a relationship with the supplier that is not sustainable. We recognise short-term value is not a long-term option.”
Good Food Nation highlights areas of concern about economic growth including a continuing lack of market diversity, with the success of whisky sometimes masking lesser-performing areas.
Withers at Scotland Food and Drink agrees that there is a need to “spread our risk”.
He said: “We need to produce a broader range of products for a broader range of markets. We have to develop a stronger export foothold, with the trade still dominated by whisky and export of food dominated by salmon and seafood and European markets.”
But he added: “We now have a new export plan, jointly funded by industry and government which will put trade specialists on the ground in key markets around the world. That is going to make a huge difference.”
But how does the nation overcome, what the report refers to as the “most stark challenges”, the issues of deep-seated poor dietary habits and “low expectations” of Scottish consumers?
The government report says there is no threat to the economic health of the sector by improving the country’s relationship with food, and says improving Scotland’s food culture will create a virtuous cycle.
The new Food Commission will put forward its own priorities but the Scottish Government has already set out areas for early action.
It wants the public sector to lead by example, championing fresh, local, seasonal food and celebrating provenance; it will include reforms of NHS and local government purchasing as part of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill.
It also wants a separate children’s food policy, building on what has already been written into the Curriculum for Excellence, further development of local food initiatives and greater provision for community food hubs and allotment schemes as well as pushing home its Supporting Healthy Choices programme right through the food supply chain.
Withers says: “Scotland’s reputation as a ‘Land of Food and Drink’ has transformed over the last few years. But the truth is we still have real issues at home around diet.  
“If Scotland is to cement its reputation as one of the leading food and drink nations on Earth, we’re going to have to tackle some of the really difficult cultural issues at home.  
“They are improving, in my view, but they remain difficult to fix quickly and are inextricably linked to wider, complex issues of poverty.”
He adds: “We will continue to spearhead the economic growth of the sector at Scotland Food and Drink, but that growth is built on reputation. So the idea of Scotland becoming a Good Food Nation, in every sense – across all communities – is important, ambitious and needs everyone’s full support.”
Backwell says: “We all accept this is a journey we are on, we’ve made huge progress in terms of people’s understanding of where food comes, how it is produced and about the wealth of food and drink that is grown and produced in Scotland, but we still have got some way to go on that.”