Food and drink

Yesterday First Minster John Swinney anounced his new Programme for Government (PfG), which focussed on actions to progress four priorities.

These are:

Scottish farming businesses will see support payments start to reach their bank accounts this week with initial payments worth approximately £243 million.

The Scottish Government first brought the payments forward in 2022 to help with the transition from EU’s CAP Payment system and give recipients greater reassurance and stability.

As the native oyster season opens (1st September), Scotland’s oyster festival has announced a new celebration of nature, right in the heart of the festival site.

The Scottish Government have published a ‘Factsheet’ which sets out the advantages for Scotland of a comprehensive veterinary and SPS agreement, the background, what will be required and how we can work together to achieve it. 

This week sees the second Scotland Loves Local (SLL) week take place across Scotland, which promotes putting localism at the heart of a stronger, greener, fairer Scotland.

The week, organised by Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP), will highlight the tremendous difference that choosing local means for the future of communities.

A recent Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) project led by The James Hutton Institute, in collaboration with Scotland’s Rural College, the University of Aberdeen, and the British Geological Survey, highlighted a pressing issue for Scotland: the increasing likelihood and duration of water scarcity events due to climate change.

Scotland’s whisky distillers are to benefit from government funding towards the development of a green hydrogen hub in Moray.

Scottish Government funding of £3.1 million will support the construction of a new regional hub in Speyside, bringing approximately 100 permanent high skilled, high value jobs to the area.

Scottish businesses have been awarded grants to help grow their innovative energy-saving projects in a new round of Scottish Government funding totalling £7.2 million.

The Scottish Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (SIETF) supports projects that aim to reduce carbon emissions that are created during energy-intensive manufacturing processes.