Food and drink businesses across the Highlands, Moray and Western Isles are among 28 Scottish firms sharing almost £6 million of investment aimed at increasing production, improving efficiency and supporting jobs.

More than £1.39 million will go directly to six businesses across the wider Highlands and Islands, supporting everything from whisky and honey to eggs and potatoes.

One of the biggest Highland awards goes to Dornoch Distillery Company, which will receive £366,045.92 towards the construction of a whisky maturation warehouse and new cask handling infrastructure.

North Uist Distillery has secured £362,387.60 to create a local malting facility, helping the business develop a more complete field to bottle whisky supply chain in the Western Isles.

Organic Potato Growers Scotland will receive £250,604.87 for automated potato sizing and sorting equipment designed to increase capacity at its Highland operation.

In Moray, Messrs WD Stephen & Co has been awarded £234,872.50 for advanced automated egg grading and packing equipment.

Highland Eggs Scotland Ltd, also in Moray, receives £126,927.83 to expand organic egg production through automated grading and packing systems.

Loch Ness Honey Company completes the Highland recipients with an award of £8,329.60 to automate its honey extraction, filtering and jarring processes.

Together, the six awards represent £1,349,168.32 of direct investment into food and drink businesses across the Highlands and Islands.

The money comes through the Scottish Government’s Food and Drink Processing Scheme Scotland, which is providing almost £6 million of capital funding to 28 businesses across the country.

Projects being supported range from relatively modest investments in specialist equipment to major new processing facilities, automated production lines and cold storage.

Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn said:

“Our food and drink sector is a vital part of Scotland’s economy, and this funding will help businesses right across the country invest in the future.

“These grants will support innovation, boost productivity and help create sustainable jobs in communities from North Uist and Moray to Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders.”

The investment comes as Scotland’s food and drink industry records an annual turnover of £19 billion, making it one of the country’s most significant economic sectors.

Scotland Food and Drink Chief Executive Iain Baxter said:

“From small family-run enterprises to larger producers of household staples, it’s fantastic to see so many businesses receiving vital investment, which will only strengthen their growth ambitions.

“With a record turnover value of £19 billion, our food and drink sector is one of Scotland’s biggest success stories, and we’re delighted to help the Scottish Government deliver this investment into the industry.”

For the Highlands and Islands, the individual projects also tell a wider story about keeping more of the value of food and drink production within the region.

Whether that means malting barley in North Uist, maturing whisky in Dornoch, packing eggs in Moray or processing Highland honey, investment in local facilities allows businesses to do more of the work where their products begin.

And that means investment in the industry can become investment in the communities around it.