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Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2013

12 Mar 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Food Policy

Dey, Graeme SNP Angus South Watch on SPTV

The county of Angus is very much at the centre of Scotland’s flourishing food industry, from soft fruit to smokies to popular preserves. The part of the country that I am fortunate to represent contributes in good measure to that success story. However, in keeping with the Scottish Government’s ambitions, there will be no resting on laurels—the plan is to do even better, whatever challenges might arise.

Angus has a longstanding reputation in traditional forms of agriculture, but increasingly in recent years it has come to the fore as the focal point of Scotland’s burgeoning soft-fruit sector. At the heart of that lies the Angus Growers organisation, which has 18 members growing about 1,000 acres of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Recently, it began planting cherry trees, which will begin to bear fruit in a couple of years. Although based in Arbroath, the organisation has members in Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Fife as well as Angus. It has involvement from Oldmeldrum down to Crail and west to Blairgowrie.

The growers have more than 200 people working for them all year round and up to 2,000 seasonal workers between March and November. All told, they sell over £30 million of fruit a year, all packed into punnets ready for sale locally on the farms themselves or through five major UK supermarkets through their marketing agent Angus Soft Fruits, another Angus-farmer-owned business.

Angus Growers members are very much at the forefront of research and plant breeding, having developed their own new premium variety of strawberry, the Ava Rosa, which is being introduced to the market in commercial quantities this year. They also work closely with the James Hutton Institute on research in looking to ensure that Scotland’s soft fruit sector continues to progress in the most appropriate way. They have for example developed the Good Natured Fruit brand, producing and selling pesticide and residue-free fruit that is grown on the farms using biological control of pest and disease techniques that have been developed in house. They have done that principally because it is the right thing to do for the environment, but the other driver is need, given the declining bee populations, which Alison Johnstone touched on earlier.

To maintain pollination, Angus Growers members are actively planting suitable habitats around polytunnels that will encourage bees to remain in the area and breed. They are asking local beekeepers to bring in their hives and they are buying in bees.

Without bees, growers suffer not only a reduced yield but unevenly shaped berries. The soft fruit sector is on the case but, at the same time, it is—understandably—taking a keen interest in developments such as possible EU restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids and how the Government will respond to that. As I have suggested, the leading part that Arbroath is playing in the growth of Scotland’s soft fruit industry is perhaps not as widely recognised or appreciated as it might be, although I know that the cabinet secretary very much understands the situation, as he has visited the set-up in Arbroath.

Another contribution from the town of Arbroath to Scotland’s food industry that is perhaps not fully understood comes from preserves. How many members are aware that the well-known Mrs Bridges line is manufactured in Arbroath by Mackays? Mackays makes jams and marmalades using traditional copper pans that are sourced from Dundee. The strawberries, raspberries and blackberries that are used in its products come from farms in Angus, Perthshire and Fife. Products that sport the traditional Mackays tartan brand are to be found in three supermarket chains in the UK and five chains in Scotland.

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Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2013

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