Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith) Lab

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-14327, in the name of Richard Lochhead, on agriculture, current challenges facing the sector and opportun...

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment (Richard Lochhead) SNP

I am very pleased to open this important debate on the opportunities and current challenges facing Scottish agriculture. As we are all aware, agriculture mat...

Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD) LD

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Richard Lochhead SNP

I will take an intervention on the subject of Orkney.

Liam McArthur LD

I thank the cabinet secretary for teeing me up so expertly. He will be aware of the on-going discussions between his officials and local representatives in O...

Richard Lochhead SNP

I am aware of some of the challenges that are facing many of the farmers in Orkney. I simply assure Liam McArthur that my officials are working on the transp...

Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

Given the huge uncertainty that exists about the payment schedule, can the cabinet secretary confirm the timetable for the delivery of those payments?

Richard Lochhead SNP

If Sarah Boyack will bear with me, I am just coming on to that. By the end of this year, we will have launched or relaunched between 15 and 20 schemes, each...

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) Con

The cabinet secretary mentioned the convergence uplift. Does he accept that the UK Government is, as I understand it, still committed to undertaking the revi...

Richard Lochhead SNP

Yes, but my concern remains that that review will take place in 2016-17, which is already too late, and that once it is completed and implemented, we will be...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

I advise members that they must take interventions within their time, because we really are tight for time. 14:55

Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab) Lab

I definitely agree with the cabinet secretary that this has been an incredibly difficult year for our farming communities. The NFUS describes it as a “crisis...

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) Con

Like other members, I very much welcome the debate. It is needed, if for no other reason than that I have never known so many farmers in my part of Scotland ...

Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) Lab

If Alex Fergusson is concerned about the Scottish Government not waiting for scientific advice, how can he be so positive about the biotechnology industry? G...

Alex Fergusson Con

I want the scientific evidence on the table to back up the ban that has been put in place by the cabinet secretary. We have no such evidence. GM crops have ...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD

It would be unfair to blame Mr Lochhead for the rain, and nor could he in any way be blamed for global weather. However, if the sun had been shining all summ...

Bruce Crawford (Stirling) (SNP) SNP

Will the member give way?

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

Very briefly, please.

Bruce Crawford SNP

Does Tavish Scott accept that the European auditors have said exactly the same about almost every country in Europe? There is a common denominator here regar...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

I am afraid that you must close, Mr Scott.

Tavish Scott LD

I agree with that to an extent, but I am concerned about how the approach that the European Commission takes when it meets farming ministers in Brussels is i...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

We come to the open debate. I am afraid that we are extremely short of time. Speeches should be of less than six minutes. 15:18

Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP

What is agriculture for? Well, we must try to feed Scots. It has been suggested that we must have an agriculture that tries to feed the world, but the world ...

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab) Lab

I think that we all agree that the agricultural sector is facing extremely challenging times. Crofters and farmers in the Highlands and Islands were already ...

Richard Lochhead SNP

Does the member accept that one of the reasons—in fact, the key reason—why farmers elsewhere in the UK receive much more per hectare in farm payments than th...

Rhoda Grant Lab

I would always argue for more money to come to Scotland. However, I am talking about the Scottish Government’s distribution of the money. I am asking for tha...

The Deputy Presiding Officer Lab

Order, please.

Rhoda Grant Lab

It is really disappointing that the current consultation on the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board does not allow for the status quo. All the options would wa...

Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP) SNP

We have just to take a quick flick through the farming press to see a mixture of headlines: some good, some bad, some dramatic and some extremely worrying. T...

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab) Lab

As a novice in agriculture debates, I found it particularly useful to read “The Future of Scottish Agriculture: a Discussion Document”, which addresses some ...