Women in Agriculture – Craigellachie, Morayshire – Event Summary

The very first FAS Women in Agriculture (Morayshire) meeting was recently held at The Craigellachie Hotel.

Striking a Power Pose!

Samantha Stewart welcomed all attendees to the first Morayshire Women in Agriculture meeting. She also gave an  introduction and explained the background of the Scottish Farm Advisory Service and the Women in Agriculture programme. Attendees were then asked to ‘interview’ their neighbour and introduce them, highlighting a wide range of backgrounds.

Food & Drink Consultant, Kerry Allison, led the morning session with a focus on selling a product or service.  Kerry’s talk was very informative and well received, with a lot of interaction and questions.  Kerry concentrated on talking about food and drink products, however many of the principles could be applied to a wide range of business products and/or services (livestock, grain, vegetables, farm contracting, self-catering accommodation etc)

After lunch, Kerry got all of the attendees up on their feet taking part in the ‘power pose’ to give the group some extra confidence before they put together their own pitches for a product or service which their farming business offers.  The attendees pitched a wide variety of their own products including a selection of meat (beef, lamb, venison, goat), honey, vegetables, farm tour parties and book keeping services.

The meeting finished with an ideas gathering session on future meeting topics. 

The main points from the meeting include:

• Understand your market – is there a niche or opportunity for you out there?
• Audit your existing business regularly to help make decisions for the future.
• Don’t get caught out by regulations – research and get advice on which regulations you need to comply with (particularly with direct sales to customers and any waste disposal)
• Practice your pitch to a potential customer
• Do the ‘Power Pose’ before any interviews/stressful situations
• Always ask yourself ‘Why?’ you do what you do – be enthusiastic and your passion will show to others.

Below you will find copies of the presentations from this event;

Women in Agriculture Introduction

Adding Value to Produce – Kerry Allison (Food and Drink Consultant) presentation

Handout from Connect Local – Good Practice Guide Ideas to Actions