Peter Cook heads the Food, Drink and Agriculture team within private sector led and funded economic development body, Opportunity North East (ONE). ONE works with businesses and all economic development partners to grow the economy of North East Scotland as oil and gas inevitably declines.

Peter previously ran his own rural consultancy business (2 Mennie Cooks Ltd) and started his career in SAC as an agricultural economist and then head of the Rural Business Unit. He worked throughout Eastern Europe during accession to the EU, and has been a special adviser to UK and Scottish Government Committees and Inquiries. Peter has farmed in Aberdeenshire throughout his career.

“From an organisation point of view, Opportunity North East – ONE – is about growing the food and drink sector and the supply chains which feed into it. If that’s going to grow, the productivity per person and margin per person of the agriculture sector has to grow. I think this event gives us enormous opportunity to achieve those goals”