The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Scots firms share £5m to improve infrastructure
Biggest award of £1m set for Perthshire poultry processing plant
Scottish food and farming businesses have been awarded £5 million to help them invest in new equipment or upgrades to their facilities and infrastructure.
A total of 30 food and drink companies will share the Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation (FPMC) grants announced by Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing, with the biggest award of £1m going to the 2 Sisters poultry processing plant at Coupar Angus.
2 Sisters is investing £5.1m in the Perthshire plant, in new freezers, a plant room to produce added-value meal ingredients as well as external improvements to the site.
The company welcomed the assistance, which they said would help them create a more sustainable operation, and NFU Scotland’s (NFUS) poultry committee chairman, Robert Thomson, said investment in Coupar Angus was vital for the entire production chain – including growers – if any Scottish chicken is to be produced.
Other beneficiaries of the grants include Freuchie-based Kettle Produce Limited (£283,125) towards their investment of £943,753 in new machinery to increase the number of lines and products of ready-to-cook vegetables; R Todd & Co, Leven, Fife (£815,903) for modern packing lines to increase the volume of fruit, reduce waste and ensure higher quality; CC Mcintyre Farming, Ladybank, Fife (£88,222) to construct a packing shed and install a single packing line; Stewarts of Tayside Limited, Glencarse (£349,642) to enhance swede processing and cold storage due to a significant increase in the retail swede business; the Stockwell family from Crail (£247,617) towards the construction of a new cold store and refrigeration equipment; Denhead Farms at Coupar Angus (£305,468) towards a new facility for drying and dicing vegetable waste; FIMM Potatoes Limited, Aberfeldy (£380,868) to purchase and install an optical potato grading machine; Simon Howie Butchers Ltd at Dunning (£237,422) for an automated burger production line and a chilled processing room; Balcaskie Farms, Anstruther (£78,886) for new grain dressing and bagging facility and a butchery and chill unit at the Bowhouse Market; HM & PP Swire, Laurencekirk (£182,216) to build and equip an extension to its on-farm deer processing facility.
According to the Scottish Government the FPMC grants, which comprise joint Scottish and European Union funding, will safeguard 1,386 jobs and create 97 new ones.
Mr Ewing said: “This support will enable established producers and businesses across Scotland to look to the future and capitalise on emerging marketing opportunities, as well as offer support to start-up businesses.”