Unlocking the Potential of Venison: Strategies Informed by Consumers' and Pet Owners' Preferences and Willingness to Pay

Scotland's growing deer population presents major environmental, economic and public safety challenges, making sustainable deer management an increasingly important policy priority. Creating stronger markets for venison is essential to improving the economic viability of deer management and increasing the utilisation of sustainably sourced wild deer.

Exploring Britain's Retail Venison Market

By exploring trends in the British retail venison market between 2013 and 2024 using supermarket purchasing data from around 30,000 households, this study examines consumer demand, retailer offerings, product origin and competition with other meats. Although venison remains a very small share of the meat market, the research identifies changing patterns in retail supply and the factors that influence consumer purchasing. These findings provide evidence to support future market development for the venison sector.

 

Photo credit: Tullia Dean

Moving Beyond Food Banks: Preferred Social Supermarket Models for Low-Income Households

Food banks remain the dominant response to food insecurity in the UK but are widely recognised as inadequate and undignified. Social supermarkets (SSMs) have emerged as a potential alternative, offering discounted food in a retail setting that restores choice and reduces stigma. This study provides the first quantitative evidence in the UK on low-income users’ preferences for SSMs.

Designing Cash-First Support: Insights from Low-Income Households

This study examines low-income households’ experiences of food support and their views on the Cash-First approach, a key Scottish Government strategy to reduce reliance on food banks. All respondents are from low-income households (≤£20,000), making them the group most likely to use food aid and cash-based support. Using survey data from 1,019 participants, the findings show low awareness of Cash-First but strong preferences for flexible, accessible schemes delivered via bank transfers that cover broader living costs. Respondents value combining cash with support services.

Food Security for All: Building New Global Partnerships to Fight Hunger

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This definition is rooted in four essential dimensions, availability, access, utilization, and stability, and firmly grounded in the Right to Food enshrined in international law.

The UK food security index: whose food security is it targeting to?

The index measures year-on-year change, building on the UKFSR evidence base but also taking into account wider intelligence and forecasts, and policy developments. In contrast with the common use of the term, the index is not presented as a single number but it comprises 9 separate indicators across a range of areas.

The 9 indicators and their assessment (in parenthesis) are: