Scotland’s food and drink producers are in the midst of a “game-changing” period according to Scotland Food and Drink chief executive James Withers.
Asking delegates at the QMS marketing conference in Edinburgh whether they thought this is a golden era for food and drink in Scotland, he answered himself: “I believe so”.
“If you realise you are in a golden era as it is developing, you have a unique ability to shape it and drive it forwards,” he said.
Scotland’s red-meat producers should take note, he said.
“We have a brilliant opportunity to drive what Scotland’s food and drink legacy will be for future years,” said Mr Withers.
He said that the sector needs to promote its natural assets.
“Burns Day is rapidly approaching this weekend: it’s fair to adopt his phrase to ‘see ourselves as others see us’.
He said people abroad have an affinity with Scotland and its natural environment.
“We have a brilliant provenance story for what Scotland stands for and a purity of natural environment which gives rise to the high quality products we have got,” Mr Withers said.
As a result, he said so much Scotland’s producers need to do in developing the country’s food and drink story involves looking towards those who have already done it well.
“The whisky industry demonstrates how to build a global international platform, building and protecting brands and accessing new markets,” he said.
In terms of farming, he said, Scotland’s agricultural land is not conducive to being a mass-production county.
The potential for the future of food production, and in particular red meat, now hinges on a premium, healthier brand with provenance.
“The story matters more and more,” said Mr Withers.
Scotland Food and Drink has set an ambitious target for industry growth at £16.5 billion by 2017, having already surpassed the previous goal of £12.5bn.
“The export story is more complicated,” he conceded, with £8 out of every £10 currently going on a whisky bottle.
“That said, in terms of pace of growth, food exports are now growing at the same rate as whisky.”
But beef exports and beef production are not experiencing the same boom due in part, according to Mr Withers, to supply challenges.
“We have to fix what is currently something of a market failure, and we have to broaden our export portfolio,” he said.
“There is demand at home; we know that. People value the availability of local produce.”
Sharing his view on exports, he added: “Any strong sector has an export platform.”
Indeed, he said the day any sector has all its eggs in the one UK basket is the day it is in trouble.
He used the dairy sector as an example: “92% of our dairy products that are produced in Scotland are sold in the UK, and most of that to four big retailers.
“Those retailers are important.
“About £1 in every £3 spent on Scottish food goes in Tesco’s tills alone, so they are important, but they cannot be our only customer.
“We do not spread our risk in this sector appropriately enough,” he said.
He added that the importance of the export market should be all too familiar to the red-meat industry, having been locked out of export markets for the last 10 years.
“We have had a weaker market for not having access to export markets.”