The three organisations that last year set the concept of a venison subsidy in motion have welcomed the recent announcement by Màiri McAllan Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy that work on venison is included in a set of measures for climate change action.
In the measures announced last week it was proposed that: “We will build on the current Cairngorms Deer Pilot to develop a national scheme which incentivises increased management and investment in the venison supply chain.”
In a joint statement the Association of Deer Management Groups, Scottish Environment LINK, and Scottish Venison, who jointly developed this initiative under the auspices of the ground-breaking Common Ground Forum of which they are founding members, said:
“The proposal announced yesterday for the development of a national scheme, further to the imminent pilot project in the Cairngorms, is a real-time result of wider collaboration across the deer sector. Having jointly made the case for a venison subsidy, we are delighted that by working together – and being seen to work together – Government has now announced a move in this direction.
“This subsidy, the first instance of Government support for deer management in the public interest, is recognition of its key importance to the climate and nature crisis. It has the potential to make supplying venison a break-even activity for the first time and will help to support jobs across the deer sector as a whole. This in turn opens up the opportunity for investing in the business development of the venison sector, with scope for development of local enterprises that can allow more people to enjoy this healthy, eco-friendly and high-quality meat.
“We are also hopeful that funding support can be made available for the development of venison processing and whilst details of this and the wider scheme have yet to be confirmed this is all positive news for the sector.”