Quality Meat Scotland main objectives for 2014/15 is to increase livestock numbers and make sure that a bigger proportion of Scottish-reared cattle, sheep and pigs are slaughtered and processed north of the border.
The organisation’s chairman, Jim McLaren sais this was importand because falling numbers of breeding stock across all three species affected QMS directly because of the reduction in levy income.
Levy income in the coming financial year is expected to be £4.1 million compared to £4.4m last year and £4.9m the year before that.
Scottish Government grants of £1.3m and support from the EU will allow for a total expenditure of £5.6m in 2014/15, slightly down on the £5.8m spent last year.
About £340,000 of last year’s fall in levy income can be attributed to the pig and sheep sectors, with the closure of Vion’s Broxburn processing plant accounting for £254,000 of that total.