21/02/2011 - Scottish food firms get £3m boost
Twenty-two food and drink projects across Scotland are to share £3m in government cash.
The funding is part of the Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operating scheme, which is aimed at providing support to the sector across the country.
Projects sharing the cash include a vegetable producer in the Borders who has received £647,647 to build a new packing and storage building, and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), who will use £23,000 to develop markets in Orkney for flour from local crops.
Food Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "This latest funding will provide essential support to food and drink companies from Shetland to Angus, Aberdeenshire to Galashiels and Inverness-shire to the central belt.
"Some of our biggest opportunities lie in the food and drink sector, which saw sales increase by £1 billion over 2007-08 from £10.2 billion to £11.2 billion.
"With demand for food on the increase, Scotland's food producers are in a strong position going forward."
James Gibbs, of the UHI, said: "The development of new bakery products based on bere barley, wheat and oats produced by farmers on the islands would broaden the range of Orkney's quality foods and benefit a number of small businesses in the collaborative food supply chain."
Copyright © Press Association 2011
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