Farmer’s call over smallscale units

An established organic farmer from the north has called on the Government to focus future farm support on small-scale family farming units supplying food direct to communities.

Donnie Macleod of Macleod Organics at Kylerona at Hillhead, Ardersier, between Inverness and Nairn, made the plea at the SRUC organic food and farming conference in Resolis on the Black Isle yesterday.

Mr Macleod, who started a small organic box delivery scheme in 1999 which has evolved into an online organic retail business, said farm subsidy support should be directed towards farmers growing food for communities as well as being used to fund the cost of farmers markets.

He said the food and drink supply chain was broken due to “government policy of making farms bigger to service the global supermarkets”.

“The supply chain is broken because of the (drive for) shortterm profits for the very rich,” said Mr Macleod.

“They broke it because they removed people from the land.”

Calling for a return to smallscale family farms, Mr Macleod was critical of the structure of Scottish agriculture and said the majority of farmers were producing food for commodity markets, rather than nearby villages and towns.

“To grow food we need land. Break up the estates and break up the big farms; incentivise small,” said Mr Macleod.

“Put the small farmers back on the land with their families.”

To fellow organic producers, Mr Macleod urged them to up production and do more to promote the image of organic farming to the public.

“We have to walk the talk and we need to get people out to the farms,” he said.

He said supply was not meeting demand for organic produce, which holds just under 1% share of the UK food and drink market.

This was backed by SAC Consulting’s organic farming specialist, Caroline Mohamed Shahin, who said a recent study by the Soil Association had found 50% of Scottish consumers were willing to buy local, organic produce if they had access to it.

UK organic food and drink sales were up 4.9% last year to £1.95 billion, compared to around 1% growth in the conventional food and drink market, she said.

“There is room for the market to develop. Other countries are doing it so there’s no reason why we cannot do it as well,” said Ms Shahin.