Reeni Kennedy-Boyle
Reeni is the General Manager for Fyne Futures Ltd, a registered charity and social enterprise. This interview has been provided by Inspiralba as a contribution to GrowBiz’s Year of Stories activity.
“The addition of beehives and producing local honey has been very satisfying.”
Tell us about your business?
Fyne Futures Ltd is a registered charity and social enterprise with two pillars, which are People and Environment. Our purpose is to inspire, educate and empower people to live sustainable rural lives.
Bute Produce is a 6 acre bio-diverse market garden that supports employability and horticultural training, and provides a green box scheme to our community.
Where in rural Scotland are you based and what do you love about living and working there?
Isle of Bute is a wonderful place to live and work. It is a safe, bio-diverse and people diverse island with a rich built heritage from the era of standing stones to the internationalist modernist Pavilion.
When did you set up your rural business, and what inspired you to start it?
Fyne Futures Ltd was set up in 2005 as a trading subsidiary of Fyne Homes. Bute Produce was developed in 2008 and the site opened as a market garden in 2009. The idea was to reduce the carbon footprint of the food supply chain and provide training activity for people with barriers to gaining employment.
What is the biggest challenge you face or have faced running your business in rural Scotland?
For many years we were unable to develop the site due the terms of lease, however we know own the garden and that will see many of our ambitions come to fruition. The biggest challenge has been the ever changing employability landscape with different schemes that start and stop, funding inconsistencies and the impact these have had on resourcing the garden to achieve efficient and effective year round production.
What’s been your biggest achievement so far?
There have been many achievements, particularly with people where we have played a key role in their personal development. In terms of the garden, being able to develop it as a bio-diverse site that produces a wide range of herbs, soft and hard fruits, seasonal vegetables has been a wonderful journey. The addition of beehives and producing local honey has been very satisfying. We are currently developing a range of chutneys, ferments, jams and jellies to add value to the produce.
What do you feel is special about Scotland's food and drink?
The provenance of the produce and the passion of the makers is what is special about Scotland’s food and drink. When we brought back into production Bute Heritage potatoes, there was a great historical story that linked Bute Produce back to the days when local growers were cultivating their own seed potatoes and you can understand why one was named Pride of Bute. There is also a sense of looking forward to being a Good Food Nation and all that that could mean for our communities.