Meeting of the Parliament 13 September 2018
I always welcome payments being brought forward. The fact that they have been brought forward a month from where they were five years ago is welcome, but farmers expect the payments to be brought forward to November.
I will make an observation about the amendments to the motion that have been lodged. As the convener of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee, I believe that it would be improper for me to vote on Mike Rumbles’s amendment, which concerns salmon farming, if I am to maintain the impartiality that the committee expects of me as convener. I will therefore abstain on the vote on that amendment.
If we are to grow our food and drink industry so that it is worth £30 billion by 2030, we need the Scottish Government to match the ambitions of the farmers and producers that I have mentioned. To reach that target, we need a good food nation bill that will strengthen the position of farmers and producers in the supply chain and ensure that local produce is favoured in public sector procurement.
In the past, I have always welcomed the Scottish Government’s intention to deliver the good food nation bill, but I now really question the strength of the Government’s commitment to it. Let us not forget that last year the Government promised that it was working towards the bill. We waited and we waited, but it never came. That led the head of Nourish Scotland to state that any attempt to drop the good food nation bill would represent a failure. I call on the Government to think carefully about what it is doing and to introduce a good food nation bill, which all the Scottish people heard it talk about and believe that it should deliver.
15:26