Local Food for Everyone: Our Journey

Section 5 - Food and Drink Industry Overview

The food and drink industry is a major contributor to Scotland’s economy, with latest figures showing that the sector generates turnover of around £15 billion and adding close to £5.4 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA). It is made up of over 17,000 businesses, which employ around 129,000 people, many in economically fragile rural and island communities.

Scotland is a nation producing high-quality, rather than high-volume, food and drink products. Our targets for increasing turnover will only be achieved by strengthening the supply chain. This can be achieved by adding value to the many high-quality food and drink products that we produce in this country and by looking to expand domestic production and processing of our high-quality primary produce, as well as encouraging efficiencies in production.

We have a clear Vision for Agriculture to be a leader in sustainable and regenerative farming. To deliver this, we must build a sustainable food production sector for future generations, whilst reducing emissions, increasing carbon sequestration and helping to improve biodiversity, air, soil, and water quality. A Route Map has been published which provides further clarity on how we intend to deliver the ambitions set out in the Vision. A phased transition approach to the new Future Support Framework is outlined in the Route Map, as well as what information and guidance the sector can expect and when it will be available.

To enable the delivery of the Vision for Agriculture, the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2023. It is a significant milestone in reforming our agricultural and wider rural support systems. The Bill aims to provide Scotland with a future framework that will support farmers and crofters to meet more of our food needs sustainably and to farm and croft with nature, and will assist in efforts to meet our climate change targets. Scotland's farmers, crofters and land managers are vital to our ambition to make our nation fairer and greener, and to enable us to produce more of our own food more sustainably. The Bill will be the platform for measures focused on the Scottish Government key outcomes: high-quality food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and wider rural development. Collectively, this will form a framework of support for agriculture, forestry and rural communities more generally.

In 2021, the marine economy, which includes fishing, processing, and aquaculture sectors, generated £4.5 billion in GVA, 3% of the overall Scottish economy. Around 14,000 people were employed in fishing, seafood processing and aquaculture in Scotland, contributing 0.5% to total Scottish employment and 20% to total marine economy employment in Scotland. Scotland has a high prevalence of seafood industry-dependent communities - in 2019, 77% of Scotland’s seafood employees were in areas that included just 1.6% of Scotland’s population. In 2018, the Scottish aquaculture sector and its supply chain supported an estimated 11,700 jobs in the Scottish economy and generated £885 million GVA in 2018. Farmed Atlantic salmon is the UK’s most valuable food export.