 Mae gwaith i gael y ddatblygu ar y cyfan. Mae'r next item of business is a statement by Mary Gougeon on future agricultural support and food security in Scotland. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Mary Gougeon. Up to 10 minutes, cabinet secretary. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today, I will be setting out clearly the approach that the Scottish Government will take in the coming years I have been forming support for agriculture, and I will update Parliament on our food security work. In March this year, I was delighted to announce Scotland's vision for agriculture—a vision with food production at its heart. It makes clear our support for farmers and crofters in providing the country with healthy, nutritious food, while also ensuring that Scotland meets its world-leading climate and nature restoration outcomes. I hope to make clear that there is no contradiction between high-quality food production and producing it in a way that delivers for climate and nature. That was clear in the reports of the farmer leg groups, which are the blueprint for the detail in our future policy. Our vision for agriculture is rooted in that understanding. It sets out proudly our ambition that our wrth ei dweud bod hwn yn fwyaf ar gyfer, ac fel hwn er mwynhau ac yn gweithio gyllidezau yn iaith a bywyd i ddwybr. Felly, mae �othaith amdano gael y maes yn gweithio, yn gwahodau amdano newidau alluadau mewn uchryliau iaith, ac mae cymdeithasol yn gyfreidiau sydd amser, mynd i ddweud i mynd i mwy hyn fel oesrwyth, styru, cyndothing, a pwylliantoedd, ac mae oedd ni oedd nidw i maes i a sydd wedi bod yn gweithio i ddechrau'r cyfnodau a ymddangos cyfnodau. Ar gyfer llanfaithiaid y Brexit, Covid-19 a gynnallu'r ffordd yn Ycran, mae'n sicr oedd i'r cyfnodau ymddangos cyfnodau. Ond, mae'r cyfnodau eich cyfnodau sy'n cyffredinol sydd yn ei ddif seventy i ddod yn gweithio'r cyfnodau i'ch gael ei ddifus ac i ddifus cyfnodau. Erd, efallai'n bwysig i'r cyfnodau ymddangos cyfnodau cyfnodau, gorfod ond hentafhysygol o'ch cyntaf yn gyfrodd cerdd i gyd bangos cyfnodd cyfosibol ar gyfer y ddweud yn llwydd cael gennym ar gynghordd playsch yn Ykryng. Yr eistedd yn gwybod ar gyflodd gyffredinol gyda chyfnodd cyfrifosibol gyda'rófglog ar y 23 ddiwrnod cairwyrsag o'r cyfosibol. We'n fewn wneud o'r cyfrifosibol yn y tîm—f Huil o'r cyfrifosibol. We have already delivered a new food and drink-focused business support landing page that went live on 14 July, and the Scottish Government and Food Standard Scotland have opened engagement with the grocery's coded judicator having met with them in the summer. Another key recommendation in the report was the establishment of a dedicated food security unit, which we reaffirmed our commitment to in our programme for government this year. This unit is now being established within the Scottish Government with a view to monitoring on-going supply chain vulnerabilities and linking with future food security work. The task force also recognised that the UK Government holds many of the levers to help address the issues currently affecting the food and drink sector. For example, CO2 shortages, sharp increases in fertiliser, energy and fuel costs are some of the most significant. The recommendation was that the Scottish Government should raise these matters with the UK Government, and I subsequently wrote to the then DEFRA Secretary of State. There has been no response to that communication to date. I have since raised these critical matters again with the latest Secretary of State to raise cofay, and I will continue to urge the UK Government to take immediate action. The task force report outlined that there would potentially be further meetings of the group in a monitoring capacity. We met on 11 October, and there will be a further meeting arranged in the coming months. I will, of course, keep Parliament updated as we make further progress on the task force recommendations. Turning now to sustainable food production, this is an outcome that we know we can only be reached by working with our producers, Roodle Scotland and our nation more broadly, and this thinking is at the heart of all we do. The task force that I co-chaired with the chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink exemplified this joined up Government and industry approach. Likewise, I have been delighted to have the president of the NFUS as my co-chair of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board since its inception last August. This partnership work is a driving force of our national test programme. For example, in track 1 of the programme, preparing for sustainable farming, we listened to the needs of the industry and are supporting businesses to undertake carbon audits and soil sampling. Those elements are both live and open for claims. We know from discussion with the sector that many farms are already engaging in this work. We will be adding measures to our national test programme as it develops in the coming years, including measures to improve animal health as well as biodiversity. Those tools help farmers and crofters to prepare for the coming changes by creating a baseline from where they can build environmentally and economically resilient businesses. Similarly, in the second track of the national test programme, testing actions for sustainable farming, we are working with farmers and crofters across Scotland to take those measures presented by the farmer-led groups to establish future conditions for support that really can and will work. We launched a public consultation on our proposals for a future agriculture bill in August. Right now, the Scottish Government is hosting in-person and online events across the country to ensure that we hear from all who wish to contribute to the consultation on the bill and the powers needed to deliver our vision. I know from those events and from the rally that we saw here at Parliament last week and hearing directly from farmers and crofters that there is a real desire to understand more on the next steps and to discuss the detail. Our consultation outlines the model for future support payments, setting out a four-tier support system of base support payments together with enhanced, elective and complementary support tiers, which will provide comprehensive powers to support our food producers to farm in a sustainable and regenerative way. However, the climate and nature crises we face mean that we cannot simply wait for the implementation of those new powers. That is why we are already progressing and testing our proposed approach through our national test programme and delivering action on farm today. However, we will go further. I can confirm today that I will deliver new conditionality under existing powers for the 2025 single application form calendar year. That will use our existing agriculture support schemes to introduce enhanced conditionality built directly on the work of the farmer-led groups. It will also deliver on our manifesto commitment and statement in our vision for agriculture to integrate enhanced conditionality of at least half of all funding by 2025. I am therefore signalling my intention to Parliament to bring forward legislation to amend the 2020 act and enable this first part of the transition. Turning now to the new agriculture bill. Under the proposed bill powers, it is the enhanced payment that will be our key mechanism to deliver positive outcomes for climate and for nature. It also allows for those pioneering best practice right now to be recognised and rewarded. I know that this is a concern. Many farmers and crofters have already been leading the way in the actions that they have been undertaking on farm and it is only right and fair that this is recognised. During the sport night of COP 27, it could not be more clear that we need to support our farmers and crofters to tackle climate change. Equally, as we approach the biodiversity COP 15 in Montreal, the need to restore our natural environment is coming into ever more sharp focus. We will soon be publishing a new biodiversity strategy, which will set out our vision to 2045 and outcomes that are required to address the on-going decline in biodiversity. It is for those reasons that I am prioritising the co-development of the enhanced element of the new framework and will work with the industry to make sure that we get this right. It is my intention that this will launch in 2026 using the powers that are proposed in the bill consultation. We will balance the ambition of this approach with the need to take the industry with us on this journey, which will not happen overnight, but it will reflect both the sector's willingness to engage and our commitment to adjust transition. Once we have established the enhanced mechanism, we will seek to deliver further elements of the future support framework, including elective and complementary schemes such as future incarnations of agri-environment and firm advisory services. Our approach means that the present payment regions will be kept as they are in the early part of the transition. I can confirm that we remain committed to reviewing the current three-region model to ensure that the tier one base payment is fit for purpose for the future. I recognise that this statement does not answer all the queries that I have had about the exact detail of these schemes. More information, though, will be made available over the coming months as we develop those proposals. However, we know that many farmers and crofters are already undertaking the necessary actions that we want to see now and for the future. I encourage farmers and crofters to engage with the support that we have available to learn and find out more, regardless of where you are on your transformation journey. Join the national test programme, look at our networks, the integrating trees network, the agriculture, biodiversity and climate change network, farming for a better climate, the firm advisory service. Those networks and services offer peer-to-peer learning and support and show how things like improving soils, enhancing nature and adapting or changing practices has improved the efficiency, resilience and profitability of businesses. Today I set out the pathway to reform of agricultural support in Scotland. Scotland's vision for agriculture is about enabling the essential role our food producers play in our food security and feeding our nation, in driving our rural economy and in ensuring our world-renowned food industry can deliver our climate and nature outcomes. Only our farmers, crofters and land managers can deliver those outcomes and all of Scotland owes a debt of support to them. As we transition to the future, I reiterate my commitments, that we will communicate clearly, we will ensure that there is a just transition and no cliff edges in support and we will continue to develop the details with our farmers and crofters. Finally, I reiterate again my commitment and this Government's commitment that we will continue to support our nation's food producers. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I'd be grateful if all members wished to ask a question, where to press their request to speak buttons now. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement today. Farmers provide the fantastic Scottish produce that we eat and enjoy, but that's not all. They're at the front lines of our efforts to tackle climate change and I'm very pleased that the cabinet secretary has acknowledged that in her statement. It is innovation and well-meaning farmers who are driving us towards becoming net zero nation and protecting dwindling numbers of ground nesting birds in Scotland. But this SNP Green Government is holding Scottish farmers back from doing what they do best. The Government seem to be making decisions based on ideology, not on reality. And over the last week, farmers have come to the doors of this Parliament pleading that the Government listen to them and give them the support that they urgently need. They're asking for details on the new agricultural bill that will impact their work. They want to know why they can't take advantage of safe gene editing technology when farmers say that the border can. And they need to know what's happening with the future of farm payments. So can I ask the cabinet secretary, will she listen, give farmers clear answers, or will she go on ignoring Scotland's rural communities? I would really just want to refute those accusations out first, because we are not ignoring communities. We are listening to those communities. And I know that Ms Hamilton was out at the rally last week, as was I, as were a number of MSPs across the chamber, to listen to farmers and crofters. One of the key elements of my role in this position as cabinet secretary is to get out and to meet with farmers and crofters right across the country to hear about the concerns of what they're experiencing at the moment. So I completely understand, and I think, as I quite fairly outlined in my statement too, that we are listening to our farmers and crofters, and I completely understand that point about more details, which is why I emphasised in my statement too, that when we're looking to the enhanced support mechanism, more details of that will come out in due course, because a critical element, though, of us developing our future policy, is that listening part. As I've made clear in my statement today, we want to develop our future agriculture support system in conjunction and do that with our farmers and crofters, because we want to make sure we have a future support system that works for our food producers, as well as delivering on all the targets that we have for climate and for nature too. So that is what's of critical importance to me in this role and what I will continue to do. Colin Smyth Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to the cabinet secretary's advanced site of her statement. Presiding Officer, the clock is ticking towards the end of the transition period and the clock is ticking when it comes to meeting our climate commitments. Only the clock that seems to have stopped over the past six years has been the Government's. When it comes to post-Brexit agricultural support, we've had dither, we've had delay, but what we haven't had is detail. While today the cabinet secretary has set out an element of a timetable for change, we are, more importantly, our farmers and crofters still don't know what that change will actually mean. Specifically, the cabinet secretary said she'll deliver new conditionality under existing powers to meet the commitment to deliver 50 per cent environmental conditionality on direct payments for the 2025 single application form calendar year, but there is still no details of what farmers and crofters will be expected to do to unlock that conditional support. So when will individual businesses see the exact detail so that they can plan and get on with the job of continuing to deliver good quality food while meeting our climate commitments? Cabinet secretary, I think it's been an important step today in that we have set out that timescale and I hope to provide some certainty to industry as to what will be coming and what changes will be coming and when. I would also point to the part of my statement and where I've talked about particularly when I'm going around the country and speaking to different farmers and crofters is seeing all the good practice that exists already. We see so many of our food producers undertaking the practices that we would want to see doing what they can to lower emissions, doing what they can to enhance nature and biodiversity on farm all the while while still producing food as well. That's why we're also running the national test programme because a key part of that programme is to try and get those who may not have started on that transformation journey to do that, to undertake carbon audits, to undertake soil testing, to get that baseline and to see where their business is starting from and what actions can then be taken from that point and what we're rolling out through the national test programme or what will become the basis of conditionality for the future. And as I said in my previous response, we will of course be making those further details available in the coming months. I call Karen Adam to be followed by Edward Mountain. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, amidst the positivity of what you have set out today, the elephant in the room Brexit is still there. Our trading goods for the EU was 12 per cent lower in 2021 because of Brexit, and it's been reported that the cost of lost exports to the EU is over £2.2 billion. The food and drink sector in Scotland has been blighted by the hard bricks that are pursued by the UK Government, and our agricultural industries are threatened by its consequences. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how the Scottish Government intends to provide certainty and clarity to those sectors going forward, given the chaos visited on them by the UK Government? Cabinet secretary, I know that this is a really tumultuous time for the industry, but we know that the actions that have been taken by the UK Government have exacerbated the issues that the industry is facing. From our analysis, we can see that our trade in goods with the EU was 12 per cent lower in 2021 because of Brexit, and that's the cost of the choices that were made to remove Scotland from the world's biggest single market. The chamber will no doubt be aware also of the reports that came out last week, revealing HM revenue and customs data that put a figure of over £2.2 billion as the cost of lost exports to the EU. We've also seen a 52 per cent fall in exports of fruit and veg. We've seen a 25 per cent fall in exports of dairy and eggs in the first half of this year compared to the same period when we were in the single market. I think that, contrary to the shocking collateral damage to farming of the actions of the UK Government, in Scotland, my intention is to now offer that clarity and certainty, and to provide as much of that as we can through our reform journey. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I refer members to my register of interests that I've been part of a family farming partnership for over 40 years. Cabinet secretary, I welcome your statement, although it's woefully short on details. As you know, farmers plan years in advance, and they need to know about subsidy payments being made in 2025 now, not tomorrow. Can you confirm that all farmers—let's see if we can announce this—will have access to all the potential agri-farming funding that replaces the single farm payment scheme and that some will not be excluded from all of that funding because they are not in priority areas or have priority habitats? A yes or no answer for brevity, cabinet secretary, would be easily acceptable to me. What I'm trying to set out today is that, in 2025, we will see a rollover of all those schemes, but, as I've said, it is important that we set out in our manifesto that we will be introducing conditionality on at least half of all those payments in 2025, and that's exactly what we will be doing at that time. The Scottish Government has indicated its aim to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. High-nature-value agriculture is prevalent in places such as the United States and my constituency, where agricultural activities in the macher support such high levels of biodiversity. Given that, how can the Scottish Government support crofters in high-nature-value areas to ensure that they continue to work and continue to support nature and biodiversity? We know that much crofting land is recognised as being of high-nature value, and the traditional low-intensity management and a mixture of activities that are associated with crofting support a special range of species and habitats. One example is the internationally renowned macher of the US. Each year, through a range of support schemes that we have available, the Scottish Government invest heavily in croft businesses. By taking action to ensure that future support mechanisms complement one another, we can really optimise that unique role that we know crofting plays in the sustainability of many rural and island communities as well as their landscapes. I'm pleased to hear from the Minister's statement that action is being taken to improve food security in Scotland, because increasing local food procurement will reduce our carbon emissions as well as reducing our reliance on imports. As highlighted by the Baker's Union, low-pay and insecure work are endemic throughout our food supply chains and therefore must be addressed if we are to tackle food insecurity. Can the Minister give a commitment that improving pay and conditions for agricultural workers will be a condition of future agriculture support? I know that the member has raised some really important points there, and that's exactly why we have consulted on some of those proposals within our bill. I'm obviously not going to pre-empt the results of that consultation, but I would urge the member to take part in that, because we are committed to fair work. I'm just asking the cabinet secretary to clarify that what we are discussing is the development of enabling legislation that gives scope for the industry to respond to potential challenges in the future. NFU director of policy, Johnny Hall, previously said, put simply, the bill is not policy and it does not and will not set policy. So can the cabinet secretary set out some of the advantages and flexibilities that the Scottish Government's approach allows for to better support our hard-working food-producing farmers? I think that some of the challenges that we've seen in recent years, as I've outlined already, between Brexit, the pandemic and the illegal invasion of Ukraine, when you consider those global shocks and the impact that they've had, I think that that has really emphasised why we need to have an adaptive and a flexible framework for the future. It will also enable us that we don't know what technological changes might come in the future, we don't know what other events may come, so we need to ensure that we have a payment system and a support structure in place which can adapt to some of these not just challenges, but as well as any future opportunities that come forward to. I know that there has been some criticism about the approach in bringing forward proposals for an enabling bill and enabling legislation, but I think that it is right that our industry has that flexibility now and into the future to respond to those various pressures and challenges that we're going to face, and that is what our consultation sets out. Arian Burgess, to be followed by Graham Day. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Since three courses of Scotland's land is under agricultural management, our farmers and crafters will play an essential role in our natural effort to prevent climate and nature breakdown. The enhanced payment will be key to supporting and incentivising their efforts. Is it not the case, cabinet secretary, that stronger cross-compliance conditionality in tier 1 will mean that 100 per cent of agricultural payments will align behind the three goals of nature, climate and high-quality food production? The support that we currently provide to farmers and crafters through basic payments already requires them through cross-compliance and greening to farm sustainably, and what I've set out today essentially sets out and outlines how we will go further in that in order to achieve those goals of high-quality food production while restoring nature and tackling climate change. Graham Day, to be followed by Beatrice Wishart. Scottish business income estimates published in March of this year showed that more than half of farms have diversified activities that generate additional, often essential incomes to their businesses. Looking to the future, diversification projects could potentially involve ways of increasing levels of on-farm by a diversity well-maintaining productions. So can I ask the cabinet secretary to what extent the enhanced payment might support farmers in this regard? Yes, as the member will be aware, and as I've outlined today, we are committed to shifting 50 per cent of direct payments to climate action and funding for on-farm nature restoration and enhancement by 2025. That gives farmers and crafters the opportunity to demonstrate the positive action that they're taking to address climate change and support nature, and rewarding. I think that that's a really important part of what I outlined today as well, rewarding that action that's already taken place. Of course, we are going to continue to offer the elective payments for nature while we need to co-design the detail of both the enhanced and elective tiers. We will want to support that farmer choice and promote opportunities rather than constrain them. The testing actions for sustainable farming that I outlined as part of our national test programme is looking directly at what measures could form part of that enhanced tier, and we're currently working with internal and external stakeholders to produce a suite of measures that may be in appropriate condition of an enhanced payment. Those measures currently include a range of biodiversity measures, animal health and welfare measures, too, that were co-designed with NatureScot. We're currently going to be refined using a multi-criteria approach, while simultaneously being mindful of production and the impact of farm business income and business sustainability. Subsequent stages of that programme will look to refine those measures and then assess how they're best implemented in a future framework. I welcome what's been said about the work of those crofters and farmers already making the transition to more sustainable means in addressing the climate and nature crisis, but what I'm hearing from those involved in the sector is serious concern about the lack of detailed information in order to make long-term plans for the future business. Does the cabinet secretary recognise that, for aspiring young crofters and farmers, the lack of clarity might be a hindrance to entry to the sector? Does she recognise the anxiety that this uncertainty causes and its impact more generally on the mental health and wellbeing within the agricultural community? I completely understand those concerns and that's why the statement that I've brought forward to Parliament today, I'm outlining another step on that journey trying to set out those timescales and at least give that clarity and certainty as to what people can expect over the next few years. I appreciate that it doesn't answer all the questions about further detail and I acknowledge that when I was giving my statement there too, but that's why I also said in the statement today that we will be bringing forward more of that detail in the coming months. I recently met a farmer from my constituency who advised me of his concerns with rising cost to operate his farm and produce beef and lamb. I'm acutely aware that the main levers to ease this burden sit with the UK Government. Can I ask the cabinet secretary when she last engaged with DEFRA on the rising cost in farming and food production which are causing great concern across the agricultural sector? As I've outlined in my statement, one of the key recommendations from the Food Security and Supply Task Force was that the Scottish Government should raise those matters with the UK Government. On the back of that, I wrote to the UK DEFRA Secretary of State to highlight that we had published that report. I followed that up with other correspondence, I was seeking a reply. We know that there have been a number of changes within the UK Government within that time but, as yet, we're yet to get a response to those really critical and urgent matters. I just want to reassure the member and others across the chamber today that I continue to press those matters with the UK Government and have already raised with the new DEFRA Secretary of State to raise coffee. I welcome the mention of food security in the statement. It's critical that we get food security right due to the war in Ukraine but the SNP-Green coalition are not taking food security seriously enough with little or no clarity provided in their agricultural bill proposals and there are certainly not near enough within that statement. The statement does nothing to address the total lack of clarity with regards to payments, raising more questions than answers and the vacuum of information that already exists. We're all tired of hearing this Government saying that more details will be forthcoming. Did the SNP-Green Government learn nothing from last week's rally when farmers expressed their concerns outside this Parliament? When will they prioritise our farmers and our food security? The Government has prioritised food security. I believe that we were one of the only parts of the UK in doing what we did in establishing a task force specifically to look at this. We set out in our vision for agriculture when we published that earlier this year. We made food production and high quality food production one of the key pillars of that vision going forward and a key part of our future support framework. As I've reiterated and emphasised in my statement today, I was out at that rally. I listened to farmers and crofters when I travel across the country and speak to them. I understand the point about more detail but we are committed to supporting the food producers in this country. We are committed to supporting them through this transition, which I set out the path towards today.