SUII workshop date- Food security in Scotland
Friday 30th October 2015- University of Stirling.
Caveat: These were free ranging discussions and may not be the
opinion of everyone who was present. The information has not
been fact checked.
SWOT analysis
Strengths:
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Wealth
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Disposable income
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Branding
Nationalism (scottish products)
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Government initiatives
• Food waste scotland act (>5kg)
Recycling
• Cultural attitudes favour policy / innnovation
Discard ban
Culture
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Transport
Waste
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Safety
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Shellfish products testing PSP etc.
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No Bovine TB
Production
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More land area per capita
But of how much use?
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More sea area per capita
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Esp for UK
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Appropriate (sheltered, deep, inland, containable) sites for aquaculture
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Esp for UK
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Freshwater
Policy
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Closer to evidence based decision making
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Government promotes production
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CAP managed in a smaller area
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Access to markets and inputs through trade agreements
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Support to developing countries (e.g. Malawi)
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Marine spatial planning
Funding
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Pooling initiatives
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MASTS
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SAGES
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FSA
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Further education more accessible than rest of UK
International links / resources
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CGIAR consult. group int. agric.
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SASA
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HEI Pools
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Data collections
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Commonwealth scholarship commission
Expertise
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Soil science
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SRUC
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Marine spatial planning
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Animal genetics (Dolly)
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Aquaculture (IoA, MSS, Barony college)
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Food (Rowett)
Added value products
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Aesthetic – high quality
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Langoustine
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Angus beef
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Whiskey
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Orkney brown crab
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Non-GM – niche market?
Welfare
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More effective legislation (maybe more for fish)
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Relative to ? (maybe not UK)
Species
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See below
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Mackerel
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Salmon
Nutrition available
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Certain nutrients available
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Omega 3 rich fish
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Shellfisah
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Venison
Protected status for foods
Weaknesses
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
Milk production
Imports threaten self- sufficiency. Self- sufficiency would need strong government led
changes.
 Scotland is less self- sufficient in land than the rest of the UK, but more self -sufficient in sea
(62%). We have a lot of low quality land so extensive production is limited. Some areas are
geographically isolated and it is expensive to get the product to market even if you can farm.
 There is some tensions between the messages which we are getting from the Scottish
Government:
1. Local supply and local production is good.
2. We are a global player in the food market- a lot of produce is sent elsewhere. However, our
exports are “premium”, is this an issue? Or do premium products hold their value better?
We need infrastructure to support local communities.
What will happen with the economics? Do we need to be food secure or is our strong economy good
enough to keep us fed? Unstable countries will cause price fluctuations.
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We are not far away from shortages of some crops eg potatoes.
Scottish crop growth is currently optimised because of our current climate and the areas in
which crops are grown. This is a similar issue for Aquaculture in Scotland since it largely
focuses around one industry. We import other fish species. In terms of terrestrial animals
we are also limited to a small number of species of a small number of animals. We need to
be adaptive- this is a global issue.
Some food types are more vulnerable than others e.g. there is only one type of banana so if
that is attacked they the supply will collapse. Wheat/barley are less vulnerable and there is
some substitutability of one for another in that case.
Has demand for or production of organic decreased? In the UK there is a high premium for
organic whereas in Germany there is a negligible premium and organic milk is in high
demand. Organic gives a lower yield.
Competing land demands in a small country, expanding urban areas, expanding recreational
areas, agriculture shrinking, forestry growing in rural areas and we are losing greenbelt. For
Aquaculture it is thought of as visual pollution, there is a potential conflict with angler
tourism and recreational use of water. Legislation limits expansion (water framework
directive).
Waste- things that work in other countries do not work here (e.g. Phytosine shells). There
are regulations costs/energy/transposrt/small/scale/staff and we are not exploiting out
waste. The discard ban is a major issue for capture fisheries. There is no real crop equivalent
at the production end. Crop producers are better at limiting household waste- they remove
the leaves from things at the factory rather than consumers doing it at home- equivalent to
skinning and filleting fish? Processed food limits household waste and controls portion sizes.
In France food in supermarkets is reused- in the UK it gets thrown away. Misunderstandings
of sell by/use by dates leading to food thrown away.
Opportunities:
Storage
Production rates
Endorsed by govt
Demand
Overseas vs home
 Technology
Institutes
Fishing technology
Mordern (lifestock and vet)
James Hutton
IoAquaa
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Education
– Access to local food producers from young age
– Strength (Ecoschools Scotland)
• More sustainable energy sources (renewables)
– Energy security in food value chains
– Use of animal waste?
• Already relatively food secure (global)
• Water rich (hydro nation)
• Health
– To improve health
• The only way is up: obesity; heart disease; diabetes;
• Promote our healthy products (fish)
– More organic?
• New markets
– Novel crops to improve health
– Better utilisation of waste products (discards)
Ramp up production
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Land capacity
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More intensive prodn
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Upland cropping?
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Urban gardens (vertical?)?
Integrated food security perspective (initiatives)
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E.g. Food Security Alliance, IoA, MSS, vet schools
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Access to funding, global networks
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Critical mass, alumni network,
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Relationships with private /public sector
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“International rescue” for food security = practical advice provision / KTP
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E.g. water Scotland (see threats if not integrated well)
Assess need for expertise?
New tech
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Bio fuel from waste
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Profitable fishing industry to invest in new tech
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Develop GM and sell (even if not use)
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Develop CoE?
Knowledge transfer
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Fisheries science and policy translated to other natural resources
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Engineering expertise to enhance infrastructure
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Transport
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Storage facilities
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Links to integrated supply chain
Work with importers to improve global situation?
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E.g. rice development
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Production system design
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Export aquaculture expertise / engineering
Grain storage?
Foreign investment?
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Growing crops / food production elsewhere using our expertise?
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Private sector initiatives?
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Venture captial
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Fair trade nation status
Threats:
Climate: Long term climate- need to adapt the food we produce- overall changes in temperature
impact on both crop and seafood systems.
Extreme weather events- mainly an issue for crops (as opposed to seafood) although storms will
impact seafood. E.g. 2008 drought in Russia was a big problem for other countries. What is several
countries have an extreme weather event at the same time.
Weather may also impact on road/transport/supply chains.
Sustainable production:
Fish feed is an issue for the sustainability of Aquaculture production, even if we move to more
vegetable focussed feed, it currently uses soya that is transported around the world, locally grown
vegetable protein would be better.
Fertiliser is an equivalent issue in crops- this is largely imported from China at the moment- if we
lose access to these fertilisers then we have a problem. Legislation stops local production.
Indiscriminate use of fertilisers is an issue.
Water:
Water is going to become more of an issue as temperature increases.
Soil/microbiota health:
Causes crop vulnerabilities: we need precision fertilisers as well as precision application.
Has there been a decline in nutritional content in crops?
Human health/nutrition:
How do we make people change to diet to diets which are more healthy for them and have less
impact on the environment? Are the messages sufficient? Do we have enough information? Why
does recycling work? Can we use same techniques? Carrot vs stick sugar tax vs subsidised healthy
food. Socio economic differences in access to healthy food choices.
National diet: We promote a healthy diet, but our culture is proud of fish and chips. Our diet relies
on a globalised supply chain. In Finland unhealthy products are more expensive. The proportion of
the supermarket devoted to fruit and veg is different in different countries. Eg sugar and fat taxes.
Need to think about taxes vs subsidies. There is a cultural emphasis on work and sedentary life
styles.
Misleading labelling of food-“hidden” sugar. Need to teach about healthy diets early on.
There is a decline in the nutritional content of crops. If everyone ate the recommended amount of
oily fish then there would not be enough.
We have lost traditional skills- cooking from scratch.
UK relationship with EU
If the Uk leave the EU then EU trade restrictions could be a problem.
Price of Oil