Meeting of the Parliament 18 March 2025
I have taken a number of interventions, and I am running out of time, so I must continue.
Many of our primary food producers work in the islands and in rural Scotland. However, the Scottish Government is not building homes in rural Scotland. That means that the workforce is depleted and young people are being driven to our cities.
Producers also need good reliable routes to market in order to ensure the quality and freshness of their products. That counts, whether they are transporting goods around the world or within Scotland. Our islands’ fish processors have a daily battle to try to get their produce to the mainland and beyond. A ferry cancellation because of yet another breakdown plays havoc with that need. That situation forces those industries to consider moving to the mainland, which will decimate our island economies. There are jobs in fish processing; however, processors get their products from a myriad of small boats, so they would need catches to be transported to the mainland, but those boats are far too small to land in mainland ports. Therefore, if the processors move out, the boats will have nowhere to sell their catches.
Our shellfish is also recognised for its excellence worldwide. To keep that reputation and gain us national and international benefit, it needs to be kept fresh. Therefore, we need to make it fairer and easier for the whole industry to work and trade.
With all that said, it is sad that, in a country such as ours that is renowned for its produce, many of our citizens live in food poverty. It is simply wrong that people are forced to get their nutrition from food banks. I long for the day when the need for food banks is a thing of the past.
We are rightly proud of our reputation for excellence in the food and drink industry. To sustain and grow our food and drink industry domestically as well as internationally, businesses need modern and fit-for-purpose transportation networks. They also need skilled employees in order that they can grow their operations. Those employees need homes to live in in order to nurture communities and the workers of the future.
To promote our food and drink, we need to protect its reputation and excellence while ensuring that we achieve net zero. Reputations need to be actively maintained and sustained. We need to ensure that our food and drink sector has the Government backing that it needs.
I move amendment S6M-16839.1, to insert at end:
“; notes the further risk to Scotland’s food and drink industry posed by rural depopulation, caused by a lack of housing supply and weakened transport links; acknowledges that the Food and Drink Federation estimates that the sector needs nearly 35,000 new recruits by 2031 to fill skills gaps; welcomes the commitment by the UK Labour administration to not water down the legal definition of single malt whisky; believes that the Scottish Government can do more to promote the unique nature of Scotch whisky and other Scottish food and drink exports to maximise the reach of Brand Scotland; calls on the Scottish Government to work across every department to drive a coherent strategy on food and drink as part of a wider industrial strategy, and further calls for clear career pathways in these industries to address skills gaps and drive excellence in the world-famous sector.”
Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.