FPMC funding awards announced

Sixteen projects have secured funding from the latest round of the Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation (FPMC) grant scheme.

The FPMC scheme is part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme and provides support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the food and drink sector with start-up grants for new enterprises, and business development grants.

Butchers, pie manufacturers, food processors and farmers are among those to receive a share of £5.8 million for their projects. Grants to improve, extend or build new facilities will help to create 92 new jobs and safeguard over 1,200 more.

Announcing the awards ahead of tomorrow’s Royal Highland Show, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy Fergus Ewing said:

"Whether it’s salmon, dairy or whisky our food and drink industry is world-renowned and these latest grants will enable sixteen more food and drink companies to expand their operations in response to growing demand for our wonderful larder.

"With the latest figures showing that our food and drink exports increased by over 11% in the first quarter of this year, today’s funding award of £5.8 million clearly demonstrates our continuing commitment to help food and drink companies large and small take their businesses to the next level, building on our reputation as a land of food and drink."

Robert Corrigan, Managing Director of Mr. C’s Hand Crafted Pies Ltd said:

"Without adding this range of equipment, we were unable to substantially grow the business as the additional smaller range of pies cannot be made manually, and only this type of equipment would enable us to target new markets and expand within our existing markets. The grant funding allowed us to buy the equipment and will also enable us to create new jobs."

The next FPMC funding round closes on 16 July 2017, with notification of the outcome in early November 2017. The following round closes on 19 November 2017.

Successful projects in this round

The full list of successful bids is as follows:

More information

Visit the Rural Payments and Services website for more information on the FPMC scheme.

In our Case Studies section you can read about completed projects that received FMPC funding.