New Appointments to the SAOS Board

SAOS has welcomed Vicky Warcup, of Farm Stock Scotland, and Murray Forsyth, of Aberdeen Grain, to the Board of Directors following the recent AGM of the organisation, whose focus is on co-operation in food and farming supply chains.

Vicky, Joint Business Director at Farm Stock Scotland, has been a member of SAOS’s Council since 2021, initially joined through her role as the first Next Generation representative. Before that, she was a member of the SAOS-run Co-op Staff Forum through which she developed her knowledge of different co-ops and their governance. Murray, who is Chairman of Aberdeen Grain, is a more recent addition to the SAOS Council, having been co-opted in 2022. He farms through the Smiddyburn Farms partnership, a mixed farming enterprise with approximately 900 acres of arable cropping (OSR, Wheat and Barley), complemented by beef and lamb finishing.

Commenting on her appointment, Vicky said:

“I am really pleased to join the SAOS Board. I’ve felt real benefit of working with, and learning from, the organisation in different ways, so it’s quite an honour to be asked to get involved in how it’s run. I see their work as hugely beneficial, not only to member co-ops but to the wider food and farming industry and I look forward to helping with that however I can.”

Murray commented:

“I am delighted to join the SAOS Board. I have great respect for the can-do attitude of SAOS and the team as I see them making a difference to the industry in many different ways through their own work and that of their subsidiary businesses. I’m looking forward to being a part of that.”

SAOS has two tiers of governance; their Board and the Council, which comprises sixteen members from different co-ops and sectors, as well as representatives of other industry organisations. Council members feed in to the organisation, helping to keep it abreast of current and upcoming challenges for all corners of the food and farming industry and supply chains.

Other recent changes to the co-op’s governance saw former Chairman, John Hutcheson, step down from the Board and Council. Rory Christie stepped up from Vice Chair to Chairman, and Andy McGowan of Scottish Pig Producers took on role of Vice Chairman. There were also two new faces on the Council, Rob Mitchell of Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, and Rod Sanderson replacing Andrew Marchant from Tarff Valley.

SAOS was initially formed as a Society to further co-operation in Scottish agricultural organisations in 1905. Over a hundred years later, co-ops remain key to SAOS’s work, but this remit has expanded to explore and convert wider opportunities in food and drink supply chains, technology, innovation, data, quality assurance and climate change response.

SAOS is a co-op, owned by fifty-five member co-operatives with a collective turnover of around £1.5 billion.