Scotland is a land of natural beauty but it’s not just pretty to look at: it’s also great for growing stuff.
We have an abundance of delicious produce and we’re happy to share our goodies worldwide.
In fact, Scotland’s food and drink industry is a major driver of the economy . . . and it’s growing, with turnover predicted to reach £16.5bn by 2017.
This is great news for job seekers, with a wealth of roles available: from food technologist to new product developer – yes, you really can taste ice-cream for a living.
In fact, there are 18,850 food and drink businesses in Scotland and the sector employs around 115,400 people.
Jobs can be accessed by taking a vocational course, but that’s not always necessary as there are many entry level jobs that allow you to work your way up the ladder.
Here are five of the biggest and best jobs sectors in food and drink manufacturing:
Seafood
We may be small but our position at the edge of Europe means we’re one of the largest seafood producers on the continent.
Salmon farming has grown rapidly and is now Scotland’s highest value food export. There are more than one million salmon meals eaten in the UK every year and Scottish salmon is exported to more than 60 countries.
Dairy
The dairy sector is vitally important to Scotland. It has 900 dairy farms with 2000 processing employees and generates more than £400 million – 15 per cent of the country’s total farming productivity. It’s time to mooove on up in Dairy!
Soft fruits
Nice juicy strawberries? Don’t mind if we do. Time was when much of the Scottish soft fruit harvest ended up in jams. Now around 90 per cent is sold as fresh fruit, which has been more profitable for growers – and recruitment.
Scotch beef
Scotch beef is renowned around the world for being top quality. Total production of beef in 2015 was more than £675 million. That’s a whole lot of coos.
Whisky
Well you knew this one already, didn’t you? Known around the world as “the home of whisky”, Scotland exports 38 bottles of whisky overseas every single second. Such is our reputation for producing the gold stuff that “scotch” and “whisky” are inter-changeable – that’s what we call cornering the market.