Hansard

Last week, I remarked on how unusual it was to have a committee debate before a report had been published. That worked well in last week’s Education and Culture Committee debate, and I am sure that it will work again, particularly given the importance of 2012 for negotiations on the CAP reforms. It is welcome that we are gaining wider views on those reforms prior to their implementation.

I commend Graeme Dey—I hope that this does not damage his future career—for an excellent speech. I commend him not just for the content of his speech, but for the fact that he managed to focus on agriculture rather than on the constitution.

This is my first agriculture and rural affairs speech. I say that with some trepidation, because I am surrounded by farmers, although Alex Johnstone has just left. I grew up in Angus and, every school holiday, all my school friends and I picked berries, tatties, daffodils and anything else that could be picked. My father worked on farms all his life and we lived in a tied cottage on a farm. I have lived in Scotland all my life and, as others do, I want what is best for Scotland from the CAP reforms.

As David Stewart said, the many upland hill farmers across the Highlands and Islands receive their single farm payment not simply for farming or crofting, but for the benefits that they bring to their local areas. In the introduction to its session 3 “4th Report 2011: Report on the future of agricultural support in Scotland”, the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee noted that hill farmers deliver public benefits beyond food production, such as

“environmental protection, carbon capture ... biodiversity ... and ... retention of sustainable rural communities.”

On that last point, although far fewer people are now employed directly in agriculture in remote and rural areas, it still provides much-needed employment, brings families to areas and helps to support the local school and the village shop.

Although the debate may highlight regional differences in what is best for Scotland post-2014, as Alex Fergusson said, the bare statistics are clear. The CAP accounts for 43 per cent of the entire EU budget. Scottish agriculture currently receives in the region of £670 million through support payments. In an age of restrained and decreasing public spending, the limits and priorities of the current and the future CAP are clear. Jim Paice has said that he wants to see a CAP that encourages more food production while ensuring that farmers play their part in looking after the environment.

Unusually, I commend the Scottish Government and Richard Lochhead, in particular, who have shown commitment to promoting Scotland’s food and drink. That is to be commended, but there is still more potential and more that can be achieved on that front. Putting on my consumer hat, I always look for food and drink that are made in Scotland. That is easy if one drinks whisky, but it is much more difficult to find Scottish food. At the moment, we are lucky if, in any supermarket, we can buy four types of vegetable that have been grown in Scotland and, outwith the berry season, it is extremely difficult to buy fruit that has been grown in Scotland.

Even in the most remote shops in the Highlands and Islands, there is often little in the way of local produce. I hope that the Government will build on the work that has been done to promote local produce and allow Scottish consumers to support our producers, because however committed people are to doing that, it is difficult if the food is not there.

I visited the island of Canna last year, where the National Trust for Scotland is bringing the walled garden of the main house back into production. The NTS has found types of apple and other fruit tree there that are not found anywhere else in Scotland or the United Kingdom. The fruit trees have been on Canna for centuries, helping to feed local people, so surely we could be doing more to incentivise local producers on the islands and in other remote and rural areas, particularly given the cost of transport and energy.

I have been consensual, so I think it fair that I mention the Conservatives’ own John Scott’s on-going commitment to farmers markets. I welcome what is happening, but much more could be done.

Many members said that fewer young people are entering the industry. The truth is that many farmers struggle with paperwork and bureaucracy that seem to crowd out much of the time that they want to spend on farming enterprise. Audit trails are important and cross-compliance has its place, but if we want farming to flourish again we must consider loosening the constraints of red tape on the industry. I note that the NFUS said in its briefing that the new CAP system is likely to be much more complex than previous systems.

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