Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead

Introduced by Nigel Miller as outliving several NFUS Presidents. Richard began by wishing NFUS a happy birthday in their 100th year and congratulating the newly elected leadership.

His address reviewed the changes through those the last 100 years. Scotland needs its food producers. In the last 100 years Scottish agriculture has fed the Scottish people. With every new member the voice of NFUS has grown stronger. Testimony to the people who work the land by all the issues that have impacted along the way.

The Cabinet Secretary went through a list of Scottish Government engagement and support to Scottish Government. That included a promise to invite those impacted to meet to consider weather related matters. Drainage and flood protection was important.

Lamb production challenging and markets need developed. £1.4m levy funding lost to QMS because of lambs leaving Scotland live. Lochhead announced £250,000 for QMS to develop new markets for Scotch Lamb.

Turning to the horse meat affair Richard Lochhead said that we cannot allow the good work done by Scottish food producers to be undermined by imported 'beef' products. Everything has to be done to maintain standards and enable reassurances to be given.
To this end he had ordered all 229 approved food businesses to be inspected to ensure that there was no risk of horse meat being uncovered in Scotland. In addition he was seeking reassurance from public sector suppliers including Brake Brothers.

What the horsemeat issue has done is to lead consumers to take more interest in what is on their plates. Something that we have all wished for a long time and something that has driven consumers back to butchers. Lochhead made specific reference to SFMTA member, Mike Dawson butcher in Elgin where there had been a 20% boost to sales.
Cut throat competition among retailers has created this scandal but he felt that retailers needed to get behind the Scottish brand. To assist he announced that he was commissioning a country of origin audit within Scottish food businesses through Scotland Food & Drink. He added that £1m granted for the Scottish brand to be promoted to new markets – this £1m transpired to include the £250,000 for QMS.

Lochhead criticised the UK government for not representing Scotland adequately. At EU discussions French president and others had to be thanked; being part of UK has cost Scotland £250m in the new CAP arrangements. Payments to support direct food production have not been addressed. Other Member States actually protect Scotland from UK arguments.

Questioned on beef / horsemeat matter contrasted against using French malting barley in Scotch Whisky. RL said that he had been assured by distillers that they would take more than the current 90% usage of Scottish barley.