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SAC Highland Show pavilion attracts high profile visitors

The broad scope of SAC’s work attracted an impressive roll call of political visitors to the organisation’s Royal Highland Show pavilion this year.

On the first morning at Ingliston, Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, joined SAC Chairman Lord Jamie Lindsay and Chief Executive and Principal Professor Bill McKelvey in welcoming a delegation of high ranking officials from China’s Jilin Province. The 11-strong delegation represented the highest level of authority in the Province across a spectrum of political academic and commercial activity. The success of the meeting not only reinforced the strength and value of SAC’s international activity but has paved the way for Lord Lindsay to make what will be his second visit to Jilin later this year.

Another highlight, the Stall Wars competition on Friday afternoon, was successful not only in drawing several hundred members of the public to the pavilion but also attracted Stewart Stevenson, Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The Minister enjoyed sampling some of the delicious wares on offer at each of the four competing regional Farmers’ Market stalls. He then moved on to view the SAC displays and speak to several staff members representing SAC’s consulting, research and learning activities. Unsurprisingly, he showed a particular interest in the ‘Changing Environment’ display where SAC Climate Change Manager Rebecca Audsley updated him on the recent activities of the Scottish Government’s SAC-supported project, Farming for a Better Climate.

SAC was also pleased to receive a visit from Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP. Hailing from the Borders, the Minister compared notes with another resident of the area, Dr Sarah Skerratt. Dr Skerratt relayed information about SAC’s latest research into rural communities, including the work of the Rural Policy Centre. The Minister welcomed the effort SAC is making to consider rural areas across the whole of Scotland, exploring issues such as access to local services, fuel poverty, mobile phone and broadband networks and community land ownership.

As the four days of the show progressed, the visitors continued to arrive – the final list of guests also includes MSPs Roy Gibson, Graeme Dey, Paul Wheelhouse, Annabel Goldie, Alex Fergusson and John Scott; David Mundell MP and former Agriculture Minister Ross Finnie.

Commenting on the impressive turnout, SAC’s Assistant Principal Professor George Marshall said: “This not only indicates that SAC is a highly regarded organisation, it also highlights the depth and scope of our work, which drew in such a broad range of political interests.  Our visitors were attracted by our innovation and research in key issues such as food security, climate change, our varied international work and our activities with students and rural communities across Scotland and further afield.”

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