Hansard

Obviously, I pay tribute to them. Environmentally friendly conventional farming can make a strong contribution to our country's biodiversity and landscapes. I acknowledge its importance and its contribution. Environmentally friendly conventional farming is one of the issues that we want to progress through the new land management contracts, by which we can further encourage environmental stewardship in the conventional sector.

All members know about the strong demand from our constituents for organic produce. Last year, estimated United Kingdom sales of organic produce increased by more than 30 per cent to £1.6 billion. The Soil Association estimates that Scotland's share of that figure is £140 million and growing. The demand is prompting supermarkets to increase their organic ranges and encouraging the expansion of farmers markets, box schemes and other local food initiatives.

This debate is taking place in fair trade week. Consumers are expressing a preference for produce that brings social and environmental benefits to producers in developing countries. We all know that consumers are increasingly keen to buy food that they know has been locally produced or that meets fair trade standards.

From the Executive's perspective, organic farming brings several benefits. It provides a range of environmental benefits and contributes to Scotland's reputation for producing good-quality food in an environmentally friendly way; it minimises the use of non-renewable resources; it avoids pollution by minimising the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides; it aims to build up soil fertility by enhancing the natural biological cycles in the soil; and it demands high animal welfare standards. Studies over the years have shown that organic farming brings significant biodiversity, pollution control, energy efficiency and soil protection benefits.

As my colleague Christine May said, environmental standards are rising in the conventional farming sector. Organic farming plays an important role in setting environmental standards for farming and demonstrating the benefits that farmers can gain by providing produce that meets the growing demand for high-quality, environmentally sustainable food with an assurance about its standard and the farm in Scotland from which it came.

Many members will be aware that converting to organic production can be a difficult and expensive process, and that the market returns in that relatively small and segmented market sector can be variable. Therefore, our agricultural industry requires support to achieve the benefits that organic farming can provide. That is why I was keen to have this debate today. Our third annual report on the organic action plan gives us a good platform to debate how far we have come during the past few years and enables colleagues to think about where we should be going next. It is not enough for the Executive to say that it supports organic farming; we have to think through the mechanisms and take a sustainable approach. We also have to help farmers respond to the challenges that they face, and remember that conventional farming faces similar challenges as we move towards modulation and common agricultural policy reform.

There are things that the Executive can do. We can help farmers to get over the initial hurdle of organic conversion, when costs are higher and returns will not come for two to three years. We can help the industry to identify and tackle weaknesses in the supply chain that prevent producers from accessing the market—smaller producers often face such difficulties. We can also provide advisory and research support so that farmers can make the transition to organic production as easily as possible.

We expressed our commitment by including two specific undertakings in our partnership agreement. The first was to implement the organic action plan to develop the infrastructure that is needed to increase Scotland's share of the organic food market and the proportion of organic food that is available in Scotland. The second was to increase the finance that is available to farmers who wish to convert.

In the run-up to the 2003 election, we saw a dramatic increase in the area of organic land in Scotland, but that concealed deficiencies in the operation of the organic market and the infrastructure that was needed to deliver to consumers. For example, it led to large quantities of organically reared livestock that could not be sold into the organic market ending up on the conventional meat market at lower prices.

After consultation with a wide range of industry stakeholders, and pressure from this Parliament, the organic action plan was developed. I would like to take that set of stakeholders into the future, to ensure that people continue to work together and think not just about the Executive's agricultural policies but about our general policies on food and drink, so that we can take a joined-up approach to supporting the organic sector.

It is fair to say that we now have the conditions in which Scottish producers can meet 70 per cent of the demand for indigenous organic produce. That is double the percentage that pertained before the organic action plan existed.