Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group (SSMG) believes in cooperation: Co-operation is very important within the rural communities and fundamental to the local culture where our members choose to live and work. Whilst many businesses are focused purely on profit, our members exist to provide long-term, sustainable employment within a friendly, local environment. Moral values, integrity and building communities are important to us. This is fundamental to their business.
Shellfish are harvested on Scotlands west and north coasts, including the Shetland Isles, and transported to the co-ops plant at Bellshill, where they are cleaned, graded and some are cooked in sauce. The co-op delivers to UK customers as well as developing export opportunities. SSMG products are of the highest standards – provenance and quality are guaranteed and feature in all marketing messages.
The success of the co-op has enabled farmer members to increase their scale of production through collective and professional marketing and product development. The result is additional income generation in fragile areas of Scotland, overcoming the disadvantages of remoteness from market and securing livelihoods for present and future family producers.
This story is brought to you by SAOS, Scotlands agricultural co-op development and member organisation.