 The First Item of Business is members' business debate onanting 1 2425 in R 하 The Name of Rachel Hamilton on the culture and heritage value of agriculture. The debate will be concluded without any questions that are being put, and I would ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press the request to speak buttons. Rachel Hamilton asks to open the debate for around 7 minutes, please. I refer members to my register of interest. I'm delighted to host the debate today on the importance of cultural heritage value of agriculture. We definitely saw the very best of rural Scotland at the Royal Highland show last week and this very much reinforces the importance of our farming heritage in Scotland. It's rightly described as the greatest show on earth and it certainly lives up to that claim. This year was another fantastic year for attendance with 190,000 people attending from all corners of Scotland to attend the best showcase of Scottish agriculture and produce. The show delivers over £65 million in economic benefit to the UK, with visitors expected to have spent around £8 million on shopping at the event. It is the hard work of those who organise the agricultural shows that we owe a great debt of gratitude. As I allude to in my motion, 10 per cent of the population attends at least one of those each year. This is testament to their broad appeal and desire to educate and inspire people to take a greater interest in the farming and the countryside. Closer to home, the Borders host some of the best agricultural shows in the UK, and I thoroughly recommend that if you haven't been to one to come along. The largest show is the Bord of Union agricultural show in Kelso held on the last Friday and Saturday of July, and that showcase is the best of Borders farming. There are many other great shows, namely the Yarrow show, the Berwickshire show in Duns and Newcastleton show. The breadth and variety of those shows really allows for towns and villages to attract the best of farming but also tourism too. The Scottish countryside hosts a vast wealth of tourism and business opportunities, which employ local people, support the rural economy and display the very best of regional produce. People have a hunger for locally produced food and drink, and in recent years we have seen a real boom in interest in Scottish and local produce. May that continue for a very long time. One example of a tremendous story is Born in the Borders, and it is an outstanding example of diversity in farming. It encapsulates the best of the Borders, with the farmer using his own multi-multi-barli to produce craft beers. He is also now producing wonderful gins, and trust me, they are definitely worth a try. Let us not forget the cultural importance of the countryside. The National Sheep Association highlighted in a recent paper, for example, that stone walls and barns have a practical purpose to contain stock, but they are also an important link to local history. Environmental stewardship encourages the preservation of heritage features such as ridge and furrow ploughing and old sheep washes. Cultural heritage covers traditional practices, name places, customs and dialects too, and those characteristics really shape the rural identity of our local communities and attract tourists to visit rural areas. Old farm cottages have been transformed into holiday lets, farm steadings converted into farm shops, and the list goes on. The potential of the Scottish countryside is massive, and yet it could be exhausted even more. It is an example such as those where rural businesses are directly bringing skills, knowledge and employment into the countryside. I believe that a strong tradition of farming in Scotland must continue to be passed on to the next generation. The average farmer, as we know, is aged 59, and it is therefore crucial that we attract new blood and, importantly, women to agriculture. I have seen the first-hand excellent work of the Royal Highland Education Trust, the stuff that it carries out encouraging children to develop an interest in farming. Indeed, their stand at the Royal Highland show was absolutely teeming with school children. I would like to see the Scottish Government allocate more funding to put RET on a more sustainable footing in order for the co-ordinators who look after the volunteers to be able to reach more schools and for more schools to access the good work that they do. In my constituency, the Border Union Agricultural Society has a countryside day, and this year 1,200 primary five children from over 60 schools across the board have gathered at Springwood Park in Kelso to be part of this. It is now in its sixth year, and it educates young people about rural industry, food production and the environment, and it has such a buzz about it. The society is passionate about educating regions children about farming and food production. I would like to see other days such as the countryside days right across Scotland. It inspires bright, talented young people to choose one of the most diverse careers that the regions rural industries offer and instill a love and appreciation of the countryside that will protect and sustain our rural life and economy for generations to come. Moving on slightly to education, Adam Henson, one of Britain's best-known farmers, has called for an introduction of a GCSE in agriculture. Employability Minister Jamie Hepburn said that he wanted to make sure that the labour market is in a position to support projected growth and supply the next generation of professionals for the industry. Recent figures from UCAS have shown that agriculture at degree level is starting to gain popularity, and as a graduate at Harper Adams I can vouch for that. Higher education courses in agriculture, horticulture and animal care have risen by 117 per cent, and perhaps I could put it to the minister that formal qualification in farming and rural issues from the SQA for school pupils should be considered in Scotland, so that it introduces and inspires young people to take up a career in farming or the wider rural economy, and perhaps bring that age level of 59, the average age of 59, down so that we are bringing new talent into the industry. In addition, the popularity of the young farmers remains strong. As a former member of my local young farmers club, I benefited from the social, educational and charitable opportunities, from raising money through barn dances to debating competitions and stock judging. In fact, I was a keen flower arranger as well. However, young farmers were part of my life and have been part of the fabric of rural Scotland for 80 years. Young farmers motto, created in the 1950s, still remains relevant today. Better farmers, better countrymen and better citizens. It is vital in capturing the interests of young people and encouraging them to take the rural route when thinking about career choices. Ultimately, in order to retain expertise and to attract new talent to the countryside, we must do more to encourage new entrants to farming, both male and female. I was delighted to attend the women and agricultural event at the Highland show, along with Emma Harper, and to see an enthusiastic and determined group of women who are involved in agriculture. We must ensure that that talent is fully realised. I know that Fergus Ewing is giving 250,000 backing from the Scottish Government, but I hope that that is in parity with the amount that he has given to male entrants into agriculture. In conclusion, I am so grateful to all members for supporting my motion today. It is vitally important that we speak about our proud agricultural past and debate and discuss how we can move forward in rural Scotland in order to realise the full potential of our fantastic countryside. Thank you, Ms Hamilton. We move to the open debate. In its speeches of four minutes, please, Emma Harper, followed by Peter Chapman. First of all, I would like to thank my colleague Rachel Hamilton for bringing this debate to chamber today and to salute her thorough contribution. It is really important that we highlight the importance that the experts on the farms and in the fields provide us across Scotland. I would also like to remind chamber that I am the parliamentary liaison officer for Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing. I grew up in the south-west of Scotland on two dairy farms, one near the Lochans, close to Strunrar, and the other near Dumfries. My father was a dairyman and I learned to drive tractors before I could even drive a car. Agricultural shows in the south-west start in Strunrar, and they work their way east to Wigtown, Stewartry, which is the Castle Douglas show, and then Dumfries and Lockerbie. I have enjoyed attending them all and I plan on attending them all again this summer. Last week, at the Royal Highland show, I managed to attend Thursday and Friday. I spoke to many folks over the two days about promoting food, farming, production and science, sustainable farming and sheep worrying. There is a lot of concern over what exiting the EU will do regarding tariffs, stability in the supply chain and EU farm workers. It is important that we remember that the workers on dairy farms are not seasonal workers, they are here all year long, their kids are in rural schools and they are part of the rural community. I am excited to see the progress of the women in agriculture task force, headed up by Joyce Campbell, who is a Sutherland sheep farmer, along with the cabinet secretary. I attended the women in ag breakfast, as Rachel Hamilton has just highlighted, and we heard from Joyce Campbell, Kate Rowley and Manette Batters, who is the NFU UK's president, and we are all encouraging more women into agriculture. The National Farmers Union has presented its steps to change document and its suggestions for change. As we are heading for the EU exit on March 29, I would encourage everyone to read the document so that we can all be better informed. It is essential that people across Scotland connect with the food producers. It is important that kids grow up learning where their food comes from, how many miles it travelled and that there are lots of people involved in getting that food free farm to fork. I see the tide turning in Scotland. I think that we are witnessing a change in attitude towards protecting and promoting the provenance of our good produce. One expert presented the argument at the show that provides a false impression of what farmers do. He said that the public observed sheep being delically trimmed at eyeball distance with scissors, and the beasts are presented all washed and manicured. The perception is that the public are not really seeing the opportunity to what farmers are actually doing, like getting covered in muck and stuff like that. A direct rebuttal to that comment was made at the Women and Ag meeting when the Royal Highland Education Trust was commended for its work in encouraging school visits to farms. Indeed, Rett in the south-west, co-ordinated by Fiona Jameson, has been successful for first and second year kids to experience directly what SRUC Crichton campus visits are like, and that is an actual working farm. Like many other farmers, the NFU vice-president, Gary Mitchell, conducts open farm days and gets primary four kids on to his farm. Consequently, Gary has 12 out of his 14 employees sourced locally. Presiding Officer, I applaud the work of farmers, growers and crofters and the rural businesses that each support. From farm to fork, Scotland's economy is rural. Thank you very much. Deputy Presiding Officer, it is always good to talk agriculture. With that in mind, I need to declare an interest, because I am involved in agriculture and farm and business back home. I would like to thank my colleague Rachel Hamilton for bringing forward that motion. It is such a wide-ranging motion that I can almost talk about anything to be honest, but it gives us an opportunity to widen out the debate. Having said that, I also want to speak about the Royal Helen show. I spent two days there last week as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as I always do every year. It is a great opportunity to showcase our agriculture. It is also a great opportunity for farm and folk to meet and greet each other. There is a social issue there, which is very, very important. There are businesses to be done, but there are also friends and family to meet. Often, you only meet them once a year at the Royal Helen show. Obviously, there are many good regional shows all over the country. My nearest one is New Deal's show, and it has been going for 170 years, so it has a great history. Just a wee bit further away from me, the Tariff show is the biggest two-day show in Scotland. Both are fantastic events and fantastic social events, but they are fantastic to showcase the great agricultural project that we have in Scotland. I need to pick up on the RAGT that Rachael mentioned. I visited their stand at the Highland show as well, and I thought that it was a tremendous show. It is really so important that we educate our young kids, our youngsters, as to where their food comes from and what it is all about. They get a wee bit of funding from the Scottish Government, but it is fairly small beer. I echo the plea to give them a wee bit more funding, because they do a great job. Education in general has been involved in that, as far as the SRUC is concerned. I have had concerns about what was happening at Cribbs in the local college in Aberdeen, but we have now got some more clarity going forward, and I think that we have secured its future much better than it was possibly with the state of play in the past. However, it is a great opportunity to celebrate what farmers do and what farmers deliver. The first thing that farmers deliver and they always want to do it, and the reason for them getting up in the morning is to deliver first-quality, high-quality food. That is what they do and that is what they are about. However, they do more than that, of course. They manage the countryside. Most of Scotland—there is very little of Scotland that is purely wildland—most of it is managed in some way, shape or form, and it is farmers and landowners that do that. We deliver biodiversity, we deliver wildlife, and we deliver healthy living for the population that stays in the towns and cities, because we allow them to have access to our land so that they can go out and enjoy the scenery, they can go out and have some fresh air, and they can go out and have some good exercise. We deliver a lot. Farmers deliver a lot, but as I say, food production is the main aim of what we do. We do it to a very high standard. There is no question about it that animal welfare standards in the UK are as high as anywhere in the world. We have done a lot to deliver healthy meat. We use less antibiotics now than ever. We are driving that down. We use technology. When we are growing cereals, we use a lot of GPS technology now. Targeted inputs are important. It is important for the environment, but it is also important for our bottom line. We need to put inputs on just where they are needed, just in the right place and just in the right quantities, and we are doing that more and more. Of course, our raw materials—the food production that we produce—is what sustains Scotland's food and drink. Scotland's food and drink has been a huge success story. It is the biggest manufacturing industry in Scotland. It is producing £15 billion to the economy every year, and the target is to double that to £30 billion by 2030. That is an ambitious target. I think that it can be achieved, but it can only be achieved if we do it in conjunction with our farmers. Agriculture in every civilised nation has been justly regarded as an object of the first importance and of all the useful arts, the most deserving of public attention and encouragement. Those words, which still hold true today, were first written in the year 1800 in the book General View of the Agriculture of the County of Fife. I am pleased to speak in this debate, recognising the culture and heritage of the value of agriculture throughout Scotland, and I congratulate Rachael Hamilton on securing the debate today. Fife is a long-standing, varied and proud agricultural heritage. Anyone visiting Fife can notice first hand that its landscape is carved out by agriculture and industry. Covering 132,000 hectares and farmland area of 97,000 hectares, five boasts, 524 farms of 50 hectares or more. In total, there are over 100, 1,500 farms and holdings in Fife, including 17 dairy farms, 19 specialist sheep farms, 20 specialist beef, 202 cereal, 44 specialist poultry and 282 mixed. Fife is as well as being industrial, it is a farming area. It is clear to anyone that agriculture is a significant part of our local economy, and as well as being a necessity, it is also something that people take pride in and wish to celebrate. Indeed, the motion takes note of various agricultural shows that take place across the country, and Fife is no exception to that. Since 1821, an annual show has been held in Fife to encourage and showcase breeding of livestock. Nowadays, one of the most popular agricultural shows in the country, the Fife show, takes place near Coupar every year. The show is run by volunteers, and it is the same as to promote, support and work with agriculture in Fife and beyond. We recognise the value that having something like this, the Fife show brings to the local area. Thousands of visitors come to see livestock, vintage and modern machinery, game fairs and entertainment, as well as sampling some wonderful food and drink. It is estimated that between 14,000 and 15,000 people attend the show in Coupar every year. Those events provide fantastic family outings, while at the same time celebrating our shared agricultural heritage. As well as the heritage events, such as those, are part of our modern culture. Near my own home village of Kelty, the West Fife show takes place, which was founded in 1962. Again, this event provides a wonderful outing for families, a chance to educate everyone about agriculture, rural life and how their food is grown and produced. Even though I come from a background of coal mining in Fife, I and the communities across Fife are well aware of the importance of agriculture to our local economy and, indeed, our way of life. I am proud to join others in this chamber today to celebrate all that is good about agriculture. I also thank Rachael Hamilton for bringing this timely debate to the chamber, given that we are now very much in agricultural show season. To every farmer, crofter, food producer and person that works on the land, I thank you as well. I grew up in the Caithness countryside and spent many long weekends and holidays with the macailles on the neighbouring farm, bigans or beagans, as it is in Caithness dialect. I belong to Bower Young Farmers, the Scottish Young Farmers Club of the Year 2016, and I continue to have great friends in the farming and crofting community all across my constituency. I take this opportunity to congratulate Bower Young Farmers junior team for winning the junior stock judging at the Royal Highland show and to congratulate Beth Dunett for getting first junior individual and Alistair MacArthur for getting second junior individual. I remember those days well, yes, thank you. They shaped my childhood and indeed they shaped who I became as a person. You will not be surprised to find new kittens in the shed or the barn out in the tractor or in the lorry on the way to the mart, and we did have a mart in Caithness in those days. Gathering in, dipping the sheep, getting bitten by the horse, helping with the lamb and playing on the bales and just being outside, they are some of the best memories from my childhood. That experience made me aware of where my food comes from, gives me a huge appreciation of the hard work that farmers and crofters put in at all hours of the day and night and gave me an inherent love and respect for animals, both farmed and wild. My constituency holds several shows celebrating agriculture, the Caithness County show, the Sutherland show, the Dorne show, and although the Black Isle show is in Cape Forbes constituency, there is always a strong northern contingent present. Shows are a chance for like-minded people to get together, celebrate success, share best practice and chew over the latest prices, weather and beasts. Of course, they are immense social occasions. I think that we all know that after a certain time the beer tent at an agricultural show is the best place where all the deals are made. Presiding Officer, according to James Hunter in his book Last of the Free, A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, agriculture has been the backbone of the Scottish countryside since at least 3000 BC. It has shaped our landscape, it has provided food for our plates and it has been handed down from generation to generation. It has a proud history, but we are at a stage where we need to look forward to make sure that it has a secure future as well. The motion mentions bringing ruined and derelict buildings back into use and I couldn't agree more. Some of them, in my constituency, unfortunately stand as a permanent reminder of the horrific circumstances surrounding the highland clearances, crumbling stone edifices that remind us of the people that should still be their work in the land. I recently wrote a piece for the Farmers' Guardian, where I spoke about Scotland becoming a good food nation. It is essential that farmers, crofters, growers and food producers are involved in a national conversation about what we want that to look like and what they want that to look like. Presiding Officer, our legislation needs to be bottom up. I suggested that we need to get a farmer or a food producer on every enterprise agency board, every community development trust, every community planning partnership, community council and in every meeting an advisory group, because we cannot underestimate how crucial their voices are. John Finnie, followed by Liam McArthur. I, too, would like to congratulate Rachael Hamilton on bringing forward this motion. For others, I have talked about shows. There was a phrase in there that jumped out at me, and that was preserving and protecting heritage. Of course, Scotland has a rich heritage, whether that is the north-east farm workers in the Boathe culture there or the Boathe ballads, the book that would retain some of that and have family connections with that, or where I am from in the highlands where the Forestry Commission, for instance, or the States, would have mothies. There is a lot of language that people would not necessarily understand now. I noted that as Hamilton talked about a dialect. Of course, another way of preserving the culture is through the language and the Gaelic language is rich in the highlands and plays a significant role in the preservation of many of the traditions. It is the role that the music plays as well in the highland bars and the story telling indeed of the travellers. The motion says that many farmers can trace their ancestor links with their land that goes back centuries. That link with the land is vital. People have a great affection with their community. Motion also talks about productive and sustainable issues. That has been alluded to with local food and the providence of that and increasingly there are opportunities with that, and people are looking for innovative ways. It also talks about new entrants, and I think that it is very important, because first we want to reflect in the past, we also want to consider the future and fair play to the Scottish Government with regards to new entrants to farming, and indeed the encouragement that has gone to the crofting communities to get young people in there. It is absolutely vital for the reasons that were outlined by Rachel Hamilton about the age that we do get young people in here. The physical heritage is important, too. I would like to rude to, in the very short time, we have a number of locations in my area. One of them is Auchindrain, which is a museum between Inverary and Loch Gulphead. That operated up until 1967, when the last people moved away. It is, if you like, a museum where it was a system of a township. In the past, many people, the vast majority of people, lived in the countryside and worked in the countryside. The township was very common, and that particular model of working was very particular in the West Highlands of Scotland. Looking at their website today, I saw the phrase and starvation was always just around the corner. The history and heritage is about the struggle that people have had. It is the 1700s that scientific methods come in, drainage, animal breeding and the like, which benefited tatties and turnips. Again, from their website, they talk about the agricultural improvements, farming is equivalent of the industrial revolution. As my colleague Gail Ross alluded to, we are aware of the great improvements in some instances because the highlands is blighted by the absence of people where there should be people for an initiative of that time. Also, the opportunity that has afforded children now, do you want to mulk a cowl, build a borthy or plant a forest? That is an offer from the shielding project up near Inverness, which I visited last week there, an opportunity for children to stay on the site. The shielding system was a system whereby people moved to the higher ground during the summer months with their livestock. A tremendous initiative, which we are told was Britain's first open-air museum, at Newton Moor, where the Highland Folk Museum is, where there are rich opportunities and more than 12,000 artefacts at Darmfascac. Diversification is also mentioned, and that is very important. What we do not want is a situation where the countryside has looked upon as some sort of museum. It should be a live and vibrant place. It is also mentioned that it is made of new lease of life. I would like to see that new lease of life. Indeed, I have heard the cabinet secretary allude to this on one of the rare occasions where we have had something in common about such matters. To see the glens repopulated, we need a vibrant community. I think that debates like this will spur people on in that direction. The last of the open debate contributions is from Liam McArthur. I thank Rachael Hamilton very much indeed for securing the debate, which I am delighted to take part in. I echo very much her comments and those of others in relation to the Royal Highland show. Although, obviously, the whipping system in the Scottish Liberal Democrats is more severe as I only manage one day rather than the two managed by others. The motion talked about 10 per cent of the population attending agricultural shows. That was not difficult to believe on the basis of the turnout at the Ingolston last weekend. In Orkney however, 10,000 people regularly turn up to the county show in the second Saturday in August. That represents about half of the total population, albeit that many are visitors. In a community where breeding coos outnumber inhabitants three to two, it is perhaps not surprising that support for the county and the other five shows in Sandy, Sharpensey, The Hope and Burry in East and West Mainland is as strong as it is. Six shows in a week demonstrate their importance to Orkney's farming community and, in turn, the importance of farming to the wider Orkney community. That is true, as others have said, economically. Business is done. Sales are made, as Gail Ross rightly intimated. Some of those can be impulse buys, brought about by too much time spent in the beer tent, where you run the serious risk of going home the proud owner of a rather shiny new trailer or even a combine harvester. But shows play a crucial social role as well. They attract locals, former residents and new visitors. They provide a gathering place that helps to build that sense of community. A bewildering array of stalls run by local businesses but also charities, voluntary groups and fundraising projects is testament to the reach that shows have deep into their community. Without the funds raised at the shows, many of those organisations would be unable to carry out the vital work that they do for the rest of the year. Even when the wind is blowing tents across the showground or conditions underfoot are akin to the somme, as has been the case on a couple of occasions in recent years, public support for the shows in Orkney remains strong. Our shows, of course, reflect the long-standing farming heritage in Orkney going back to Neolithic times. It is often said that a farmer could not put a spade in the ground without the serious risk of unearthing some significant historical artefact. However, what we have seen over recent years is a real embracing of that heritage. Whether the festival of the horse and Bowie's ploughing match, dating back to the 1800s involving spectacular outfits or the fabulous Corrigal farm, Curbister and Smiddy museums in Barony Mills, all provide a fascinating insight into Orkney's farming past informing those in the local community and visitors alike. I am conscious that there is an awful lot more that I could and should be saying in a debate like this, but let me finish like others have done by paying tribute to the Scottish Association of Young Farmers. They are very well represented in Orkney, where membership is extremely strong. I think that the motion is absolutely right to point to the role that they play in generating activity on a social level, preserving customs but crucially bringing in new ideas to help ensure that farming in Orkney and across Scotland not only has a proud past but a very bright future, and I think that the embodiment of that is perhaps carry-anil from South Rawlshire that the cabinet secretary had the pleasure of presenting with the young livestock ambassador of the ward at Engelston last week. I conclude by thanking Rachel Hamilton once again for allowing Parliament to put on record our acknowledgement of the cultural and heritage value, as well as the economic value that agriculture plays in this country. I now call Fergus Ewing to respond to the debate for around seven minutes please, cabinet secretary. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and could I warmly congratulate Rachel Hamilton for bringing forward this topic for debate very timely, if I may say so, given that I think that almost all of us who have participated seem to have attended the Royal Highland show last week along with 190,000 people who visited the show over its four days. Indeed, I encountered so many MSPs at the show that I wondered if this chamber was entirely empty during the Thursday when we were supposed to be at work, but instead we were enjoying huge gulps of fresh air and accustomed to who we are to that experience in here. The highland shows across the country, as we have heard from all the contributors of the debate, that they are an essential part of rural life and are part of our cultural heritage. They bring, as I think Mr Chapman said, people together. That is a good thing, especially at this time when many farmers and crofters live a fairly isolated life where they may no longer have people working on a farm. That is an easy factor to forget in these days. It is a very social gathering, and it is an important annual staple in the calendar of many people in rural Scotland, and rightly so. In addition, a huge contribution is made by many bodies, including the Royal Highland Educational Trust, which is ret towards young people. They received this year more than 6,000 children over two days, and with 30,000 youngsters in total visiting, including my 10-year-old daughter. They play an enormous part in bringing home the realities of farming to young people. I think that this is an area where there is common ground across the chamber that much more can be done. In addition, the Women and Agriculture event, which Rachael Hamilton mentioned, as Emma Harper did, was an excellent event, and it was very well attended. I thought that there was a real buzz in the room. The contributions by the president of the NFUS England-Wales Minette Basses were outstanding. Unfortunately, I missed Kate Rowell's contribution and I heard that it was excellent. I thought that it was a really inspiring event. I would like to pay tribute to Joyce Campbell, who co-chairs the Women and Agricultural Group in Scotland. That incident was not my idea, it was the First Minister's idea. I should place that clearly on the record and not claim credit for that. I have been co-chairing that. It has been an exciting experience. There is a potential to see fairly major change in unleashing the full potential of the female section of the population in agriculture and rural life. It achieves great things at the moment, but there is a common sense that, if there is a bit more help and access to training and other opportunities, an awful lot more can be done. That is a view across the chamber. Rachael Hamilton pointed out quite rightly that the average age of a farmer is 59. I know that Rachael Hamilton herself has not experienced that, but I can inform her and verify from my own experience that life does not finish at the age of 59. There are still new chapters to be written and even new experiences to be enjoyed, and they are an end, Presiding Officer. I know that you do not need to look so surprised, but a new experience will befall me when, in August, I will be a chieftain of the Granton Highlands show. I am not quite sure what power I will have whether it exceeds the powers that are available to me as Cabinet Secretary or not, but I shall certainly make the most of my day in the sun in Grantown. I think that, to be serious, I think that much of the debate is quite rightly focused, as did the motion on new entrants, and this is an area that is very close to all of our hearts across this chamber. I am proud of the fact that we have been doing a lot for new entrants, Presiding Officer. We want to do much, much more. Let me be absolutely clear about that, lest I be inadvertently accused of complacency perished the thought. New entrants is a common theme, and, given the age profile, it is absolutely essential. I had the pleasure of meeting again some of the leaders of the young farmers movement at the Royal Highlands show. We discussed how we can move forward and perhaps seek new ways of bringing in new blood into the farming community and the wider rural economy, and, in recognition of the importance of encouraging new entrants, the industry that the Scottish Government has provided £22 million in start-up and capital grants since 2015. It is fair for me to point out that we are in fact the only part of the UK to do so. I also established a group called PHONE, which is an acronym standing for Farming Opportunities for New Entrants FONE. I thought, Presiding Officer, I did actually think about myself, a rare flash of it, but, in any event, to be serious, it has developed a programme in order to identify holdings of land in the public sector generally, including Scottish Water, Forestry Commission and Quangos, that could be used for farming for new entrants. Henry Graham has been a driving force of this, and I am pleased to say that the initiative is ready to make available over 1,000 hectares of public land to new farmers. That is an exercise that we can do in Scotland that just arises from our kind of brain power and application and drive, rather than actually any cash involved, although cash greases the wheels. The PHONE initiative is one that we will take forward in advance. Of course I will, yes. I must apologise for missing the contribution from other members, but, as John Finnie and Gail Ross have mentioned, the important part that agriculture has played in sustaining and preserving the heritage and culture of rural areas, the cabinet secretary agrees that new national parks could play a significant role in protecting, promoting and, most important, reinvigorating the rural economy, particularly in constituencies such as mine in Galloway, which is the most beautiful constituency in Scotland? That was Finlay Carson giving a short speech. Cabinet secretary. I am certainly aware of the arguments. I think that the farmers, for example, I was at two farm visits this morning in Ayrshire to a South Corton and Gertside farm, and I thank William, Alison, Kerr and John Howie for hosting the visits. I think that most of the initiatives come from individuals and communities. I am not personally convinced that they need a new public body in order to drive forward the rural economy, but, certainly, the target of national park is, some people believe, an asset, but one also must consider the potential consequences and planning restrictions to which some people may argue are a counterbalance. I think that it is an argument for perhaps another day, since I do not think that it is in the motion, but I am very broad minded, as you know, Presiding Officer, about those things. Just the last point that I wanted to make is this. I think that John Finnie and Gil Ross certainly mentioned housing and bringing back old buildings and, indeed, repopulating rural Scotland. That is very close to my heart. Without waxing overly lyrical about this, it would be terrific in Scotland to see the clearencies counterbalance by a de-clearence of bringing back of people into the rural economy, a repeapling, if you like, of many parts of Scotland. If we are to seriously do that, then many policy changes will have to be put in place. However, I am pleased that the Scottish Government has, since 2007, awarded more than £18 million through the Croft House grant scheme, and that has helped to build or improve over 900 croft homes, thereby providing homes for 900 people. What a good way, I think, of spending a relatively moderate amount of public money. I just mentioned that there are many other housing developments that Kevin Stewart is dealing with at the moment. I better wind up, Presiding Officer. I think that that is the case. I think that my time allotted is coming to an end. On behalf of us all, I thank everybody who is doing the voluntary work in making those shows happen—a huge amount of work and commitment. They are part of our national life, they are really important events, and above all, they are great fun. That concludes the debate, and we have a short suspension until 2 o'clock.