Scotland’s experts on farmer co-ops and food industry collaboration, we work with food and farming businesses to make them more profitable, competitive, and sustainable - #workingtogether to shape the future, today.
All our work helps facilitate farmers and food and drink businesses to work together effectively. Over the years we've expanded and developed subsidiary businesses - getting the right people together and making innovative advancements - to help benefit food, farming and rural Scotland.
Developing staff capability is one of the most effective ways to improve a co-op’s performance. Check out our events and training programme - most of which are open to non co-op members too.
As a development organisation, owned by our members, we provide a range of specialist services not available elsewhere, to assist them in developing their people and their businesses. Get in touch to find out how we can help you.
See below for all the latest news, views and updates from us here at SAOS. Find all our latest videos on YouTube at: SAOS - working together in food and farming
30 January 2024
Our first speaker was Amanda Brown who is Programme Director for Scotland Food & Drink. Amanda opened proceedings by sharing the vision behind their new strategy "Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World" and outlined the goals and priorities for achieving its success. Key areas of focus for which were reflected in our conference session themes of #Resilience, #Sustainability and #Growth.
Next in the Resilience session, we had our our first Co-op Showcase. We heard from Stephen Cameron (the former MD) and Rob Mitchell (recently appointed MD) about Scottish Shellfish and their journey to adapt their business strategy to become a firmly-established supplier to every multiple supermarket in the UK.
Our first afternoon session theme was Sustainability - first up, we were delighted to welcome Professor John Gilliland OBE who talked about his fascinating work and findings and the opportunities for the beef and lamb/ruminant sector to tackle the Net Zero challenge head-on. 
Our Co-op Showcase in the Sustainability session was East of Scotland Farmers - we heard from General Manager, Robin Barron, about their work, together with Highland Grain, in moving towards the decarbonisation of malting barley.
Our final theme was Growth and we opened this with a Collaboration Showcase, showing what's possible with industry group collaboration. SAOS's Strategic Services Director, Patrick Hughes, also heads up the Scottish Agri Export Hub and he talked about the work ongoing there to explore and maximise export opportunities for Scottish products.
Our final key note speaker was Shelagh Hancock, Chief Executive of First Milk who are committed to regeneration and ensuring cows are grazing rich, diverse pastures capturing and storing carbon. Sheila talked about First Milk's journey and the growth potential for the Scottish dairy sector built around a demonstrable sustainability proposition.