31 January 2025
Chillers and processing premises.
The results of the survey,” What do you have and what do you want” have been vital to the consideration by the Scottish Government and NatureScot as to how to assist the sector to modernize and improve the infrastructure required to process deer into venison suitable for entry into the commercial food chain. We have had a number of false starts to the initiative but now have a £85,000 funding commitment which will be advertised soon by the organization Scottish Agricultural for Organisation Society Ltd, SAOS, https://saos.coop/ . This organisation has much experience in assisting co-operative collaborative projects in the agricultural sector, it is experienced in project funding and has been advising “Scottish Venison”, (SV), the sectorial organisation attempting to elevate interest in venison commercially to improve the marketing and prices attained for venison, so they are well placed to assist in this initiative. They will be able to advise those considering the commitment for domestic or commercial development, I will continue to focus on procurement and market research to find good suitable products and hopefully negotiate a discount for those engaging in the LDNS area.
The survey was advertised nationally in Scotland by sector organizations and by social media.
127 responses were submitted, of those 70 engaged completely with a desire to improve their capacity to chill and or process their deer and the deer of others. 4 responses have to be set aside but of the 66, the remaining 6 want to develop processing firms and 60 or so want personal chillers.
The majority want space for batches of 5/10 roe, 8 want to accommodate batches of 15/20, 13 want to be able to chill more than 30 deer in a batch.
Before firming up with suppliers which models they may offer at a discount there is a need to define more clearly what is needed; chill only or with processing capacity, designed for internal use or designed to be freestanding and weather-proof, with services included, or provided separately and what capacity on a weekly basis, (batch size), and which species. A new survey specifically addressing these final details will be in the questionnaire conducted by SAOS.
Through my role I was intending to assist in a scheme whereby chills and processing premises might be supplied by the Government, but this will not now happen.
There will be some support for individuals to acquire or to build their own chills / processing premises and for additional tools and equipment through a grant scheme.
There may be just a short period in which people can apply for support for units or premises or grants to develop existing buildings to meet the standards required, probably commitment will be required before the end of March 2025.
It is just possible that once news of such a project becomes public that demand may increase further. We are aware that there may be more demand than what we can supply, not everyone will get what they want, those that offer to share or collaborate or co-operate with others will be of particular interest to the scheme administrators.
I declare that I am undertaking this role of administrator with no great commercial gain for me intended, I would simply like to see an improvement in the standard of “larders” used across Scotland.
Regards
John Bruce
Chair LDNS.
07971174316
All enquiries should be directed to venison@saos.coop