Staff Spotlight: Sterre Vester

Food And Enterprise Consultant

Expertise and skills:

• Primary data collection

• Systems visualisations

• Qualitative and quantitative data analysis

• Team-based research

• Distributional dilemmas and eco-social policy

What was your career journey into this role?

Not long after starting my Ecological Economics degree, I became aware of SAC Consulting and the Food and Footprint team. I was instantly intrigued about Scotland’s agricultural landscape and the role that I could play within it through consultancy.

Prior to moving to Edinburgh, I completed my undergrad in International Relations in The Hague. Following that, I briefly worked within Dutch politics before moving to Berlin and working in hospitality and food logistics. It was during this phase in my career that my passion for production systems, consumer decision-making, environmental activism, and rural-urban dynamics, really started to shape itself.

Having observed farming debates in the Netherlands closely over the past few years, it has been thought-provoking to compare agricultural practices and political decisionmaking between the Netherlands and Scotland. I hope I can bring some of these insights to the work I will be doing in relation to net-zero and Scotland’s just transition.

Tell us about your job and your ambition for the role in 2024

I focus on addressing the challenge of what food sustainability looks like in Scotland all the way down the supply chain - from the primary producer to the consumer. To match the needs of all consumers, producers, and providers in Scotland, we will need to transform the food system to be both compliant with environmental limits while providing social benefits.

This involves advising clients on the trade-offs and implications of their business decisions, as well modelling economic outlook and visualizing environmental outcomes backed by independent data.

In 2024, my goal is to understand the key influences in Scotland’s agri-food system that can improve affordability and accessibility of healthy, high quality produce, alongside regenerative agricultural practices that support rural livelihoods. I plan to achieve this by engaging with stakeholders throughout the supply chains, gaining insights into their work, and using this information to develop comprehensive mitigation strategies.

If you could do anyone else’s job in consulting, who would it be?

If I had the opportunity, I’d choose Osla Jamwal-Fraser’s role as an agricultural consultant on Shetland. It seems amazing to have such an abundance of place-based knowledge the way she does, and be embedded in the daily agricultural realities of an island community when going about your work as a consultant. Sadly, I have not yet had the chance to travel up to Shetland but would be excited for Osla to show me around if I do!

If you had one wish, to be used to better the food and drink industry, what would you wish for?

It would be to create and live in a world where land use decisions aren’t dominated by the need to make a profit. While it is essential that everyone receives a decent wage, the way of conducting agriculture and providing food have exhausted natural habitats. It is imperative we do not marginalise rural communities when devising solutions to this problem. However, I believe there is a sweet spot when it comes to producing high-quality food and protecting the soil under our feet, and we should keep incentivising and rewarding those methods!

Get in touch sterre.vester@sac.co.uk