Livestock marketing plan unveiled as Brexit looms

0 QMS chairman Jim Mclaren revealed five-year marketing strategy yesterday plan which will be broken down into one-year implementation plans.”

He said that QMS’S overall strategy for 2018 to 2023 was “to support the development of a sustainable, professional, resilient and profitable Scottish red meat industry” which would make an important contribution to Scotland Food & Drink’s target of £30 billion by 2030.

Stating that his first ten months in post had made him realise that QMS punched well above its weight, Clarke said that the strategy was made up of four very clear aims which would help the organisation deliver similalry effective outcomes over the next five years.

“The first is to build the Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Pork brands through quality assurance and effective marketing and communications with consumers. Over 70 per cent of QMS’S external levy spend is on consumer-facing activity,” he said.

He added that another key aim was to support the sustainable growth of the industry through strategic engagement with key stakeholders, supply chain collaboration and a cascade of key market information and the third is to develop capability and capacity in the Scottish red meat industry through training and education initiatives which attract, motivate and develop the workforce.

The final element, pointed out Clarke, was to deliver professional services which supported the continued growth of a resilient, professional Scottish red meat industry which would be able to grasp opportunities and meet challenges. Commenting on the direct effects of Brexit on QMS itself, Mclaren said that while it presented challenges for the organisation – not least in the shape of the loss of marketing grants which had accounted for more than £500,000 of the organisation’s £5 million budget in recent years – work was already well under way to seek replacement funding:

“And like most organisations receiving funding from the EU in the past we will be looking to the ‘Brexit dividend’ to deliver on this front,” he added.s