Tarrant Refrigeration | Scottish Land & Estates

Nominee Summary

Deer are an iconic part of Scotland’s landscape and heritage. However without effective management, deer numbers can significantly impact crofting, woodland regeneration, biodiversity and long-term natural environment resilience. Crofting communities regularly experience damage to crops, gardens and young forestry from roaming deer, while annual estate culls ensure sustainable populations, reduce grazing pressure and allow habitat recovery.

What was the motivation behind the work which was undertaken?

To create the ability for the abundance of wild venison on Jura to be harvested into the local food chain, bringing economic, environmental and employment benefits to the island.

Overcoming Challenges

Rural Scottish communities face unique challenges. Jura’s remoteness historically made managing Jura’s 6,000 deer challenging due to carcass export logistical issues, thus hindering effective deer culling for land management. Recognising both this challenge and the opportunity presented, Wild Jura Venison commissioned Tarrant Refrigeration to design and install the first and only Approved Game Handling Establishment (AGHE) on Jura in 2024. Built over three months, despite logistical challenges, the AGHE provides vital local infrastructure linking responsible deer management with environmental, economic and community benefits. By creating local processing capacity on one of Scotland's most remote islands, Tarrant Refrigeration have enabled deer taken as part of sustainable land management to become a valuable local food resource rather than simply the end point of a management programme.

The Environmental, Social & Economic Benefits

The Jura AGHE also helps reduce waste by ensuring that deer taken through necessary management become a highly valued, sustainable and local food product, rather than losing value through transport off-island as an unprocessed carcass. Processing takes place locally, retaining both economic benefit and employment within the community. The AGHE also provides opportunities for partnerships beyond Jura, e.g. a local Islay charity, supplying products through its retail outlet and hoping to support responsible deer management within forests under its ownership.

Including the community

The AGHE demonstrates that effective land management is more than controlling deer numbers. It’s about protecting crofting communities, supporting woodland regeneration, encouraging healthier ecosystems, reducing waste, strengthening local food security and ensuring that benefits of responsible deer management remain within the communities that undertake it. By transforming a land management challenge into lasting environmental, social and economic value, the Tarrant Refrigeration AGHE built for Wild Jura Venison provides a practical model for sustainable rural development in one of Scotland's most remote island communities. Wild Jura Venison’s AGHE also supports local crofting communities by providing an outlet for deer taken through out-of-season management between March and June, allowing crofters to protect productive land while ensuring that deer removed for legitimate land management purposes are fully utilised. The remainder of the deer processed via the AGHE are sourced from annual estate culls across Jura, undertaken as part of responsible deer population management. Wild Jura Venison prove through their AGHE that responsible land management extends beyond the point at which deer are harvested. Through local processing, wild venison enters the food chain and is supplied throughout Jura and Islay. The AGHE currently supplies schools across both islands, including five primary schools and one secondary school, as well as three retail shops, two hotels and restaurants, local residents through area deliveries, CalMac ferry services, distillery events and community festivals. Enabling sustainable land management directly contributing to healthy local produce and a strong island economy.