New ambitious food and drink goals for Scotland

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has launched a new, ambitious strategy to drive growth in Scotland’s farming, fishing, food and drink industry, setting a bold new vision for the sector.

‘Ambition 2030’, developed by the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, an industry-led partnership, alongside The Scottish Government and its key agencies, seeks to cement food and drink as one of Scotland’s most valuable industries, with the opportunity to more than double turnover to £30 billion by 2030.

Food and drink has been Scotland’s best performing sector in recent years, with record export figures and rapidly increasing sales at home.  

The sector is worth £14.4 billion annually, 119,000 people are working directly in the industry and food manufacturing in Scotland is growing at twice the rate of the UK average for the sector. 

James Withers, Scotland Food & Drink Chief Executive, said:

“Ten years ago, when the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership was formed, our sector was relatively static. It is now one of the country’s best performing industries and it’s our fastest growing export sector. However, this strategy sets out a new vision to build further on that. 

 “Food and drink is now a national success story for Scotland, yet there are areas requiring more work. Too few view our industry as a top career choice, many farmers feel detached from the success story and we can do more to support improvements in Scotland’s health. 

“The focus we now place on all of that means we approach the coming years with real optimism. It will take a huge amount of dedication from industry, government and its agencies, but working collaboratively, there is every reason we can make Scotland the best place in the world to run a food and drink business.”