THE true cost of coronavirus on the farming industry may not be known for some time to come, according to the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) – but in East Lothian, residents have been stepping up to support their local farms as much as they can.

At Yester Farm, near Gifford, the initial lockdown in March was a sharp shock.

Simon and Jackie McCreery set up Yester Farm Dairies to process the milk from their family farm and sell direct to their buyers, but before lockdown, 80 per cent of their sales were to the hospitality sector.

When it shut down, it was a double hit for the farm and dairy business.

Jackie said: “The impact at the start was definitely a shock, we buy the milk from the farm for our own dairy so it was a double whammy.

“Initially we had to furlough some staff but, after three weeks, we were able to bring them back as our focus moved to home deliveries.”

The farm had to begin reducing milking from three times a day to twice a day to reduce supplies – a process which has to be done gradually to protect the animals, and helped them avoid having to dump any milk.

Yester, like many food and drink producers, began an online shop, delivering direct to people’s homes; at its peak, it was making 120 deliveries a day.

Jackie said that home deliveries had fallen slightly but the farm was still supported by local people.

She said: “Our East Lothian customers were incredibly loyal and wanted to support us as a local business; there was a real feeling that we were all in it together and would get through it together.”

As well as local support, Yester Dairies celebrated success in its diverse range of products as its cottage cheese received a two-star award from the Great Taste Awards, giving staff a boost.

And one other product which has managed to help keep sales going is Yester’s homemade pizza mozzarella cheese, which remained popular as its Italian restaurant clients adapted to takeaway services.

Jackie said: “This latest shutdown of hospitality has come as a blow, as we had just begun to see things improving in the last three or four weeks and bought some new cows.

“We have learned that we need to be more diverse and wait to see what happens next.”

At Mungoswells Farm at Drem, farmer Angus McDowall was initially overwhelmed by demand for flour as supermarkets ran out at the start of lockdown.

Mungoswells produces mainly malts for micro breweries, with flour a secondary product, but that changed almost overnight.

Angus said: “The first weekend, we went from a norm of perhaps half a dozen enquiries to nearly 400 orders. We stopped the online shop but it took 10 days to re-organise and catch up.

“It was total chaos at the beginning. We simply couldn’t fill flour into the small 1.5kg retail bags fast enough. We couldn’t make flour fast enough either but, by dint of working much longer hours, we managed to turn out up to three times our normal throughput.

“We were lucky enough to manage to take on five or six extra helpers, some part-time, some almost full-time. These were all found locally.

“Thanks to an enormous effort by everyone involved, we managed to turn out up to 20 tonnes of flour per week.

“I very quickly became aware that we were actually managing to lose money.

“Having set out not to take advantage of the situation, the extra costs were overwhelming us and we were forced to raise prices.

“Five or six months later, I can look back on a crazy spell.

“Work on the farm was neglected. We bought lorry loads of wheat. Everyone worked extraordinary hours but we have earned a host of appreciative new customers locally and as far away as Cornwall. Many have returned for repeat orders and some went to extraordinary lengths to show their appreciation, even sending boxes of baking to bolster the troops!”

Andrew McCornick, NFU Scotland president, said the pandemic and subsequent restrictions affected different types of farms in different ways.

He said: “Initially, the whole food supply chain was thrown into turmoil with the closure of the food service and hospitality sector, and the resulting overwhelming of the retail sector overnight. This had repercussions all the way back to producers, with farmers and crofters feeling the effects.

“The dairy sector was hit by the shutdown of hospitality, the sheep sector was quickly hit as the processing sector was forced to reconfigure processing lines to meet new Government guidelines.

“Labour was a massive priority for many farms at the start of the pandemic, especially for fruit and vegetable growers who had no access to vital foreign labour.

“There was a considerable amount of work undertaken by NFU Scotland’s specialist crops chair and colleagues to deliver a solution and save this year’s crops. We set up a webpage to align people that were either furloughed or looking for work to contact farms and potential employers to save the harvest.

“With no Royal Highland Show, local and regional shows, and a limit on auction mart attendance, the social affects of the pandemic cannot be underestimated either.

“Farmers’ and crofters’ ability to meet other folk in the industry is not only necessary for trade and the industry, but for the mental wellbeing of those working in it. These events were sorely missed this year.

“Organisations like RSABI have been even more essential than ever during the pandemic, providing support to farmers and crofters suffering through this unprecedented period of isolation.

“This week is Ag Mental Health Week, a new campaign to raise awareness and lift the stigma of mental health in farming. Considering the year that we have had, it is an extremely timely campaign and one NFU Scotland will be supporting.

“Although we are now working our way through these strange times, I don’t think we will know the true cost of the pandemic on the industry for some time to come.”