SAOS, established in 1905, ( www.saos.coop ) has over 60 agri co-op members which equates to an outreach of around 24,000 farmers across Scotland and has an extensive understanding of the Scottish agri food supply chains from primary production to consumer. SAOS specialises in co-operation, supply chain collaboration, strategic sector research, analysis and solution provision as well as delivering thought leadership on strategic development opportunities.
SAOS delivers various programmes that increase the resilience and sustainability of Scottish agriculture through our farmer co-op members. SAOS also supports co-ops to engage in collaborative R&D and innovation projects that address their strategic ambitions and challenges.
SAOS launched the Cultivating Collaboration Network (C2Network) in 2020 to enable cross sector engagement to drive new thinking to future fit the sector through agri co-ops. Decarbonisation and valorisation of agri co-products topics have led to momentum around green hydrogen and biorefining activities / opportunities and in 2023 a focus around earth observation technologies to address decision making at farm and co-op level will be launched.
Through C2Network we are keen to engage with solution providers and groups who can bring new approaches to rural sector.