Low Ground Venison Supply Chain Project FAQs

To apply:

• Visit our website page Low Ground Venison Supply Chain Project and click on the Initial Enquiry Form and enter your details
• SAOS will then make contact with you to take further application details. You can contact SAOS at any time on venison@saos.coop

Successful applicants will receive up to 50% of capital costs for small or micro-scale chillers and infrastructure to support legal, hygienic, and efficient carcass handling and processing.

This project is a partnership between SAOS (the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society), NatureScot, Lowland Deer Network Scotland (LDNS), and Scottish Venison.

The scheme aims to support low ground deer managers in Scotland (both professional and recreational) by improving infrastructure for handling and chilling venison carcasses, increasing cull capacity, exploring new markets, and identifying and addressing barriers in the venison supply chain.

Individual deer stalkers (both professional and recreational), deer management groups, or other relevant parties working in Scotland’s low ground areas are encouraged to apply. Low ground is defined by the Lowland Deer Network’s operational area (shown orange in this map):

Projects that aim to:

• Improve carcass chilling and handling facilities.
• Expand legal access to the human food chain.
• Develop small-scale commercial processing capacity.
• Increase annual cull volume.
• Create or strengthen routes to market.

• This round of the project is open for applications between the 18th of June until the 18th of August 2026.
• Initial enquiries/expressions of interest must be made by 11th of August.

Applications will be scored on these measures:

• that the basic business case is sound
• that there is a need for the facility - for example showing that none exists already (and there will be no conflict with an existing facility)
• the ability and potential to increase throughput of carcasses
• that there is collective benefit
• best practice guidelines for carcass handling are followed
• that there is a plan for the facility to be used/grow in the future.
  

  These scores will be used to rank applications in case the budget is exceeded.

  The evaluation will be undertaken by a panel of representatives, comprising one representative each from the project partners: Lowland Deer Network Scotland, NatureScot, Scottish Venison and SAOS.

  SAOS staff can help with application queries, contact venison@saos.coop

Successful applicants will be notified on/by 31st August.

If successful, you will receive a grant award letter that you then sign and return to SAOS.

Once you return the letter you can begin spending for your project.

The claim process is retrospective, meaning that you have to pay for the improvements up front first, and then make the claim.

You can claim for a 50% grant of what you spend.

A photograph of the equipment installed and proof of payment, such as a bank statement, when submitting the claim.

^{Successful applicants will be notified on/by 31st August}

Having received funds through this process, you will be asked:

• To put a simple funding acknowledgement sticker on your facility
• To voluntarily submit simple annual cull returns to NatureScot to allow better understanding of deer populations in the low ground areas. These returns will be used purely to build a better picture of deer culls and deer populations, allowing NatureScot to target their future resources more effectively.

Yes. The scheme builds on prior pilot chiller projects in Dumfries & Galloway, North Argyll, and Moray, and aligns with the Scottish Venison strategy for decentralised, legal processing capacity in low ground Scotland.