SAOS Update Conference 2026 Review Growing our Farming Future
Spring 2026
We welcomed the wholesale expertise of John Forteith, and Andy McGowan of the United Pig Co-op brought a co-op’s eye view to this panel Q&A session.
WO R K I N G T O G E T H E R T O SHA P E T H E F U T U R E O F FA R M I N G A N D F O O D
Patrick Hughes, our Strategic Services Director, set the scene for the final session, taking a deeper dive into the possibilities of New Products and Crops, some of which Allene had touched on earlier. Helen Glass, SAOS’s Head of Supply Chain Innovation hosted the rest of this session which discussed various possibilities for ‘new’ crops. Our panel for this discussion and Q&A by: •
Liz Fletcher, Director of Impact/ Deputy CEO of IBioIC (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre) Read more from Liz on page 8. Professor Wendy Russell, of the Rowett Institute Lucy Filby, Head of Agricultural Transition, SOSE (South of Scotland Enterprise) and Ally Allan of Grampian Growers
Over 150 attendees braved the storms Supported by some of the UK’s in January, joining us at Crieff Hydro leading natural capital specialists, EFG • for the 2026 SAOS Conference. acts as a trusted navigator for farmers and landowners, baselining, planning • “Growing our Farming Future” and monitoring natural capital and provided plenty of food for thought ensuring fair financial reward for its and we focused on three areas we • believe provide possibilities for growth; members. new markets, developing new We were delighted to have the help Our Chief Executive, Tim Bailey, opportunities at home, and through of James Withers again to host our closed the afternoon session with a new products/crops. panel sessions and field the questions presentation bringing together the and answers for Oonagh and Digby. threads of the day and stressing the Opening the conference, SAOS importance and potential for coChairman, Rory Christie, talked about After lunch and networking we the importance of people as a part of explored some possibilities ‘at home’. ops and co-operation to overcome many of the hurdles. Tim gave us our farming future and we showed our Allene Bruce, our Head of Supply great examples of supply chain wins, latest Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders Chain Development’s presentation including the success of pea growers’ video (if you or someone in your focused our current areas of work co-op Scottish Borders Produce. business is looking to develop their within the SF&D Partnership, looking leadership skills check out page 4 for at import displacement opportunities Our grateful thanks to all our speakers info on recruitment for later this year). and Sourcing for Growth (more on and panellists, to our headline sponsors - NFU Mutual and to IBioIC for their Our first speaker was Oonagh them inside). support of this year. Chesney, Company Secretary Next up was Dennis Overton, Chair of Fane Valley, Northern Ireland, If you’d like to catch up more fully or of the Scottish Food Commission*. which wasformed in 1903 and now Dennis’s presentation gave a sobering want a recap, links to PDFs (and now employs over 1,000 people. We’ve also subtitled videos) of the speakers’ wake up call regarding the Scottish long admired their constant focus on diet, its impact on our declining presentations are on our website. the future and continuing ability to health - and the resultant costs to *HUGE kudos to Dennis and Jayne explore new markets. the public purse. Dennis ventured Jones, CEO of the Scottish Food Next we heard from Digby that “expanding home markets is Commission, who saved all the Slido Sowerby, Managing Director of not optional. It is essential” and that, Qs that were unanswered on the day the Environmental Farmers Group through working together, we have and came back to us on the ones a co-operative group of farmers a unique opportunity to improve our relevant to them. There’s a link to this who together are maximising their food system, and in turn the nation’s document from the same conference partnership to create positive health and wealth, by becoming a review web page, click on the link environmental change, funded Good Food Nation. below. through natural capital trading. https://saos.coop/whats-new/news/catch-up-here-on-saos-conference-2026