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Plenary, 06 Feb 2003

06 Feb 2003 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Organic Farming Targets (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Fergusson, Alex Con South of Scotland Watch on SPTV

I will preface my speech as the rural affairs spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives with some sentences as convener of the Rural Development Committee. First, I echo Bruce Crawford and congratulate Robin Harper on having successfully shepherded his bill to this stage—it has already had a significant effect. Secondly, I thank our long-suffering and hard-working clerking team, who as ever have made the work of committee members much easier. I am sure that all members of the committee would like to record their thanks, too.

I congratulate Robin Harper on his achievement, as the Scottish Conservatives have been categorical from the outset in saying that a debate on the organic sector has been long overdue. I remember when Robin Harper first approached me about the bill. I was instinctively supportive, simply on the grounds that the industry desperately needed the debate so that existing and prospective organic producers would know exactly where they stood. Gathering evidence for the committee report has allowed us to generate some of the debate, although I do not believe that it has yet ended—I will return to that point later.

Passions are easily aroused about organic farming. Proponents and advocates of organic farming hail organic produce and say that it has great health benefits and that the production system is beneficial to the environment and animal welfare. Others are less generous. During the Linking Environment and Farming—LEAF—presentation, which I hosted last week, an adviser to that organisation, who described himself as an active environmentalist rather than environmental activist, said that if he had his way, he would forcibly prevent his children from eating organic produce on health grounds alone. Another person said that the only difference in treating an animal with chemicals or antibiotics was that, if the animal was organic, permission had to be requested first.

We cannot therefore pretend that there is universal agreement on the environmental, health and animal welfare benefits of organic production. However, few people would dispute that it meets many of the criteria that are set out in the Executive's document "A Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture"—the Executive acknowledges that fact in its introduction to the action plan that was conveniently published two days ago. I will say one thing about the Scottish Executive: it can certainly get a document published when it needs to. I wish that it would show a similar urgency in publishing the findings of the short-life action group on ME, which John McAllion and I are keen to see. We know that the report was signed off before Christmas and has not yet been published. I accept that I am digressing, Presiding Officer.

We have always stated that our preference for the way forward for the organic sector is a robust and focused action plan that is agreed by stakeholders, and I welcome the publication of the plan. The Conservative party and I have never believed that legislative targets are the correct way forward for a sector that can and should be market led. That view was reinforced by the evidence to the committee from the past chairman of SOPA, to which Bruce Crawford drew attention.

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Plenary, 06 Feb 2003

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