Mr President, NFU Scotland members, I am delighted to join you once again in St Andrews and to be given the opportunity to address you for the fourth time as Cabinet Secretary – as Scotland’s Minister for Agriculture!
I can’t believe it is four years in the job already! It has been a hugely enjoyable, very rewarding, and, yes, sometime tough four years.
It's been a rollercoaster, and alongside me for the ride has been your outgoing president Jim McLaren.
I've worked very closely with Jim and his team.
I have to take a moment to pay tribute to Jim McLaren.
I've got to know Jim well. Of course we haven't always agreed on every issue. But it's been a pleasure to work with him these past four years.
And I know he'll be equally successful in his new role at QMS.
Scottish farming could not have a better advocate than Jim McLaren - articulate, tough, and 100% committed to your cause.
This is the last time you'll see him on this particular platform, so Jim, on behalf of the Scottish Government and myself, and indeed everyone here today, thank you for your amazing work, and very best wishes for the future.
So you have a new president and team, you had the parties battling it out yesterday and a visit from the UK Minister, and we meet with only weeks to go before the Scottish Parliament breaks up for the Scottish General Election!
The future direction of policy emanating from Holyrood, and of course Westminster and Europe, will all impact on your livelihoods, your industry and wider rural Scotland.
And I want to mention today the many developments in the past four years that have already impacted on Scottish agriculture and I want to look ahead to the future as well.
Let me say at the outset that I firmly believe that in recent years your industry has acquired a higher and more positive profile.
And you’ve certainly never had a higher profile with government.
I guess that's not surprising when 10 out of 16 Ministers in the Scottish Government are from rural areas – and the First Minister and myself represent large agricultural communities.
It is not just the Scottish Government that values your industry, I am equally convinced that society is increasingly recognising that agriculture and the benefits you all deliver will be essential to Scotland’s success in the 21st century.
I was reminded of this last night, when we enjoyed Ayrshire’s larder.
It was a great dinner last night but what lay behind each ingredient on our plates was the story of Scottish agriculture and food.
Scotland’s clean, green image combined with your skills and talents.
Quality and provenance in abundance!
Scotland values you, our primary producers.
That’s why at the heart of the Scottish Government’s vision is a simple but very important message:
The primary role of Scottish agriculture is to produce food.
In playing that role over the years, of course, you've had ups and downs, but look at the picture today.
Total Income from Farming for 2010 was up by £128 million in 2010. Output was up in cereals, beef, sheep and even dairy.
In fact, when it comes to economic growth, Scotland’s primary production sectors – farming, fishing and forestry – are outperforming the rest of the economy, in this country and in the whole UK.
And you’ve achieved that performance despite the fact that many of you operate within supply chains that can only be described as dysfunctional.
If we want evidence of that, we need look no further than the dairy sector – which I know was a major talking point yesterday.
On my visit to a Stirlingshire dairy farm last week, I was really pleased to hear how farmers are working together, to try and get a better price for their milk.
We discussed the need to add value, the need to work together. These are exactly the kind of aspirations the Scottish Government will support and to which we should be targeting our increasingly limited resources.
£600 million a year on farm support should go to food production and food security in Scotland.
It should go to farmers, not be creamed off in the retailers’ profits!
Coping with a dysfunctional supply chain is hard enough. But on top of that, you’ve also had to cope with some of the most extreme weather in living memory.
And I know this has led to higher feed and fuel costs.
The weather conditions has tested your industry’s resilience to the limit. My own constituents in Speyside keep me informed on the impact of the weather.
Not only did you come through some of the harshest weather on record, many of you helped others in your local communities.
I pay tribute to you for that.
Many of Scotland’s snow heroes are our local farmers and crofters.
The impact of the recent weather was brought home to me not long after last year's AGM when I visited Ben More Farm. I saw the damage done by an avalanche, and met Jimmy Elliott, the shepherd. I was struck by his knowledge and his quiet pride in his work.
Days later, we heard the tragic news that, when clearing carcases from under the avalanche, Jimmy Elliott had lost his life in a rock fall.
That incident was a solemn reminder that farming is a dangerous business.
I know NFUS is very aware of this. The government fully supports the “Making the Promise” campaign with the Health and Safety Executive, to make the farm a safer place.
Jimmy Elliott was one of the nicest people I’ve met in this job. And that’s saying something.
In my four years, I’ve crossed the country from Lairg to Lockerbie, Auchtermuchty to Argyll and over to Mull and the Hebrides.
I’ve attended NFUS Branch meetings in Drymen, Easter Ross, Dumfries, East Lothian, Elgin, Banffshire and even Tiree!
I’ve been to Shows and sales all over the country, the ram sales at Kelso, last week’s Perth Bull Sales in Stirling, as well as in Lairg and Thainstone.
On those visits, and many more besides, I’ve been privileged to meet truly inspiring people. People who produce the raw materials on which the downstream food and drink sector depends.
Scottish food and drink is a major success story!
And it is underpinned by the raw materials you produce on farms and crofts the length and breadth of Scotland.
Produced using your skills and ingenuity, and on land cared for and shaped by active agriculture.
That downstream sector is, of course, crucially important in Scotland’s economy. And what a fantastic success story it’s seen.
The sector’s worth £11 billion, and showing record growth.
Retail sales of Scottish brands in England, Scotland and Wales went up by 30%, or £425 million, between May 2007 and May 2010. Scotch Beef sales across Scotland increased by 21%.
Scottish food and drink exports overseas grew by 15% between 2007 and 2009.
The reasons for this success are plain to see. Scotland's producers and processors turn out quality products that the world wants to buy.
I’ve seen this with my own eyes, when travelling abroad to promote Scottish produce at international trade shows like SIAL and ANUGA.
Three weeks ago, I was at the Bocuse d'Or, the Olympics of the food world. Last year they used Scotch Beef, and this year it was Scotch Lamb. The very best chefs in the world recognise the quality of your products.
Commercial success is built on getting the fundamentals right.
Quality produce means that you build up a reputation.
In Scotland’s case, a reputation based on natural farming that respects the countryside where food production takes place. When someone buys your product, that's what they're buying into.
And a positive reputation leads to even more commercial success.
We’ve spent the last four years helping the sector build up and exploit that reputation, through our country’s first ever national food and drink policy.
We’ve launched initiatives with the tourism sector, the hospitality sector, and the public sector.
We’ve been pressing hard for proper origin labelling – an issue dear to all our hearts.
And we’ve put great efforts into spreading the word to the people of Scotland, in particular the children.
Last year at this conference I announced a range of educational initiatives, as part of the food and drink policy.
Since then, the Royal Highland Educational Trust have used our funding to help children across Scotland visit farms, and learn where their food comes from. They have supported farmers’ markets in schools: I visited the one in Elgin, and I was hugely impressed.
Today, I am delighted to announce the next step.
We will provide more funding to the RHET, to expand their work with schools.
We will also be funding Eco-schools, to continue their learning programmes on Food and the Environment.
But there's still a long way to go.
That's why today, I am making a commitment that by the end of 2015, I want to provide every child in Scotland with the opportunity to learn about food and agriculture.
If we are serious about continuing Scotland’s food revolution, and making Scotland healthier, we need the next generation engaged.
So, let’s work together to ensure every young Scot know’s what’s on their plate!
Supermarket issues
A key aim of the food and drink policy is to help you, the primary producer, by increasing demand for your products.
But for you to reap the benefits, the retailers have to play ball. We have worked well with our supermarkets to promote Scottish food.
A few days ago I launched our ‘Taste’ campaign to highlight seasonal produce, building on the NFUS’s “What’s on your plate” campaign.
This is already proving a success, and there'll be follow-up with Morrison’s, Asda and others.
But we can't let the powerful retailers' interests ride roughshod over the rest of the supply chain.
That's why I have campaigned since day one for a Supermarket Ombudsman. Unfortunately, the power to put that in place lies in London. We were promised action by the last UK administration and nothing happened. We were then assured by the new UK administration that it would be a priority but we are still waiting.
We now know the adjudicator will not be in place till late 2012 at the earliest – rest assured, I will continue to press the UK to expedite its timetable to finally help move this debate forward and deliver a fairer deal for our farmers.
Of course, as well as getting a fair return from the supply chain, you also need to keep costs under control. And one way to cut costs and boost productivity is by having healthy livestock.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the terrible Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. And just after I was appointed, FMD was an issue again after it escaped from the UK government's lab in England.
The virus didn't reach us here, thank goodness. But the impact certainly did.
I remember approaching the UK government to make the strong case for emergency financial help. The virus came from their lab, after all.
The UK government said no - and the Scottish Government stepped in.
That incident showed how much we value the livestock sector, and typified our approach to animal health issues.
We've applied the same approach right across the animal health agenda.
What a feather in our cap it was, to be officially recognised as free of bovine TB, a disease with such terrible impact in England and in Wales.
In the face of a new disease threat, from Bluetongue, we worked out a way forward that both government and industry could support.
More recently we've launched the programme against BVD, a disease that costs Scottish farmers at least £5 million a year.
We also set up the review of veterinary surveillance in Scotland, under your former President, John Kinnaird.
I know some of you were concerned about the budget cuts imposed on us for 2011/12. But I can confirm that we've avoided any need for premature decisions about veterinary labs, in advance of the Kinnaird review's findings.
So when the time does come for decisions, they'll be based on what's best for livestock farming in Scotland.
The other big issue in the animal health sphere has been sheep EID.
I know how strongly many of you felt about EID. And if we hadn't paid close attention, it could have been even more damaging.
But we set up a pilot study. We lobbied in London and in Brussels. We got Commission officials over here, and showed them what it means to be a hill farmer in Scotland.
And we found money for the database, which should hopefully turn this from an albatross around the sector's neck, into a 21st century management system for a world class industry.
But there are always things that can be improved.
For instance, the meat sector is rightly concerned about the cost of meat hygiene inspections.
No one would suggest cutting corners when it comes to protecting the public. However, the inspections should only cover what's scientifically justified, and they must be delivered efficiently, at a fair cost.
Some are saying that now is the time to consider a Scottish solution, and I can see their point.
Overall, I'm proud of what we've achieved on animal health.
Indeed, I recall how Commissioner Dalli himself has praised our policies - at a dinner hosted by Defra ministers!
Believe me, that was an awkward moment at the dinner table, but satisfying nevertheless!
That positive approach stands us in good stead for the challenges of the future. Like fitting the responsibility and cost sharing agenda to our needs.
And like operating with a devolved animal health budget.
If we can tie up some loose ends, I am confident that within weeks, if not days, we can finally at long last reach agreement with UK Ministers on this vexed issue.
Animal health might get more headlines, but we've taken the same approach to plant health too.
Government and industry, working together, have delivered a high plant health status for the good of the arable and horticulture sectors.
To take just one example, we protected our £100 million seed potato sector against the new disease threat of Dickeya, by introducing the first control measures in the world.
And with so much of our crop production depending on insect pollinators, I was pleased to see the EU's health strategy for honeybees published last month. But in Scotland we launched ours last summer - ahead of the game again.
Devolution, attractiveness of Scotland as farming location
A common feature across these initiatives is a partnership between government and industry. That's how we like to do business in Scotland.
In November, the Farmers Guardian ran a comparison of farming in the four parts of the UK.
The winner was Scotland - of course! But what interested me was an interview with an Englishman, who moved here to farm.
He said that he appreciated having a much more farmer friendly administration than in England. In fact what he said was: “The main advantage to farming in Scotland ….. is that we don’t have Defra.”
This illustrates a wider point about devolution and powers for Scotland.
The sceptics told us we didn’t need a Scottish Parliament, and when it arrived, then they told us it was always talking and consulting rather than delivering.
That view is now outdated.
As Jim McLaren and James Withers have said, you now value your Parliament. And there is recognition that consultation by a listening Government leads to action that's well planned and designed.
Farmers now also recognise that in Scotland agriculture is a greater priority. And that’s the hallmark of the current Scottish Government.
But it's not the case everywhere, and we must not be complacent. The speech by Secretary of State Caroline Spelman, at the Oxford conference, proves that.
two years ago, I myself was invited to speak at the Oxford conference. I set out the Scottish Government's vision for farming - a vision with sustainable food production at its heart, as the first and most important objective.
I also said that we needed a new contract between farming and society - a phrase which Commissioner Ciolos used in his own speech in Oxford this year.
The Pack report is designed to help us turn that vision into real policies. I want to thank Brian and his committee - the report has really put Scotland on Europe's radar screen.
At this stage, we can identify some key principles.
As the report says, our fundamental aim should be to improve the sustainability of Scottish agriculture.
This is in line with the UK Foresight report, [which Jim Paice mentioned yesterday,] which says that sustainable food production should be central to future development. We might debate how to deliver it, but it’s a principle that we can all sign up to.
It’s also clear that farm payments must be retained in Scotland, and at levels sufficient to protect our food production capacity. The Pack report sets out the reasoning very clearly, including the fact that our producers have to comply with standards that don’t apply to your overseas competitors.
but as I’ve said many times, the historic-based system can no longer be defended. We can’t keep paying farmers based on what they were doing a decade ago – that’s not the way to maintain public support for the policy.
We need a new system of farm payments, and it must do much better in two key areas.
It must address the global challenges, including climate change and biodiversity as well as food security.
In that respect there’s significant overlap between Brian Pack’s thinking and Commissioner Ciolos’s concept of greening farm payments - I look forward to the Commission explaining in more detail what that might mean.
And the new system must have stronger links between payments and farming activity.
But one thing that’s patently clear from Brian Pack’s analysis, is that a purely area-based system is not well suited to Scotland's needs, especially in the LFA.
So we need a viable alternative.
One part of that will be continuing with coupled payments, in specific circumstances where there would be a risk of land abandonment without them.
And the other crucial part will be the Top-Up Fund.
This innovative concept is going to need Europe to put old habits aside, open its mind to new approaches.
But that’s exactly why I set up the Pack Inquiry when I did – innovative ideas can only be influential if they come out early enough in the negotiating process.
And finally, perhaps the most important principle of all is that we can’t go on with a system that closes the door to new entrants.
So let me be clear: one way or another, the new system must cater for new entrants from day one. As the young farmers I spoke to last night told me, that day can’t come soon enough.
If anyone's in doubt, I'm happy to confirm today the Government's support for those principles. In particular, I agree 100% with Brian Pack, when he says the new payment system can deliver food production and sustainability - it's not a case of either/or, but both.
you know, not only did Jim Paice say yesterday that the CAP budget should be smaller, but that to justify continuing support for agriculture, that budget should increasingly be directed through pillar 2.
I fundamentally disagree with that.
Firstly, we can improve pillar one.
Secondly, pillar 2 relies on domestic budgets, which between now and 2015 will be continually slashed by the UK Government. And of course, the situation is compounded by Scotland and the UK’s historically low EU allocations.
And finally, in my book, the need to maintain farming in all parts of Scotland, and the need to protect food producing capacity in this country is enough to justify direct support!
But as Brian said, there's still work needed before we can turn the principles into a detailed negotiating position. It's vitally important that we get the details right. An example which demonstrates that, is the challenge of linking payments to farming activity.
I've said time and again that it's wrong to pay farm payments on land which is not being farmed, or actively managed in any way. But, as you know, we were hindered by EU regulations.
We also need to think hard about the area-based element of the new system. We need to work on the Top-Up Fund concept. And we need to analyse not just the financial impact of changes, but also the land use and environmental implications.
The government is taking this work forward, in working groups with NFUS and other stakeholders. And we'll take stock at our conference on the future CAP on 16 March.
Unfortunately, the contrast could not be greater between this positive Scottish agenda, drawn up in partnership with industry, and the UK government's position.
I'm deeply disappointed at the position of the coalition government. As farmers, you lived through years in which the London administration didn't seem to care about your sector. Like you, I had high hopes that things would be different now.
But it’s clear that in London, the Treasury still calls the tune. Cutting the EU budget seem to matter more to them than anything else. And they have got the CAP budget in their sights.
Jim Paice said many good things during his speech yesterday, and much that we could all agree with. But he did say that the CAP budget is bound to go down, and, yes, we have to prepare for that.
But surely the point is that the Secretary of State is actually arguing for a smaller budget. It’s a fact that she wants your farm payments to be abolished, and she expects you to thank her for doing it more slowly then her predecessor.
We need UK agriculture Ministers to champion Scottish farming, not undermine it!
The coalition’s arguments are flawed.
According to Defra, when direct payments are abolished, the market will suddenly turn itself round and deliver fantastically high prices to primary producers.
And farmers will make a huge leap in competitiveness, thanks to some yet to be decided measures that the coalition will put in place.
But those assumptions are both fatally flawed.
We all know the global population is growing, and demand for food will go up. But there's no evidence that farmgate prices will rise to the level Caroline Spelman's vision would need - nor that the retailers will be any more willing in future to voluntarily pass the increase along the chain to you.
And if prices do go up, your suppliers will probably charge you more for your inputs, including fuel.
And yet when the UK government has the chance to do something about that, by cutting fuel duty for rural areas, it fails to keep its promises.
Let’s be clear, Defra’s illogical and flawed assumptions are a recipe for disaster for Scottish agriculture and your businesses.
Caroline Spelman has said that farmers would rather live from the market than from subsidies. None of us would disagree with that – but that option is not yet on the horizon.
So a debate about how or in which year farm payments should be abolished is the wrong debate to have.
The debate we need is about how to get the market to deliver for primary producers, not about cutting budgets.
I respect Jim Paice for coming here and setting out Defra position as he sees it.
He seems to be the good cop in the Defra team. The trouble is that there’s a bad cop too - and she’s his boss!
To deal with the UK’s policy, Scotland needs to deploy at least three tactics.
First, we can work to try and improve UK policy. My fellow ministers in Wales and Northern Ireland are as concerned as I am. So, last month, we wrote a joint letter to Caroline Spelman, to make it clear that Defra's position hasn't even got support within the UK.
Secondly, we must engage directly with other Member States.
Caroline Spelman says the coalition, unlike the last UK administration, will forge alliances in Europe. Jim Paice said the same yesterday.
But alliances depend on having a shared vision.
As Commissioner Ciolos himself said at Oxford, most of Europe disagrees with Defra and agrees with Brian Pack - that direct payments should be reformed, but must continue.
So despite their wishful thinking, Defra does not have allies in Europe - but Scotland does, and we can and will exploit that.
Thirdly, we must continue to engage directly with the EU institutions, especially the Commission and the European Parliament.
Fortunately we're already punching well above our weight. As the Commissioners sit looking out over a Europe of 27 Member States, they know what Scotland thinks, and what we need the future CAP to do. That's great news, but of course it's no accident.
It's because we invited Commissioner Fischer Boel, and then Commissioner Ciolos, over here.
It's because we've been bringing Commission officials over, and meeting with them in Brussels. And above all it's because the Brian Pack inquiry has been so thorough and well-argued that it's now at the centre of Europe's thinking.
Last June, we had literally the two most important figures in EU farm policy - Commissioner Ciolos and the Chairman of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee - on the same platform in the government pavilion at the Royal Highland Show. Other Member States would give their right arm for an event like that.
So as we move into the crucial EU negotiations, this Scottish Government will make sure that Scottish farming has a voice.
And to strengthen our voice, I challenge the UK to take the devolved nations into the negotiating room in Brussels.
During Jim Paice’s often helpful contribution yesterday he did assured us that the UK government would reflect the diverse interests across these islands.
In that case there is no reason why the devolved administrations should continue to be excluded from agriculture negotiations. I’m there for fishing negotiations and I look forward confidently to doing the same for CAP negotiations.
The Pack inquiry and EU negotiations are about designing the policies of the future. But just as important is to deliver our existing policies effectively and to address the industry’s concerns, such as bureaucracy and red tape.
Take the example of SEPA. Jim, when you took office, it’s fair to say NFUS saw SEPA as nothing but bad news.
But SEPA and NFUS have worked hard over two or three years, and the relationship has been transformed. Excellent work has been done on diffuse pollution, in particular.
Of course you’re still not going to see eye to eye on every issue. But to quote you, Jim: “a light has come on in SEPA ….. the job’s not finished, but it is a very long way better than it was.”
SEPA, of course, is one of the partners in the SEARS project. A project that has delivered 11% less of your time spent on bureaucracy, freeing up 200,000 hours for more productive work, and around 8,000 fewer farm inspections.
Those inspections also need to be based on rules that are fair and proportionate. I've been pressing Europe to accept more sensible interpretations of the current rules, wherever possible and welcome the UK’s support reiterated yesterday.
Having done the inspections, we should then get the payments out promptly. I'm pleased with our consistently good record on the Single Farm Payment – and we are now working hard to issue LFASS payments quickly despite the recent bad weather.
We have been working year after year with NFU Scotland to improve LFASS. We've increased the rates in each of the last two years, and Europe recently confirmed its approval of further improvements for this year, as part of a package of changes to the SRDP.
The SRDP is of course a huge programme.
With nearly a third of the budget going out through LFASS, and nearly £400 million now approved under Rural Priorities, the SRDP is delivering huge benefits for our rural areas.
I recognise that deliver of the SRDP has been problematic.
It would be an oversimplification to claim that all the SRDP’s flaws were inherited from the last administration. We have had to learn lessons in improving implementation.
First, as soon as I was appointed, I insisted on putting in support for new entrants, which I later increased to the maximum Europe allows.
Then, when the systems weren't working properly, we quickly set up an independent review and acted on the recommendations.
And now, with significant budget cuts, we’ll need to look very closely at how we focus the spend over the remaining years.
But we've improved the programme hugely, and it's now delivering for rural Scotland:
630 new farm buildings
320 slurry stores,
130 livestock handling facilities,
100 wind turbines,
and 10 farm shops, for example.
Those are outcomes we should be proud of especially given that the UK gets the lowest per hectare EU funding of any part of Europe and Scotland gets the lowest share in the UK. That must change!
Because we need a future Pillar 2 capable of addressing the global challenges - like climate change.
Climate change has risen up the agenda. And quite rightly, because it affects every one of us, our children and our grandchildren.
You only have to look at TV pictures of Queensland, to see how serious the consequences are when the climate turns on us.
It would be easy to duck the issue, to say: Scotland's a small place, we can't make a significant difference at the global scale.
But instead of ducking the issue, Scotland has taken the international lead.
We've got some of the most ambitious climate legislation in the world.
we're finalising our Land Use Strategy, and also our report on the proposals that will bring down emissions.
and we've got climate change Focus Farms up and running.
The good news for farmers is that climate friendly actions are business friendly too.
We all accept that renewable energy is a key part of the solution and, once up and running, it's a real potential money spinner.
You tell me one the problem is often the cost of getting past the set-up phase.
Many planning authorities now take a positive view of renewables, but it can still take a long time to get through the first stages.
So today, I'm delighted to announce major new funding for renewables in rural Scotland.
From April, we are committing an extra £2.4 million to our Communities and Renewable Energy Scheme, to open it up to farmers and other land managers.
This scheme covers the risk of the pre planning stage, through loans of up to 90% of the costs - provided there's a minimum community benefit from the project .
This is in addition to the benefits of the Feed-In-Tariffs, and the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive.
The key point about this scheme is that it’s about the community – with farmers playing a crucial role, because you can be the catalyst to make the whole thing work.
I agree with those who say we must not let this opportunity to slip through your fingers.
With this new funding, we can help you harness the opportunity of renewables to help your businesses, communities and our environment.
Renewable energy can be seen as a symbol of the bright future that awaits the people of rural Scotland.
And I feel privileged to have been able to play a part in creating that future.
Because it's the people I've met and worked with, who have made this the most rewarding time of my professional life.
At the same time, it’s been humbling to work with people who have put a lifetime’s work into agriculture.
People like Bert Leitch, who I visited on Mull, and Jo Durno from Speyside - both recipients of your John Miskelly prize.
And I’d like to make a special mention of your former President John Cameron whose charitable trust Jim mentioned last night. John is an elder statesman who still works tirelessly for the livestock sector, and for the industry as a whole, as indeed many others do.
There are many more examples among the NFUS membership, and I pay tribute to you today.
i’ve spent the last four years working on your behalf, and I am very proud of all our achievements in this Parliament.
the Food and drink industry, supported by Scotland’s first national food and drink policy, and which relies on the raw materials you rear and grow, is going from strength to strength.
The Scottish Government has worked with the UK Government and Europe for the benefit of Scottish agriculture – but we have been robust and stood firm when London or Brussels has acted against Scotland’s interests.
Together, we have given Scottish farmers a voice in the debate on the future of Scottish and European agriculture Europe.
And we have placed rural Scotland at the heart of the Scottish Government’s agenda, and forged a new working relationship between Government and industry.
And we delivered record investment in Scottish agriculture, and often stepped in during your industry’s hour of need when others have not fulfilled their obligations.
I don’t pretend for a second that it’s all been plain sailing – it certainly has not - and whichever road we choose to follow in the future there will be many bumps along the way.
However, we have every reason to be optimistic.
Scotland and the world needs the food you produce.
Our nation relies on the landscapes you maintain and our communities are underpinned by your economic contribution. We need you to feed Scotland, and we’ll increasingly need you to help power Scotland.
Scotland’s natural resources are like golden eggs laid by Nature. And you are the people sitting on them. So it's not just that you have a future - you are the future!
I’m deeply proud of Scottish agriculture and am deeply proud of the contribution this government has made to Scotland.
