The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has arranged a series of meetings with Scottish levy payers to discuss future levy-funded priorities, as part of a restructuring of the organisation designed to deliver more efficiency savings and better service to levy payers.

The meetings will also provide an opportunity for Scottish levy payers to have a say and hear the latest market outlook to help them make the difficult business decisions they face.

AHDB collects around £3.2m of its £57m of levies from Scotland for potatoes (£1,354,000), milk (£767,000), horticulture (£339,000) and cereals and oilseeds (£765,000). Scottish levy payers benefit not only from the investment of the part of levy raised in Scotland, but from the full GB levy investment in R&D, knowledge transfer, market information, export development and promotion.

The organisation's purpose is to equip levy payers with independent, evidence based information and tools to grow, become more competitive and sustainable.

The six meetings will follow what has been - in the words of AHDB independent board member George Lyon - a "triple whammy of a difficult summer" characterised by wet weather, overproduction and huge falls in farm prices.

Announcing the meeting dates at Potatoes in Practice in Dundee yesterday, Mr Lyon said: "We are taking a fundamental look at our priorities and reviewing every aspect of our activities, and the meetings later this year will give levy payers a chance to feed into that process directly."

AHDB will also use these meetings to communicate how it is improving its performance by sharing best practice across sectors and working in a fully integrated manner, leading to yet more efficiency savings.

"By operating in a more joined-up way, we can improve on the £3.8m annual savings already achieved since merging five former levy bodies under one umbrella organisation," Mr Lyon continued, adding: "And by restructuring and integrating our teams, we can cut duplication, reduce waste and find more savings to invest in the tools industry needs to survive these challenging times."

The meetings will take place in November and early December, and full details will be published at a later date.

Market round-up

United Auctions sold 568 store heifers at Stirling on Wednesday to a top of 244.8p per kg and an average of 215p (-9.2p on the week), while 642 store, beef-bred bullocks pealed at 293p and levelled at 223p (-4p). Two-hundred-and-forty-eight store, B&W bullocks sold to 200p and averaged 159p (-6.4p), while 68 store bulls peaked at 227.4p and levelled at 186p.

In the rough ring 131 cows averaged 114.2p.