Meeting of the Parliament 06 January 2016
On the impact of flooding on agriculture, the first thing that we have to do is understand the scale of the impacts on Scottish farmland of the atrocious conditions of the past few weeks, and the consequences. That is what we are doing now and over the next few days.
However, as I have said to the farmers whom I have met, and will say to the official organisations in the next few days, there are issues with regard to how we will repair the flood damage, including regulatory issues. We need to consider how to make it easier for farmers to deal with the aftermath of flooding, which will involve discussions with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Until we have had those discussions, it is difficult to say what options are available, but I have pledged that we will have those discussions in order to help.