Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Mr Finnie was in the area at Mr Stevenson’s request to visit a local farm and meet with farmers representatives. Following the farm visit, the delegation held discussions at the Boyndie Centre. The meeting was rounded off in the evening with a very special meal cooked by chef Doug Hay and his staff using the best of local produce from Banffshire.
Mr Stevenson also gave the Minister a brief tour of the Boyndie Centre, which Mr Finnie commented had been tastefully converted from its former use as a school, and later met with Boyndie Trust Director Agnes Lees.
Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:
“I was pleased that the Minister agreed to my request to come to Banffshire to meet with local farmers. There are a number of ongoing issues affecting the agriculture sector at the moment and I think this was a valuable opportunity to put across the local view at first hand.
“The Boyndie Visitor Centre is an excellent facility and I am grateful to them for agreeing to act as hosts for the meeting with the Minister and providing such an excellent meal afterwards. One of the things I wanted to do was to use this opprtunity to highlight the quality local food which is produced in Banff & Buchan and I have to say that Boyndie chef Doug Hay did us proud.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Stevenson, Mr Finnie, and NFU members visited Arthur Duguid’s farm at North Cranna, Aberchirder where they toured the livestock lines and discussed various issues including the current situation with LFA payments.
