With a core business being built around their customers, East of Scotland Farmers prides itself on being a co-op owned by farmers for farmers.
The SF sat down with EOSF’s general manager Neil McInnes, retail manager Rab Lawson and crop production manager Colin Dargie.
Having been established in 1959, the co-operative comprises of around 300 members, with 180 of those members actively marketing malting barley and grain through the co-op which covers Angus, Fife and Perthshire.
“Our main purpose is to provide drying, storage, market security and competitive prices for malting barley and other grain from our members,” explained Neil.
Based in Coupar Angus, Perthshire, the organisation now encompasses agronomy services, ag-chem, haulage, animal feeds, fertiliser, seed and seed dressing services, alongside grain buying, drying and storage and a country store.
“We market on average 90,000 tonnes a year of grain,” said Neil. “We have continually used the income generated by the society to reinvest in the business and in 2013 we invested in new grain storage facilities, we constructed a 16,000t store and also had the biggest grain dryer of its type in Europe at the time.”
He continued: “We currently have three agronomists including Colin as part of our team helping to advise our members with the planning of their crop husbandry. We also have our own lab to manage quality control as well as a seed dressing plant and ag-chem store, plus our own lorries on the road.”
Despite keeping them busy, for Colin and his team providing a service that works with farmers from seed to crop has its benefits.
“It’s a very satisfying process,” Colin explained. “We get to work closely with our members, be a trusted part of their team and see how their systems work and advise them on how to get the best out of their crop. It can get busy at harvest time when we are having to look after grain intake but we also get to see the results of our work.”
Harvest time is one of the busiest periods for EOSF with the team needing to work 24/7 to process and market all the grain that comes in.
“We currently have 24 members of permanent staff across every facet of the business but during the busier times such as harvest we take on seasonal staff to mitigate the workload,” Neil said.
“We have a good retention of staff with a mix of students and recently retired coming on for the temporary work and many return to us after working one season which is great.”
A central theme of EOSF is the value the core team of staff bring when it comes to customer service.
“Our main strategy for reinvestment in the business is reinvesting in people,” Neil explained. “We have a strong retention of staff with the average length of service being 11 years. We are very much focused on keeping longevity in the business and creating that sense of community. It doesn’t matter which department or role you work in, everyone is customer facing. When you are speaking to someone whether it be someone from accounts or a lorry driver or sales they need to be personable and be able to provide a high level of customer service.”
Rab continued: “We wanted to highlight that every single person employed here is the reason we won the award. Everyone is an ambassador for the company and it’s down to the hard work that the team put in that we have been recognised in this way.”
Another part of the business includes the country store which is managed by Rab. Having been part of the business since the early days of the co-op the current store was built in 2007 based at the EOSF headquarters in Coupar Angus.
“I’ve been involved with the country store since I left school in June 1991,” Rab said. “With the new shop opening in 2007 we have been able to provide a wide range of goods for our customers – both members and non-members alike across the Strathmore area.”
The East of Scotland Farmers store stock everything for pets right through to equestrian supplies alongside animal health services, feed, clothing, footwear and gardening supplies.
“We have grown a lot as a business through word of mouth but we also do a lot on social media,” Rab continued. “I think it’s a good thing to highlight different members of the team even if it’s through posts and videos on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. We don’t want to be a faceless business especially when farming can be such a socially isolating industry, it’s so important that we are known to our customers and easy to approach.”
Up against some big competitors in their supplier category at The Scottish Agri Awards proved to be a real boost to the business. However, having been nominated every year since the awards’ inception, the EOSF team were positive going into the process for a third time.
“We been extremely lucky to have been nominated again and make it through to being finalists, first year we were shortlisted for animal health provider, have been nominated for supplier of the year in 2024 and 2025.” Rab explained.
“It meant a lot to us to be nominated and win as supplier of the year because it encompasses everything we do here. It includes the grain buying business, the country store and our agronomy and animal health services.” Neil continued
“When the judge came to visit us it was very much at our busiest. We take pride in the fact that the judge saw us on the ground doing what we do, it shows how much we just get on with things we aren’t pretending to be something we are not.”
With the awards, the team at East of Scotland Farmers have been consistently shortlisted through nomination.
“You will find no-one working here will want to blow their own trumpet despite providing a high quality of service that is worth being recognised,” said Rab.
“It’s really something to say that our customers and members have put us forward for this award every single year and it’s their trust in belief in what we do that really drives us as a business.
“On a more personal level, I did get quite emotional on awards night. It was such an honour to be recognised and endorsed for what we do and I was very proud to be representing the business that night.”
Looking to the future Neil highlighted the importance of continued re-investment and training to help keep a high level of customer service.
“We want to make sure everything we offer is the best it can be and making sure the team are trained to the highest standards is very important.
“We are ultimately guided by our board of directors consisting of eight members that represent our membership body but we will keep looking to adapt to fit the future market and looking into new areas to expand.”
He explained: “We have managed to be successful for the last 67 years without changing our core business of grain buying and I believe there is further future potential that can be achieved in the space we are in.
“Ultimately everything we do is for the benefit of our members and making a difference in the agriculture sector and we strive to always have our door open to anyone that wants to speak.”
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