The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Food and drink firms win share of £3.5m
Thirteen food, drink and agricultural businesses from across Scotland have been awarded grants worth almost £3.5 million through the Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation grant scheme.
Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham announced the funding during a visit to Kettle Produce in Cupar yesterday.
The vegetable packing business received £279,000 through the scheme to construct a new complex for short and long-term cold storage for 4,500 tonnes of swede, carrot, pointed cabbage, cauliflower, kale and courgettes.
Ms Cunningham said the funding would “support sustainable cooperation and collaboration from primary production and processing to the market” for the 13 businesses.
Other recipients of funding include Angus-based vegetable enterprise McDonald Agri, which was awarded just under £168,000 for the construction of a packhouse and various processing equipment.
Perthshire-based Simon Howie Butchers has been given more than £206,000 for the construction of a dry goods store, engineering support facility, a cold store with blast freezing and a centralised packing room.
Turriff-based Maxwell Farms Limited secured just under £635,000 for a washing, grading, overwrapping and retail packing facility, while the Coleburn Distillery in Elgin was granted more than £246,000 to create a boutique distillery.
Grantown-on-Spey meat processor Millers of Speyside has been given £83,660 to purchase and install an on-site incinerator plant and a stunning box for its cattle and pig line.
The Scottish Islands Abattoir Association has been awarded £43,300 to fund a feasibility study to consider how the economic sustainability of the islands’ abattoirs could be ensured.
Stirlingshire’s Katy Rodger’s Artisan Dairy secured around £16,000 for the purchase and installation of an external walk-in fridge and freezer, a commercial fruit-cooking machine and a pot filler and conveyor.