Whether it will publish an organic food and farming action plan.

The Forward Strategy for Scottish Agriculture, developed by the Executive in partnership with stakeholders from the food and farming industries and the environmental sector, sets out an action plan which is relevant to the organic sector as well as to other forms of environmentally sustainable farming. Specific to the organic sector, it challenges the sector to:(i) identify and tailor production to consumer demand and market outlets;(ii) develop the supply chain so that organic producers are matched by sufficient processing capacity;(iii) in the livestock sector, identify finishers to whom store producers can sell their produce;(iv) ensure the right business and technical advice is available on how to convert to, and, as importantly, maintain organic farming in Scottish conditions, and(v) ensure that Scottish farmers are able to use organic standards which avoid gold plating and reflect Scottish conditions.The Executive encourages the development of the organic sector in Scotland in a number of ways. These include the Organic Aid Scheme (OAS), which provides annual payments for five years for farmers converting their land, assistance under the Processing and Marketing Grants Scheme and the Marketing Development Scheme for projects that strengthen the organic food chain, the funding of an organic helpline operated by the Scottish Agricultural College, and the recently published Guide to Organic Marketing funded by the Executive.The Executive has recently completed a consultation exercise on measures to improve the operation of agri-environment schemes, including the OAS, in the short term. The Executive is considering responses to that consultation paper, and also possible longer-term changes to agri-environmental measures to enable them more effectively to support a range of environmentally sustainable forms of farming.