T. 07768 654955 E. scott.walker@scconsultancy.uk
The future of Scottish red meat production will move firmly to the centre of the national political debate in 2026 as voters choose the next Scottish Government against a backdrop of repeated missed opportunities to unlock sector growth, according to the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
Alan Brown
“While there have been some positive developments over the past year, they fall well short of providing the clear, pro-growth signals that farmers and processors have consistently sought from both Holyrood and Westminster,” said SAMW President Alan Brown. “Stability alone is not enough for an industry with the market potential we have.”
SAMW welcomed the Scottish Government’s effective rejection of the Climate Change Committee’s targets to reduce livestock numbers.
“That decision provides a welcome foundation to build livestock stability in Scotland,” said Brown. “But stability is the baseline, not the ambition. Our industry has clear domestic and international growth opportunities, and government should be actively supporting an expansion of Scottish livestock numbers to meet that demand.
“Despite repeated engagement, a reluctance to back growth is not just frustrating in policy terms — it has real and damaging consequences for investment, confidence and business viability.”
Those consequences are already being felt. SAMW lost another member business in 2025, continuing a worrying decline in processing capacity across the red meat sector.
“This is happening despite our members generating more than £1 billion in annual turnover and directly employing over 3,000 people across Scotland,” said Brown. “With the right political backing, we could be doing significantly more. Without it, the risk is a rapid and damaging contraction in jobs, throughput, and economic contribution.”
For these reasons, SAMW says the future of Scottish red meat production will be a major rural and economic issue in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May 2026.
“After spending much of 2025 in working groups formed on the basis of partnerships that delivered discussion rather than decisions, it is clear that government must now change gear and move from talk to action,” said Brown. “We need bold leadership that backs growth, removes barriers, and modernises how government works with our sector. Only then can we unlock the additional output, jobs and turnover that are within reach.”
Regulatory costs, particularly those linked to meat inspection, remain a significant pressure on the sector, although SAMW acknowledged some limited progress during 2025.
“We strongly welcome Food Standards Scotland’s decision to establish a technical group, with industry involvement, to explore new approaches to ante-mortem inspection,” said Brown. “That shows a willingness to think differently and to modernise.
“However, that same mindset must now be applied to inspection charges. We cannot continue to face annual increases under a system that is neither innovative nor fit for the future. Processes and procedures remain rooted in the past, which is simply incompatible with a modern, efficient, and competitive red meat sector.”
The strongest underlying positive, however, remains demand for red meat.
“Demand for high-quality protein is strong in the UK and globally,” said Brown. “Scotland produces some of the best red meat in the world. The opportunity for growth is real and immediate. What we need now is for governments to look favourably on our sector, work with us to modernise regulation, unlock investment, and allow Scottish red meat to fulfil its full potential in 2026 and beyond.”
Scotland’s red meat sector has enormous growth potential with growing domestic and international demand. But that potential has been squandered by years of political indifference, shallow words, and a lack of meaningful action.
“Farmers, meat processors and retail leaders once again converged on this year’s Royal Highland Show to celebrate the strength and heritage of Scotland’s livestock and red meat production,” said Alan Brown, President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW). “But behind the fanfare and displays lies a far more fragile reality—one of shrinking livestock numbers, underutilised processing capacity, and rising imports.
“Sadly, the quality of livestock on display across the showground is not being matched by on-farm numbers, where falling production is leaving Scotland’s meat plants running at no better than 70% operating capacity and with some retailers looking abroad to fill shelves, despite Scotland’s unmatched natural assets for sustainable red meat production. The recent closure of a member plant is yet another stark warning—jobs lost, supply chains broken, and another outlet removed for Scottish farmers.”
The fragility of Scotland’s processing sector was shown again this month with the plant closure, removing a valuable outlet for farmers and losing important jobs from the affected location. SAMW has warned repeatedly that such closures are a constant risk for our industry and it is no comfort whatsoever to be proved right, once again.
Alan Brown being interviewed by STV during BeefTech 25, the Royal Northern Agricultural Society’s specialist event held at Home Farm, Kininmonth, Mintlaw.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm for years,” said Brown. “This isn’t a surprise—it’s the inevitable result of political complacency and an unwillingness to replace policies that have not and will not work. The continued decline we’ve seen in livestock numbers is the result of what, in practical terms, amounts to reduction by stealth, orchestrated by government.
“Politicians have again walked the Highland Show, praising Scottish livestock, pledging their support, and delivering all the right soundbites. But soundbites don’t stop decline. Soundbites don’t rebuild breeding herds. Soundbites don’t keep processors in business.”
Farmers and processors are calling for more than admiration—they need policy certainty on future support, the ability to plan across multi-year cycles, and a government that truly understands the mechanics and potential of the red meat supply chain.
“Properly backed, encouraged, and supported, Scotland’s meat and livestock chain could deliver a significant GDP boost for the national economy over the next decade,” he said. “The sector is ready to grow, to invest, to lead—but only if governments match the industry’s ambition with real-world, strategic support.
“This year’s Royal Highland Show marked a pivotal time for Scottish red meat. Scotland must decide: do we build a thriving, value-adding red meat sector—or do we stand by and watch it decline? The choice is stark. And we can’t afford to get it wrong.”
SAMW respond to ‘no cuts’ pledge
“The Cabinet Secretary’s (Highland Show) pledge that the Scottish Government has no policy to cut livestock numbers either now or in the future, is clearly welcome as a direction of travel,” said SAMW President, Alan Brown. “Sadly, we’ve been on this journey throughout the lifetime of this government and numbers have continued to decline each and every year. Unless we see these latest positive words converted into new and supportive policies, nothing will change.
“As for the Cabinet Secretary’s challenge to industry to provide Government with net zero solutions to enable the CCC targets to be met, the truth is that industry has repeatedly researched, debated and delivered such solutions over many years, without ever seeing government provide the necessary incentives to make the net zero process work; at least not without damaging Scotland’s livestock ambitions.”
Scotland’s beef industry is in serious decline, exacerbated by Government policy inaction and policy failures that have steadily eroded vital cattle numbers.
Rather than backing sustainable domestic production and prioritising the rebuilding of Scotland’s national herd, government policies have increased our reliance on imported beef to feed the nation. It makes no sense to transport beef from the other side of the world to feed our nation when our own farmers are capable of producing premium-quality beef to world-leading standards, if only government would give the industry some encouragement.
The freedom to choose Scottish or UK-produced beef anytime and anywhere is rapidly disappearing from our retail shelves. As domestic cattle numbers continue to fall, Scotland’s supply chain is being damaged beyond repair, bringing business closure and the loss of valuable jobs ever closer.
Scottish farmers and processors adhere to some of the highest environmental and animal welfare standards in the world, producing some of the most sustainable red meat available anywhere across the globe. Favouring imports from far-flung suppliers in preference to boosting our domestic industry, means that Scotland is opening its doors ever wider to products of questionable welfare provenience while adding to global carbon emissions. In effect, recent and current policies amount to an offshoring of Scotland’s emissions’ responsibilities on the basis that if it doesn’t happen here then if doesn’t count.
Alan Brown
“Current policies are simply not working,” said Alan Brown, President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW). “The serious decline of our domestic beef sector is nothing less than a disgrace.
“We are watching the slow dismantling of a high-quality, world-renowned industry. Choosing not to intervene in the sector’s decline, in the name of environmental goals, is a false economy. It is nothing more than greenwashing of the most appalling kind.
Greenwashing Undermines True Sustainability
“Those who understand and appreciate our industry know that homegrown Scotch Beef is part of the climate solution—not the problem. Relying on imported beef to meet consumer demand while ignoring its true environmental cost is not just disingenuous—it’s harmful.”
Mr Brown also emphasised the untapped economic potential of the Scotch Beef supply chain—from farm to processor to retailer—at a time when the UK Government is actively seeking to grow GDP.
“Scotland’s red meat processing sector already generates over £1 billion annually and supports more than 3,000 jobs. With the right government support, we could achieve even more. Increased domestic production would also drive on-farm investment and rural growth—helping address some of the UK’s wider economic challenges.”
Industry Under Pressure
This urgent call for action follows mounting pressure on SAMW member companies, who are striving to maintain supply chains despite a serious decline in the national cattle herd over the last decade. Scottish meat processors are currently operating at only 70% capacity, with weekly production down 9% over the past four years alone.
Reversing this decline will take time—at least three years of dedicated on-farm breeding and production are needed just to stabilise the current situation. In the meantime, the UK is becoming increasingly dependent on imported beef to meet domestic demand.
However, relying on imports is a risky strategy. As other regions around the world face their own supply shortages, access to foreign beef cannot be guaranteed. Disruption to global trade, coupled with limited availability, ultimately leads to one outcome—increased prices for consumers.
Call for Strategic Change
“This issue has been raised with Government time and again,” said Mr Brown. “Yet nothing has changed. We are now at a tipping point. Without urgent and strategic intervention, we risk losing a cornerstone of Scotland’s agricultural identity and businesses failing—sacrificed to unsustainable global imports and short-sighted policy decisions.”
The prospect of gaps appearing in the red meat sections of UK supermarkets next year is a real possibility warns the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
“The continuing decline in cattle numbers has worsened over the last 12 months to the extent that domestic supplies are nearing a critical tipping point, bringing is to the brink of gaps in supply at certain times of the year,” said SAMW President, Alan Brown.
Alan Brown
“Despite investing extensive time and effort in raising this issue with government ministers and officials over many years, much of which has not been taken on board at all seriously, the harsh reality is that the erosion of breeding cattle numbers has reached the stage where this is likely to be felt on retail shelves at certain points in 2025.
“SAMW member companies are already operating on reduced throughputs on a regular basis, a fact which is impacting unit costs and raising serious questions about the future viability of some processing lines and the jobs associated with them.”
Suggestions that imported product can easily fill any gaps that arise are misguided. Global red meat supplies are under pressure, with international buyers seeking to secure products from Scottish exhibitors at the recent SIAL Food Fair in Paris.
“Scotland’s cattle number decline is a massive missed economic opportunity for the country,” said Mr Brown, whose members employ close to 3000 workers across 29 processing plants. “Instead of growing our national beef herd in response to rising demand, we are merely allowing output to fall.
“Our 2025 plea to government ministers and officials is to focus on action, not words, and to stop giving mixed messages to producers and processors about the future direction for Scottish red meat production. This is one of the country’s most successful and highly regarded sectors which plays a massive part in the economic well-being of Scotland. We need the industry to be developed before it’s too late.
“Having come through a UK election in 2024, with a Scottish election due within the next 18 months, there is very real danger that the red meat ‘action can’ will once again be kicked down the road. No one can afford to let this happen.
“It takes three years to produce each kilogram of quality beef for which Scotland is famous, a fact which already takes the impact of any decisions reached next year, deep into 2028. Building delay on delay, while reducing the herd by stealth, does absolutely nothing for our industry, or consumers, except create the potential for empty shelves and widespread job losses.”
Rising costs
The SAMW President also warned that rising costs are impacting processors, well beyond the inflationary norm, especially as related to mandatory inspection charges imposed by Food Standards Scotland (FSS).
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, FSS showed a degree of flexibility in relation to operating measures within meat processing plants,” said Mr Brown. “Output was duly maintained in the face of extreme odds, without any reduction to food safety. We had hoped this would mark the beginning of a more sustained level of post-pandemic flexibility by FSS towards SAMW member businesses. We envisaged that the return to normal working conditions would be used to embrace a thorough modernisation of the meat inspection process, utilising new technologies and new ways of working. Unfortunately, post-Covid reality has seen a return to how it was before the pandemic struck.”
Having faced a 20% charging increase in 2024, driven by a new 35-hour week and public service pay increases of 10%, subsequently mitigated by a Scottish Government subsidy, early indications point to another major hike in FSS charges in 2025.
SAMW Executive in session in December, 2024, when supply shortages and rising costs were both given detailed attention
“We want to engage with FSS and with Government legislators over how we might create a modern and more cost-effective inspection system, fully equipped to deliver top class food safety,” said Mr Brown. “We made very little progress, if any, towards this in 2024.
“We must explore innovative solutions, such as using CCTV for ante mortem inspections. If this works, as we know it can, then we can surely work together to secure the necessary legislative platform.
“There are still many reasons to be positive about Scotland’s red meat future, given the amazing production and processing base which exists in this country. It would therefore be a great waste if, instead of moving forward in 2025, the coming 12 months is allowed to become a year of costly decline, missed opportunities and empty red meat shelves.”
Scotland’s meat wholesalers have issued a stark warning that the rural landscape of Scotland will undergo significant change if the ongoing decline in cattle numbers isn’t addressed as a matter of urgency.
Alan Brown, President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers, speaking at the organisation’s annual conference at Ingliston on September 6, told industry, farming and government leaders that jobs, the Scottish economy and food security will all be impacted unless real action is taken the reverse the continuing downturn in livestock numbers.
Conference speakers (l-r) Scott Walker, SAMW Executive Manager; Iain Macdonald, QMS Market Intelligence Manager; Martin Kennedy, NFU Scotland president; Alan Brown, SAMW President; Sarah Millar, QMS Chief Executive; Ian McWatt, FSS Deputy Chief Executive: and George Burgess, Director of Agriculture and Rural Economy, Scottish Government.
Clear plan needed
Calling on the government for a clear action plan to boost livestock production in Scotland, he warned that mere words would no longer be sufficient.
“We need assurances that all future policies will be thoroughly valuated to ensure there is a platform for livestock growth in Scotland rather than the decline we’ve experienced for far too long,” he said.
“We also need increased collaboration across the whole rural industry, government included, if we’re to finally start to solve this problem. If, however, no action is taken then the critical mass of livestock in Scotland will continue to decrease and our national rural landscape is going to change.”
Conference delegates
Mr Brown was followed on the conference platform by Quality Meat Scotland, Chief Executive, Sarah Millar and QMS Market Intelligence Manager, Iain Macdonald, who outlined the economic potential of Scotland’s beef sector, based on the results of the organisation’s recently published Red Meat Industry Profile report.
NFU Scotland, president, Martin Kennedy, also addressed the gathering on the potential of Scotland’s livestock industry if the right economic and policy conditions are created to enable the sector to move forward and reverse the current decline in livestock numbers.
See QMS conference press release on our Blog page
The future strength and profitability of red meat production and processing in Scotland will depend on securing improved collaboration between industry, government and regulators says Alan Brown, President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
“We have all the core ingredients in place to produce, process and market red meat successfully to both domestic and international customers,” he said, speaking ahead of SAMW’s annual conference on Friday, September 6. “What we need now, however, to help move the sector forward, is an increased appreciation of the commercial realities of our industry by both the Scottish and UK Governments.
“Scotland’s meat plant operators also need a similar practical understanding of the costs and operational needs by our regulator Food Standards Scotland (FSS), who play a major role in overseeing the country’s abattoirs and processing units.
“Focusing first on government issues, unnecessary trade barriers with our EU customers continue to hamper the majority of SAMW members, adding substantially to export procedures and costs. These need to be reduced. We also require a sound and settled skilled worker visa system, equipped to provide our industry with essential staff, rather than the shortages we’ve encountered in recent years.
“These vital concerns will be debated during our conference, with Scotland’s Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, Jim Fairlie, in attendance and due to address delegates. It’s worth adding that SAMW member companies generate a combined turnover of £1 billion and employ over 3,000 people, contributing massively to the Scottish economy.”
Switching to the Association’s recent discussions with FSS and the Scottish Government over a major increase in Official Veterinarian and Meat Hygiene Inspection charges, Mr Brown paid tribute to a £500,000 contribution in recognition of the issues being faced by Scotland’s processing industry, albeit that it only covers the extra costs that arose from government policies that increased charge rates.
“We appreciate the way in which the Scottish Government engaged with us on this issue once the consequences of policy decisions were known, although we would obviously rather have avoided the cost rises that created the need for such action,” he said. “As a follow-on, we are engaging with FSS to explore options to make their charging system work more fairly in the future. This needs to be an examination of options that are commercially based, not a ‘moving of the deck chairs’ process, designed to tick a few boxes. Future charging will undoubtedly be raised during the conference, especially as Ian McWatt, FSS Deputy Chief Executive, has agreed to be one of our speakers on Sept. 6.
“Sarah Millar, Chief Executive of Quality Meat Scotland, will also address delegates, focusing on the organisation’s 5-year strategy and what has been delivered during its first 12 months.”
Maintaining Scottish livestock numbers, maximising the domestic processing of quality red meat and ensuring we have a competitive processing industry are the three top priority objectives for the next 12 months says the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
Alan Brown
“After more than 10 years of livestock numbers in Scotland steadily drifting downwards, there is an urgent need to stabilise our industry,” said SAMW President, Alan Brown.
“Losing critical mass, beyond the breeding reductions we’ve already seen, will endanger the future of the country’s meat supply and processing chain, something we cannot afford if Scotland is to retain its global status for quality red meat.
“While our long-term goal as an industry is to see growth restored to Scottish livestock production, with a recovery generating a significant boost to the Scottish economy, the place to start today is with the stabilisation of beef cow numbers. We also need to maximise the processing of Scottish livestock within Scotland, rather than exporting our quality status for processing plants elsewhere to enjoy.
“There’s an obvious self-help side to this for Scottish processors, but also for producers. The stronger our domestic processing and wholesaling chain remains, the more we can deliver as an industry to the benefit of local breeders and finishers.
“Business is business, of course, no-matter where you sit in the supply chain, a fact which SAMW member companies fully understand. Costs have also definitely increased over the past year, not least in relation to the role played in our industry by Food Standards Scotland (FSS). We’ve been pressing FSS and the Scottish Government to address the massive rise in Official Veterinarian charges and huge uplift in Meat Hygiene Inspection costs to our members for 2024/25. This discussion is still ongoing and urgently needs to be resolved in order to ensure that Scotland remains a competitive place for doing business.
“No-matter how you look at it, to borrow a bit of language from the current General Election debates, our whole industry, farmers and processors, is clearly facing a very substantial ‘tax increase’.
“As we approach another Royal Highland Show, when the very best of Scotland’s livestock quality will be on display, the need to be realistic about the fragility of our industry has to be addressed. If we don’t arrest the recent decline in numbers, and do so quickly, then the farming shop window that the Ingliston showground represents will rapidly become a very pale imitation of its former self.”
Site director at Kepak McIntosh Donald, located at Portlethen, Aberdeen, Alan succeeded Ian Bentley who completed his two-year term as Association President on May 29.
Alan Brown
Alan’s early meat trade career included working for John Munro in Dingwall and Buchan Meat in Turriff, after which he joined the Kepak Group some 28 years ago. His career has featured a range of management roles across Kepak locations in Scotland, England and Ireland, prior to returning to his native Aberdeen six years ago to run the Portlethen business, which Kepak acquired in 2018.
“We have an amazing red meat industry in Scotland, founded on high quality livestock and a lot of hard work by everyone involved in the supply chain, from farmers to retailers,” said Alan. “There have always been challenges, certainly in my 40 years in the industry.
“Containing processing costs, maintaining on-farm stock numbers, and ensuring a strong future for Scotland’s processors and farmers will dominate my tenure as SAMW President. I’m delighted to accept this challenge, fully aware of the demands we face as an industry to ensure Scottish red meat continues to command respect at home and abroad in the years ahead.”
Scotland’s meat industry is at risk of being rendered ‘uncompetitive’ in comparison to the rest of the UK by the imposition of huge cost increases by Food Standards Scotland (FSS).
An April 1st price hike by FSS of 20% for the provision of Official Veterinarians (OVs) and a 17% rise in the cost of Meat Hygiene Inspectors (MHIs) has been described as excessive and unacceptable by the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW).
“The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in England and Wales is, in contrast, raising its OV rate by 4% and MHI rate by 10%, leaving both charges well below the levels our members are being required to pay,” said SAMW President, Ian Bentley. “If the FSS increases are allowed to stand without any abatement, they will impact our businesses, the staff our members employ and the wider farm-based rural economy from which we draw our raw materials.”
SAMW has discussed the issue with senior staff at FSS and written to the Scottish Government Minister for Public Health, Jenni Minto, warning that the planned 20% and 17% cost increases ‘will have a detrimental effect on the industry’ to the extent of ‘jeopardising’ member businesses ‘competitiveness and sustainability’.
Ian Bentley
“Individual members are shocked at the level of OV and MHI increases they are now facing, especially when compared to their own efforts to keep processing plant cost rises closer to the 4% level which FSA is achieving,” said Mr Bentley.
One business owner said he would never be able to negotiate a 20% rise with his own customers and would never accept such an approach from a commercial supplier. Another business executive commented that if FSS was his supplier in the commercial world then it wouldn’t be his supplier anymore.
“We understand the pressures under which FSS has been operating, with its need to absorb the Scottish Government’s civil service wage rise of 7% for 2023/24 and the introduction of a 35-hour-week from October this year,” said Mr Bentley. “According to FSS, this equates to a cost recovery requirement of £424,000.
“Our members are perfectly happy for the Scottish Government to takes such steps, of course, especially if they can fund the increased costs. We just don’t see why we should pay for them.
“The other major cost increase, as identified by FSS, relates to difficulties it has experienced in recruiting sufficient OVs and MHIs to operate the statutory controls in Scottish red meat plants. While, ideally, these posts should be filled by employed staff, FSS has relied ‘as a temporary measure’ on agency and locum staff at an additional cost to their budget of £407,000.
“Here again, member companies do not see why they should be required to pay for this ‘temporary’ cost, caused by the described recruitment ‘difficulties’.”
Scotland’s red meat sector benefits from an annual discount of statutory charges, worth £1.07 million, a measure which acknowledges the industry’s contribution of £1 billion a year to the Scottish economy and a direct employment base of over 3000 people.
“We firmly believe therefore that a strong rationale exists for the industry discount to be temporarily increased to offset the £831,000 added burden we are currently facing, a request we have already made to the Scottish Government,” said Mr Bentley.
“We are also seeking, even at this 11th hour, a postponement of the April 1st increases to allow the matter to be examined and discussed in greater detail than has been possible since the 20% and 17% figures were presented to us on March 7.”
It’s unnerving how much change has taken place over the past 12 months while, at the same time, how little has been achieved in terms of policy advances or the delivery of solutions to benefit Scotland’s red meat chain either in 2024 or beyond, says Ian Bentley, President of the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers.
Ian Bentley
“Balancing positives and negatives is a common element of business management across all sectors, of course, especially when energy costs remain high, inflation and interest rates plague us all, and cost of living pressures constrain consumers’ spending powers,” he said in his annual New Year summary.
“For Scotland’s red meat industry, in particular, 2023 will be noted for a degree of business upheaval, driven by changes of ownership, although it’s encouraging that we have suffered no loss of processing capacity during this process.
“More worrying is the continuing annual decline in livestock numbers, despite relatively strong prices for producers throughout the past year. While the decline in 2023 has been small in percentage terms, the drip, drip, impact on our shrinking breeding herd is approaching a critical point.
“I have said before that this should be a source of concern to Government and a stimulus to move forward with an agriculture policy which recognises the importance of the meat industry to Scotland’s economy and incentivises increases in sustainable production. However, we are still to see any detailed proposals along these lines, and I fear that continuing uncertainty will result in a further reduction in numbers in 2024.
“This trend has several consequences. One is that a reduction in domestic production opens the door to increased imports of meat from across the world, potentially from countries whose standards of quality, welfare, and sustainability are inferior to our own. This surely cannot be right, yet some of the recent trade deals agreed by the UK Government seem expressly designed to open up our country to these sources.
“Given that our climate and terrain is ideally suited to farming for sustainable meat production, we should be promoting and supporting our domestic industry rather than undermining it, as so often seems to be the case. I hope that in 2024 we shall start to see positive signs in this direction.
“We also hope for sensible moves in relation to the regulation of our industry. All too often, regulatory friction inhibits trade, as we have seen in recent months with the introduction of vet attestation requirements for exports. It is difficult to justify this additional bureaucracy and we hope it will not hinder trade through 2024.
“The processes surrounding vet attestation is a prime example of low policy implementation in both 2022 and 2023. Originally scheduled for launch in December 2022, the policy was first delayed until December 2023 and is now scheduled for practical introduction in April 2024. All that has been achieved so far is uncertainty for those seeking to run commercial meat export businesses.
“In addition, the attestation requirement appears set to add to difficulties already being encountered concerning the availability of sufficient qualified vets to keep our industry running smoothly. Vet recruitment is fast becoming a major issue across the country, indeed across the world, and tying up the vets we already have with ever more form filling is a poor use of their expertise.
“We remain positive and upbeat about the quality base on which the Scottish meat industry is founded, nevertheless, from stock breeding through processing to strong trade contacts at home and abroad. These factors have never been in doubt. It would be helpful though if some of the limiting impacts I’ve already mentioned are properly and finally dealt with in 2024. That is certainly our hope for the new year.”
T: 07768 654955 E: scott.walker@scconsultancy.uk
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