Few things are more deeply linked to history, land and tradition than whisky, and Nigg farmer Peter Mackenzie shares a link with the amber dew that is stronger than most.
His family have been growing grain for whisky in the Tain district for over 100 years, including their highest-grade barley for Glenmorangie’s nearby distillery. Wheat is also grown, for other assorted whisky labels, while other crops include oil seed rape, potatoes and oats.
The 175 hectares of land that surrounds the Glenmorangie House estate was once bought from the family by the Glenmorangie company, only to be sold back to the Mackenzies 40 years ago. It is part of the Mackenzie family’s 800ha total holding, covering a range of soils and contours in the idyllic landscape around the Cromarty Firth, in Scotland’s Tain district.
Perhaps surprisingly, the district is one of the driest in Scotland, receiving less than 700mm of rainfall a year on account of being protected from the rain-bearing westerlies that sweep the loch country to the west.
Despite the challenges of the past year, this usually makes it good early-harvesting country.
The Mackenzies supply about 600 tonnes of their best barley a year for Glenmorangie’s Cadboll limited edition whisky.
It’s a whisky renowned for the touches of honey, hazelnuts, mandarin oranges and toffee in its aroma. Its tasting notes refer to “a gently spicy mouthfeel with a burst of sweet and spicy flavours, including heather honey and gingerbread”.
Despite floods last year that swamped paddocks through winter, and a particularly damp harvest this year, Mackenzie said this year’s barley crop is one of the best he’s seen.
Meantime in early September his harvester has been irritatingly idle, as heavy fog and light rain dampen the tail end of the harvest. Moisture levels in the grain are reading 28%, well ahead of the 14-15% he needs to start harvesting again.
“It’s surprising, despite the weather, really. We would normally have been all harvested by the end of August, and yet here we are now well into September with crop to still get in.
“But the nitrogen levels in the crop are low, which is good, the grain size is good, as is the yield.”
This year’s barley crop has averaged 3t per acre, up on the district average of 2.8t, and will be worth around £190 ($404) a tonne.
“But we have experienced the same cost increases that you will have seen in New Zealand, in terms of fertilisers and fuel, with urea now about £350 a tonne. The margins are very tight, even for quality grain.”
The Mackenzie family have displayed plenty of entrepreneurial spirit over the course of their 100-plus years on the land.
Peter’s brother Robert owns and operates award-winning Cuillesse Highland Rapeseed Oil, purchasing the farm’s rapeseed crop and cold pressing it into high-quality premium oils for home cooking.
Over on the farm’s flat land a giant 500kWh wind turbine slowly churns away. The £1 million unit was built on Peter’s initiative several years ago to capitalise on a favourable energy contract offered at the time.
Receiving a payment of 22p/kWh adjusted for inflation, it represents a valuable earner throughout the year.
“In some respects, it’s a better earner than farming but it would be hard to get as good a contract today. The payoff on it was four years.”
That link to wind farming grew stronger when the family’s recent purchase of land near the Cromarty Firth was progressed by a Japanese industrial company’s offer to purchase part of it for a steel cable fabrication operation.
This is linked to the large offshore wind farm projects underway off the United Kingdom’s east coast that are receiving millions of pounds of both the government and corporate investment.
The district’s deep harbour facility and infrastructure that remains from North Sea oil projects make it an ideal land base for the huge turbines to be assembled and shipped to their offshore anchor points.
The Mackenzie family enjoy strong links with New Zealand, with Peter’s uncle Gregor and his wife Liz emigrating to the South Island over 20 years ago, taking on a grazing and cropping farm in the Culverden district.
Peter has taken up the Scottish government’s incentives around nature conservation, which includes being paid to plant wildflowers including lupins. The subsidy is £500 a hectare, along with seed and drilling costs, to plant and leave for a year.
“After that we top them and plough them in and we have found they significantly improve the quality of the soil, and the crop that we get that year. It opens the ground up and lifts the organic matter. The difference is like night and day.”
Payments are also available to farmers to increase wetland areas and retire land areas for birdlife sanctuaries.
Like many farmers in smaller countries, Peter appreciates the imposing scale of food giants like Brazil, the United States and Canada.
Responding with some creative approaches and maintaining strong relationships with the likes of Glenmorangie does much to keep the business thriving and rewarding.
“We know we can never compete on that scale, so really you just have to think about what your options are, and make the most of them.”
