The Road Ahead for Scottish Organics Conference - The Round Up

Themed The Road Ahead for Scottish Organics, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, opened proceedings.

“Through positive collaborations between producers, government, and support organisations an empowered Organic sector can take the lead to map out the future of Organics here in Scotland. Our commitment to supporting the development of an Organic food and farming action plan will play a key part in this”.

“The plan will bring improvements which will strengthen the supply chain, grow the Organic market and encourage more farmers and producers to convert to Organic practices”.

Leading industry experts set the scene presenting on the opportunities for organic producers including Prof Christine Watson SAC Consulting and Chair of the Defra UK Expert Group on Organic Production; Roger Kerr, Chief Executive of Organic Farmers and Growers; Fiona Richmond from Scotland Food and Drink; and Jayne Jones from Argyll and Bute Council.

The topics presented were well received including, how organics has a big part to play in the future of Scotland’s Food and Drink strategy. Jayne Jones spoke enthusiastically about how in her local authority area they are working hard to ensure that public procurement is offering the best of Scottish produce to our children, young people and elderly, and organic produce is playing a big part in this. Healthy, nutritious food was seen as an investment, not a cost!

During the afternoon sessions, delegates heard from speakers Bryce Cunningham from Mossgiel Dairy; David Cunningham from Dod Seeds Ltd; and Doug Christie from Durie Farms who all gave insightful presentations.

Bryce Cunningham told delegates how he, with the support of his team, turned the Mossgiel Farm business from the output of one farm to five farms all with the same ethos to provide sustainable dairy products to all. He told the audience about his hopes for the future which included becoming a net zero dairy. The delegates then heard from the inspiring David Cunningham all about how Organic can be as productive as a non-organic farm and gave the delegates plenty of food for thought about how this can be achieved.

SOPA Chairman, Roger Baird, said the event was a timely opportunity for innovative thinkers in the sector to come together.

 “At a time when the planet needs all the help it can get, we need to look at drastically cutting our emissions. Organic farming farms without chemicals, we can produce- equivalent yields of healthy, nutritious food and in so doing improve biodiversity and the health of our most valuable resource, namely our soil. The conference was remarkable, highlighting innovation and knowledge transfer within the sector, which SOPA will continue to harness and encourage”.

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Debs Roberts SOPA Manager said “The Road Ahead conference was an insightful day, bringing together many parts of the organic sector in Scotland.  The energy in the room was a real indication of how there are opportunities to be grasped, and organic food and farming have a significant and unique role to deliver on our national food, climate change and biodiversity ambitions.

As the conference feedback was very positive, we are planning a second conference for November 2024”.

Anna from Scene and Herd attended the conference and recorded insights from a number of the speakers on the day so if you would like to hear more search for the On-Farm podcast: Organic Farming: The Road Ahead – SOPA conference wherever you normally get your podcasts.

For more information about SOPA’s upcoming news and events click here.