Production on farm is only one part of a huge supply chain that encompasses thousands of workers and contributes billions to the national economy of Scotland. While many elements of the supply chain may seem irrelevant to primary producers each one will, to varying degrees

Production on farm is only one part of a larger supply chain that sustains more than 39,000 jobs and generates £2.8 billion in output for Scotland’s economy, as highlighted in our latest Scottish Red Meat Industry Profile. While many elements of the supply chain may seem irrelevant to primary producers each one will, to varying degrees influence the costs and income that helps livestock producer business’s function.

Different parts of the supply chain influence your farming business in different ways.

There are parts of the supply chain that feed into you, for example, feed costs, vet charges, etc. And there are parts of the supply chain that you feed into, for example, the buyer who buys your stock, the processor who turns it from stock to product, and the retailer who is the link between the product and the consumer.

There are parts of the supply chain that you can influence and there are parts of the supply chain that influence you, that you cannot control.

However, you can mitigate costs to your business by ensuring that your cost of production is lean and efficient and you can maximise the income from the parts of the supply chain that you feed into.