Farmers go hi-tech to stay competitive - Peter Eccles

Scotland’s farmers are by-in-large, extremely good at what they do. They have to be. Operating in a marketplace where they cannot predict the price they will receive for their produce, nor what they will pay for their inputs, they must be as efficient as possible to survive.

The new vending station, ‘Lothian Larder’ at Saughland Farm

However, as a society we demand more than just efficiency from our farmers. We demand that they care for and respect their livestock, and they do. We demand that they maintain and enhance our environment, and they do.

Yet, also as a society, we are driven towards the convenience of supermarket shelves and therefore unwittingly compounding the financial volatility for farmers.

Farmers have not been slow to meet these challenges. A significant proportion of farm businesses have diversified and established additional revenue streams from tourism, renewable energy or property rentals alongside their traditional livestock and cropping.

Those who have chosen to add value to their primary produce - meat, vegetables, cereals, fruit – have also enjoyed degrees of success. However, these routes to extra value – i.e. enabling the farmer to sell direct to the consumer by cutting out the wholesalers, supermarkets etc – come with their own time and cost penalties. With all the demands placed on farmers, not many have time to re-train as butchers or bakers, far less to stand behind a counter at a farm shop or farmers market stall.

Online retailing of farm produce has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity recently, particularly during the pandemic. However, by its nature, online lends itself more to larger orders of for example a full veg box or meat pack or a case of pies. For those who cannot visit a farm shop or local butchers or green grocers during the working day, the supermarket has long been the convenient choice – particularly for smaller purchases such as the ingredients for a single meal.

Recently, a new method of retailing direct from the farm to the consumer has emerged. The on-farm vending machine.

Modern vending machines are a far cry from the type once familiar in the corner of a swimming pool foyer or hotel lobby. Those which may or may not respond to your selected letter and number code, may or may not accept your coins in the slot and then may or may not discharge your tasty treat down into a finger trapping slot at the bottom.

Today’s generation of vending machines are being utilised by farmers to offer their home produced, locally sourced, fresh, chilled and even frozen produce to consumers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The trend started with single line type machines, set up by the roadside to vend for example eggs or potatoes to passing motorists. I am proud that our new initiative here at Saughland Farm in Midlothian is part of the new generation of multi-line installations.

We have christened our new vending station, ‘Lothian Larder’ and it is allowing us to sell our own Native & Wild branded meat, home baking and other delicious local food, sourced from our neighbours and trusted local farmers, direct to travellers stopping in from the busy adjacent A68 or A7 roads. The Larder, kitted out with user friendly chilled and ambient vending lockers of varying size, is a fantastic innovation for our business. We are deeply passionate how we farm ensuring the highest possible welfare standards for our livestock and farm with environment in mind, we strive to produce the finest quality Scotch beef and lamb and want to give people the chance to enjoy it, and produce from other likeminded farmers and artisan producers, regularly with convenience.

At the Larder we aim to help customers better understand our work on the farm, the processes we have developed to farm sustainably and how we add biodiversity back into the landscape. We feel this is important, and therefore even when we are not personally in the larder, visitors can watch regularly updated images of life on the farm via a dedicated TV monitor. We also have some creative graphics depicting the other work we are involved in, readily adopting the latest technology and science helping ensure we continue to be at the forefront of farming.

Peter Eccles is manager of Saughland Farm near Pathhead in Midlothian. Peter was crowned Farmer of the Year and Farm Manager of the Year in the highly coveted Farmer’s Weekly Awards.