 Rwyf i chi'n ei bwysig,65, nid gregio'r fglwysig dyma rdynidog honno yn bonesh number 1025, yn rhai'r sgwамиwyd ac yn leisio'r sgwamiyd. Rai'r fglwysig dyma rdynidog yn bwysig mwyn ddim yn amgyrraedd, ac yn rhaid ei byw i chi yn bwysig dyma yng ngynghwyl maen nhw fygodd ar hyn i ddefuysom, rydyn ni'n gyllidion i'r fglwysig dyma i gael. Rydyn ni'n ddangos i gael bwysig,65, rydyn ni'n gwybodaeth yr hyn hyn yn ddawfodol? I'm delighted to be holding this debate this afternoon and thank members for supporting the motion. Last September, I was asked to host a potato council round table, and I'll be honest, there were other events on in Parliament that night, and I thought, I've got to go and talk about potatoes all night, but it was genuinely one of the most interesting meetings I've ever been to in Parliament, and I left that meeting a complete convert to the value of our Scottish produce and the importance of potatoes and a thing that we hardly ever talk about in this Parliament, or I would argue that we don't do enough to promote. Potatoes are affordable, they're environmentally friendly, they're a staple of a healthy diet, they're nutritious, and they're a leading Scottish product. I'll admit to also having some teasing about holding the potato debate this evening, but you'll need to look at the Scottish potatoes exports. In the Parliament, we frequently talk about whisky and salmon as leading Scottish exports, and they have targets to increase their global reach. Yet, when we look at potatoes, Scotland is the second biggest producer of seed potatoes in Europe, and almost 30 per cent of seed potatoes that are grown in Scotland are exported to both EU and non-EU countries, including over 40 countries, including Egypt and Morocco. I think that that's quite impressive, but we don't talk about our exports in this era or our global importance. Scotland has the perfect combination of soil and weather. That might be something that we're not always grateful for, but we have a great combination of soil and weather to produce a world-leading product, a product that many other countries rely on, and in a time off when we talk a lot about food security, it is an important cornerstone of Scottish produce. We should be looking at ways to support and grow the sector. Like all areas of farming, there are yearly fluctuations in challenges in price and productivity, but the estimated value in 2012 was £160 million, and 8 per cent of all British seed is grown in Scotland with a sector value of around £100 million, so it is a significant sector, and it is a Scottish success story that we should celebrate. I mentioned food security, but if we look at the other global challenges, addressing climate change and sustainability, food chains and production have a significant role to play in addressing some of those challenges. Potatoes that are grown in Britain use just 29 per cent of the water compared to the global average, and the journey from field to plate is much shorter than other comparable produce. If we think about rice or pasta and the water, energy and air miles that are used to produce those products, potatoes compare very favourably, but there is on-going work into the future, and the James Hutton Institute is investing in research for the sector, developing varieties that require much less fertiliser and water input, so those can be grown with a much smaller environmental footprint. Potatoes that can withstand environmental pressures are good for the export market, but they are also good for future-proofing our own produce against the impact of climate change at home. The potato sector is facing significant challenges. Consumption has fallen across the UK, but most significantly within Scotland, since February 2012, consumption of fresh potatoes in Scotland has fallen by 13 per cent compared to 9 per cent in England and 10 per cent in Wales. We can suggest several reasons for this. Our eating habits have changed. We have seen an increase in the use of pasta, rice and noodles. We have much more options than we did generations ago when meeting potatoes with a staple in diet. We have changed lifestyles, busy lives combined with less meal preparation, and when you get home from work, potatoes do not often seem like the obvious thing to cook. Your impression is that it will take a while to prepare that if you plan to cook at all. But supermarkets and producers are trying to respond to this with more convenient but fresh product options available, so we see product development trying to address the issues of consumption. We have also seen a shift in the type of potatoes that we buy, and we are now in the new potato season. I hope that members will come along to the potato council event tomorrow lunchtime and try some of the new potatoes. You are most welcome, but the consumer is increasingly buying smaller potatoes and in smaller bags, and while that helps with consumption figures, it leaves challenges for the Scottish potato market, leaving them vulnerable and too seasonally focused. Research also has a significant role to play in all that. We all like good-looking fruit and veg these days. While there is a job to do with the consumer except in produce that looks like it has been grown in a field, there are also advantages to improving the appearance and nutritional profile, reducing greening and sprouting, and developing better flavour. All those issues contribute to how we improve consumption levels, but there is always a perception that potatoes make you fat, and that is probably one of the most difficult myths to address and to reverse. Starchew foods are our main source of carbohydrates and are important in a healthy diet, yet the idea that potatoes are heavy and calorie is still persistent. When I spoke to people about having this debate, I was surprised by how many people still had that impression, but potatoes make you fat. That is a misconception. Often it is not the potato but it is the butter or the oil or the salt that we add that is the problem. If you eat potatoes with the skins on, they are a great source of energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium, as well as vitamin C. The UK Department of Health has recently changed its dietary advice to include potatoes with skins along with whole grains as a source of fibre. However, there is no defined portion size for potatoes in the UK, unlike the 80 grams that is recommended for fruit and vegetables. It would be good to have clarity on that, because that would help with the promotion of healthy eating guidance to consumers. If it was true that potatoes were causing weight gain, I do not think that we would necessarily see falling consumption alongside increasing obesity figures. I asked the public health minister last year in a PQ about the goal of increasing potato consumption by 25 per cent, which was in the preventing overweight and obesity route map, and then removed based on advice from the Food Standards Agency. I understand the reasons for changing the advice, but I think that it gives a confusing message for the consumer. I accept that part of that is the difficulty with a lack of an evidence base regarding health benefits, but that needs to be resolved and a clear message about the nutritious value of potatoes and the role that they can play in a healthy diet. While no-one denies their value, potatoes miss out by the positive promotion because they are not part of the five-a-day message, and they also miss out on positive promotion as a starchy carbohydrate because they are not a whole grain, which tends to be the focus of that category. The final point on that is that potatoes are affordable. We have seen an increase in cost in recent years, but we have seen an increase in food prices across the shopping basket. Food prices are predicted to rise faster than incomes every year until 2018. There is significant pressure on global food prices and feeding a family gets more and more difficult. Potatoes remain an affordable product and it is also one that people can grow themselves. I know that the potato council, as well as representatives in the sector, have been doing a lot of work with schools and have been supporting them through the Grow Your Own Potatoes project. This year is the 40th anniversary of the DD landings, and the British Nutritional Foundation are using the opportunity to highlight the potato, which it describes as new nutritional insights into an old wartime food hero. Potatoes can seem old-fashioned, and the consumption figures that I gave earlier are even starker when you look at the figures in terms of age, and we can see that consumption is falling much faster under those who are aged under 40. However, if we think about the global food challenges that we face—affordability, nutrition, sustainability and the environment—we have a Scottish produce that we should celebrate and we should be proud of. Many thanks. We now turn to the open debate. Speeches of around four minutes, please. Angus MacDonald to be followed by Dr Richard Simpson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am certainly pleased to be contributing to this debate this evening, and thank Claire Baker for bringing the debate to the chamber around us to highlight the many benefits to both health and the economy of the great Scottish spud. I have a long association with the great Scottish spud. I grew in Cerspynx on the family farms up in Stornoway for the outdoor hebedean market, where the flowery dry texture of Cerspynx goes so well with the local delicacies such as salt herring and guga. The guga has of course been the salt baby gannet, which is half a century on from being born on the Isle deus. I still have not managed to acquire a taste for it. I can say that without worrying about damaging the guga industry as demand greatly exceeds supply. My association with the humble spud continued when I trained as a livestock auctioneer with United Auctions in Stirling, where we would regularly hold seed potato sales. I learned of hundreds of varieties that I had never heard of before. Following the sale, as a trainee auctioneer, I used to have to phone in the sale report to the Glasgow Herald and the Scotsman, the P&J and the Courier, and that was in the days before email and fax. So I had to spell out each of the varieties to the copy girls. So I now have varieties such as Desiree, Pentland, Javelin, Osprey and Russet Burbank etched on my mind. I'm sure there's lots of retired copy girls out there who are extremely relieved they no longer have to type endless potato varieties for hours on end. To look at the names of the multitude of different varieties such as some colourful names such as the Scarlett, Pimpernel, Galactica, Fontaine, Asterix and Silvana, to name just a few, there are just some of the 700 potato varieties held by the Scottish Government in its national potato collection. Yes, surely. Clare Baker. As one of the members would agree with me, that while we have knowledge of variety, we should see more variety in our supermarkets, and part of recent consumption would be being able to give the consumer much greater variety and choices in what kind of potatoes they consume. Angus MacDonald. Absolutely. If you look at the tonnage figures that the Government provides, there are basically just a handful of varieties that are used and there are so many other brilliant varieties out there that people aren't aware of and they should be made aware of them. Scotland produces 600,000 tonnes of potatoes each year, which are valued at around 180 million, and around half of that tonnage are our world-class seed potatoes, which are clearly the foundation of our potato industry. Scottish seed potatoes are exported to over 50 countries outside the EU and generate 35 million for the economy, with Egypt being the largest seed export destination, which demand from Egypt up 20 per cent on previous years. Scotland is now the largest seed supplier to Egypt, having overtaken the Netherlands, which was the previous lead supplier. There is lots of good news out there with regard to Scottish potatoes and even more when you consider that a recent study of the nutritional values of potatoes and potato products in the UK diet, published in the British Nutrition Foundation nutrition bulletin, revealed that choosing to consume potatoes in place of more energy-dense foods could have a significant impact to reduce calorie consumption and improve nutrient density, potentially contributing to the avoidance of obesity. In addition, potatoes as a white vegetable play an important role in enriching the diet, providing important micronutrients, as well as dietary fibre and unsaturated fatty acids. So, while potato consumption is declining slightly, it would seem that it should be encouraged. Particularly when you consider that, according to the study, potatoes provide on average more fibre, potassium, vitamin C, folate and magnesium compared with their energy contribution. That means that potatoes increase the nutrient density of the diet. So, there is an important role for potatoes to play in improving their diet, not only are they a source of dietary fibre, they provide the micronutrients that I mentioned earlier. In short, providing care is taken over the amount of added fat and salt. Potato consumption should be encouraged as a white vegetable alongside other coloured vegetables as part of a healthy balanced diet. Meanwhile, as my time is limited, can I just squeeze in a bit of praise for SRUC and the work that they are continuing to do on blight-resistant varieties? A late blight costs Scottish farmers about £500 per hectare or up to half of all production costs, and the SRUC believes that using newer blight-resistant varieties could help to control blight in a more cost-effective way. So, it's clear that there's lots of work going on at all stages in the potato industry from research to growing to marketing, so let's do all we can to ensure the humble Scottish spud continues to make a significant contribution to our diet and our economy. Many thanks, and I'll call Dr Richard Simpson to be followed by Mary Scanlon. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I add my thanks to Claire Baker for getting this member's debate on an important topic, which is of relevance to Scottish and Scottish exports. I want to confine my remarks to three issues—the health value of potatoes, the health and safety of managing chips and the future of seed potatoes, which is an important industry. I think that we've already heard that the Potato Council has demonstrated the significant benefits—health benefits—of potatoes, and I think that the evidence base is now quite strong. I won't repeat all the elements that have been talked about by others, but potassium is an important factor, as well as the energy and fibre source and the vitamins that others have mentioned. Vitamin B6, for example, has many important functions, including contributing to normal red blood cell formation, the normal functioning of the nervous system and the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, as well as the regulation of hormonal activity. Potato Council has produced a number of healthy eating recipes featuring potatoes, all of which are less than 400 calories per portion. That is a much undervalued and underappreciated product. I wanted to look at chips because chips are everybody's favourite—or one of the favourite ways in which potatoes are produced. Of course, it is one that has had, in many ways, quite a bad press. I believe that we need much firmer standards in terms of chip production, necessary for health and a healthier population. If you look at New Zealand, they've developed a set of industry standards for potato chips based on the best scientific evidence. Their organisation, known as the Chip Group, which works to improve the nutritional status of deep-fried chips sold in New Zealand, found that chips that are not cooked to industry standards have up to 20 per cent fat in them, compared with the operators adhering to the standards that produce deep-fried chips that are between 7 and 9 per cent fat. As an illustration of that, one of their programmes is called town makeovers, in which they go to local producers of chips and instruct them in the standards. In Matamata, in Waikato, after one of those programmes, they reduce the annual consumption of fat by 1,711 kilograms, the equivalent of three trailer loads full of fat. That can have a major effect and chips are very popular. I would like to see the fish and chip organisation in Scotland and their standards in their programme ensure that no fish and chip shop is awarded an award in Scotland unless it complies to the standard that reduces the chip fat content to less than 9 per cent. Good technique has other important factors. It reduces the level of acrylamide and mufuran, both of which are carcinogens and are in high prevalence if the frying standards are not followed. What will the Government do to ensure that high standards in this area are encouraged? To finish with, I want to deal with seed potatoes, an important crop has already been said, and I won't go into the figures. One of the big problems, as Angus MacDonald mentioned, is potato blight. It is one of the things that causes real problems. Here, I'm really going to go into an area that is slightly difficult for us because the research that the present mechanism is to use Mendelian cross-breeding in order to improve blight resistance. There is a lot of work going on in that at the James Hutton Institute and elsewhere. There is also significant work going on in Holland to produce blight-resistant varieties, but in America, they are going to follow the genetically modified route. Here, they are using existing potatoes from South America and old forms of potatoes, which are almost completely blight-resistant. That will short-cut the approach quite significantly. Given that blight has a massive effect on this crop across the whole world, if we are going to survive as a seed-producing nation—and it is the seed production that is important to us—we need to consider doing a risk assessment of not adopting GM to protect our industries competitive. I am not advocating GM, but the industry itself talks about all the public protections that need to be put in place. Nevertheless, we should be very careful that we do not lose out in this area to the Americans because this is an area of great importance to us. I would like to thank Claire Baker for securing the member's debate. In fact, I think that this is exactly what the member's debate should be about. I thank her very much for bringing this to the Parliament. Growing up in Angus, we never spoke about potatoes. That was for the toffs. It was tatties. Tatties were part of our annual calendar of events. From eight years old, I would be sewing tatties in the spring. We had three weeks' tattie holidays in October. Between those times, we were outpicking daffodils at Dijkland, strawberries and raspberries at Charlton near Montrose in the summer holidays. It probably sounds like child slave labour these days, but it was actually just a normal part of our life. However, I was aware growing up in Montrose of the excellent disease-free seed potatoes that were grown in Scotland and exported to many countries. It is no surprise that overseas demand for seed potatoes has risen by 30 per cent in the past 10 years. However, I have to say, probably like many people—I make no apology for it—I was not fully aware, or probably not very aware at all, of the nutritional benefit of potatoes until I started researching for this debate. It is perhaps the lack of knowledge about these benefits that has been responsible for some of the decline of 500,000 tonnes in the potato crop in the years between 2011 and 2013. That, to me, seems a huge amount. I also have to confess that the year of the potato 2008 also passed me by. I cannot say I learned much about the potato that year, but the briefing from the potato council states that, in 2008, the Scottish Government published a target of increasing potato consumption by 25 per cent as part of the healthy eating act of living and action plan to improve diet and tackle obesity, which was to run for three years. Unfortunately, in the same briefing, it states that subsequent policy documents have been inconsistent in referencing the target. I hope that this debate goes some way to addressing that. However, in response to the goal to increasing consumption by 25 per cent, Michael Matheson stated, and I quote again, that there is no evidence base regarding the health benefits of consuming potatoes specifically. However, I have to say that I have found plenty, we have heard plenty tonight, and there are plenty more sources. As Claire Baker said, Scotland is the right place to grow potatoes using just 29 per cent of the water compared to the global average and 133 times less water than that of rice and 42 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than pasta. On the health front and nutritional front, a medium potato provides 45 per cent of the daily value of vitamin C—I certainly did not know that—more potassium than bananas, spinach or broccoli—did not know that—and 10 per cent of the daily value of B6 and all that for 110 calories with no fat, sodium or cholesterol. If I do not know it, how many people out there do not know that? Potatoes are fat-free and lower in calories than white rice and pasta. They are almost half the calories of the same amount of white rice and significantly lower than boiled white pasta. In terms of fibre, the potato yields double the amount of pasta and more than 20 times the amount found in boiled white rice. That is a superfood by any other name, but price is a factor here, as Claire Baker said, about the rising food prices. Given that other products such as pasta and rice can act as a very acceptable substitute for potatoes, I find it worrying that where potatoes have increased in price from £100 per ton in 2011 to £270 per ton in 2012. I hope that that increase in price will encourage farmers and other growers to allocate more land to the production of potatoes given that financial incentive. I have to say that I found the factual information surrounding this debate very interesting. I will be sure to include tatties in my weekly shop from now on. I hope that this debate has raised awareness about the nutritional and health benefits of the potato. First, I congratulate Claire Baker for bringing what has been a very fascinating debate and, indeed, very interesting and well-put-together speeches from all my colleagues across the chamber today and fascinating details in them about nutrition in particular. If I pose the question, can any of us imagine haggis and neeps without the mashed tatties or the Sunday lunch or dinner without the crisp roasties and a battered fish without the chips, irrespective of the requirements and standards that Dr Simpson highlighted, or, indeed, my personal favourite, the baked potato, can we imagine life without those? I could go on with a long list of the many dishes that can be accompanied by what some might call the humble spud, but I think that we have gathered today and we could categorise them again as the glorious versatile potato. Whether fresh or processed, boiled, mashed, baked, fried, crisp, most of us love them in at least one form or another. I know that Angus MacDonald is a particular expert on potato varieties, so I will be making sure that the cabinet secretary is aware of that for future reference. That is why I thank Claire Baker for raising this topic about one of Scotland's most important crops. Claire Baker hosted a round-table event on tackling tattie targets here at the Scottish Parliament in September 2013, which covered many of the issues that were raised in that motion. In Scotland, we have a long history of quality food production, particularly of potatoes. The value of the Scottish seed crop alone, as members have said, is approaching £100 million, with more than 11,000 hectares grown in 2013. Potatoes from Scotland represent some 75 per cent of total UK production. I have heard, I think, a figure of 80 per cent, but I hope that we are in agreement that it is a very significant share of UK production. We also grow between 16,000 to 18,000 hectares of where or eating potatoes per annum. The total output value of Scottish where potatoes has doubled from £92 million in 2009 to £188 million in 2013, largely due to a strong increase in price that members have referred to. Collectively, the value of the Scottish potato sector is £287 million. That represents 9 per cent of Scotland's total agricultural output, so it is a very significant crop for our agricultural sector. I add to the fact that Scottish seed potatoes underpin potato production right across the islands, which is worth an estimated £4 billion a year. That confirms the importance of the Scottish potato and why it should be celebrated and valued. Scotland has many natural advantages, as members have said, for potato production, including the Scottish climate. Our cool summers can be a distinct advantage in limiting virus pressure on Scottish potato crops. This is allied to Scotland's freedom from serious potato quarantine pests such as brown rot and ring rot. I know that James Hutton Institute is looking at the impact of climate change on potato production and we look forward to its research. That freedom does not happen by chance and is the result of strong collaboration between growers, potato councils and the Scottish Government to ensure that a range of voluntary and statutory measures are in place to maintain and build on our worldwide high health reputation. That includes the Scottish Government undertaking soil, tuber and water surveillance to monitor for quarantine pests and diseases. We are rightly proud of our high health status, but we cannot rest on our laurels. Plant health is the root of Scotland's thriving rural economy. That is why I announced the development of a new Scottish plant health strategy on 18 March at a workshop with stakeholders. The strategy will be hugely beneficial in helping us to tackle the increasing challenges of new pests and diseases that may affect production. Strong collaboration with all interested parties is also vital in protecting our plant health. That is why the Scottish Government works in partnership with the potato industry and potato council to ensure that we have robust measures in place to build on our advantages. We fund potato-related research in Scotland to evaluate around £4 million per year and we lay it closely with the potato council on this to complement their input and their efforts. Scottish potatoes are also consistently successful in European and international markets. I think that Angus MacDonald and others have referred to Egypt. I think that it is 49 per cent of our total exports outside the EU go to Egypt, but over the current export season we have 77,000 tonnes to over 20 different countries outside the European Union. It is another very good year for our exporters. Again, that is the result of strong collaboration between exporters, potato council and Scottish Government working in tandem to nurture existing markets and to develop new ones. The Scottish Bud also plays a vital role in the success story that Scotland's food and drink industry. Since 2008, our food and drink sector has experienced the strongest growth in turnover, all growth sectors in Scotland standing at 14 per cent. As Clare Baker noticed in our motion, consumption of fresh potatoes has been in decline with a drop of around 25 per cent over the last decade. Processed potatoes also declined over the same period by around 13 per cent. The reason for the decline is unclear, as members have said, but the decrease appears greater in more affluent societal groups, suggesting some form of cultural shift. Potato prices may also be a factor. They rose by almost 30 per cent, as a number has said today between 2007 and 2012. That increase is close to the average in food prices but higher than the price increases for fruit and vegetables in the same period. Research shows that consumer reaction in the UK to price increases has been to buy fewer and cheaper potatoes rather than pay more. The long-term decline in consumption is, of course, a concern, and I commend Potato Council and members for raising this issue today. The Potato Council has a key role in promoting the sector. The Government consistently recommends and promotes potatoes as an excellent source of starchy carbohydrates. Examples include advice to retailers on product placement through the healthy living programme, the Food Standards Agency Scotland Eat Well plate and, shortly, as part of supporting healthy choices guidance due for publication at the end of June this year. If there is a key message that has come out of the debate from all members and I commend them all for the detail in which they have described it, there is the issue of nutrition. Clearly, we have a problem in that potatoes are perceived to not be as nutritional as we now know they are. Clare Baker, Mary Scanlon, Richard Simpson and Angus MacDonald all made these points about the particular quality, so I will not repeat them, but most people are not eating enough of this type of food, so increasing our consumption of potatoes is an ideal way of achieving our health targets. Reflected by Angus MacDonald, it is important that Scotland's population is in a position to make informed decisions on what they eat and the sheer variety of potatoes was a surprise to me. I hadn't appreciated the bread there. The Scottish Government published revised dietary targets in May 2013 following a review by the Food Standards Agency Scotland. They set the population wide shift required to improve Scotland's dietary health, which includes the intake of starchy foods. I pick up the point that Richard Simpson made. I think very fairly about the way that potatoes are cooked in relation to chips. I wasn't aware of the diversity of the techniques using the fact content that ultimately arises, so I will certainly raise that point with my colleagues just to see if there is anything that we can do. Food education is also high on the Government's agenda. For example, we have invested £3 million over 2010 to 2015 to help to teach our young people about the journey from farm to fork. It is why initiatives like the Potato Council's Grow Your Own Potatoes for primary school children are invaluable in teaching our future generations of consumers about where potatoes come from and how they can be utilised in diets at home. It is possible to build in perhaps more messaging about the nutritional value of potatoes and perhaps even guidance on how they are cooked and to ensure that their health benefits are maximised. I am delighted to note that Grow Your Own is celebrating its 10th year. Many schools across Scotland grow their own, which teaches pupils about the role that potatoes can play in a healthy, balanced diet. That is a fantastic project that is complementing other food education initiatives that the Scottish Government funds, and I hope that it will continue to engage with young people across the country for years to come. I commend Clear Baker for a motion. I commend all members for the content of their speeches, which is very constructive and positive in favour of the industry. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to celebrate the success of our Scottish Spuds past, present and for the future with you all today. Many thanks. That concludes Clear Baker's debate on celebrating the Scottish Spud, and I now close this meeting of Parliament.