Agriculture (Culture and Heritage Value)

Good afternoon. The first item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-12425, in the name of Rachael Hamilton, on the culture and heritage value of agriculture. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament notes the importance of the almost 200 agricultural shows that are held across the UK; understands that it is estimated that 10% of the population attends at least one of these events each year; notes that these include the Border Union Agricultural Show in Kelso, which has been held for over 200 years, the Berwickshire Show in Duns, and the Newcastleton, St Boswells and Yarrow shows; believes that these are important for showcasing the best of what the agricultural sector has to offer to people from outwith the farming community, driving up standards and preserving and protecting heritage; understands that many farmers can trace their ancestral links with their land that goes back centuries; believes that farmers are best placed to ensure that their land is productive and sustainable, yet understands that they need to be open to the fresh ideas of new entrants; notes what it sees as the importance of the physical heritage of farming, including farmhouses and steadings and the many ruins and derelict buildings, such as shepherd huts, which can be seen around the country; believes that these derelict sites can pose as monuments to the agricultural past but can also get new leases of life as rural housing, shops, B&Bs and other facilities; notes the contribution made by groups such as the Scottish Association of Young Farmers in preserving traditional customs and practices, organising social events and encouraging people to join or stay in agriculture, and wishes them all the best with this work.

I thank my colleague Rachel Hamilton for bringing the debate to the chamber and I salute her thorough speech. It is right that we highlight the importance of the expertise on the farms and in the fields around Scotland that is provided to us. I remind members that I am the parliamentary liaison officer to Fergus Ewing, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy.

I grew up in the south-west of Scotland on tway dairy farms. One was near the Lochans close to Stranraer and the other was near Dumfries. My father was a dairyman and I learned to drive tractors before I could drive a car.

Agricultural shows in the south-west start in Stranraer and work their way east to Wigtown, Stewartry—with the show at Castle Douglas—and Dumfries and Lockerbie. I have enjoyed attending them all and I plan to attend them all again this summer.

Last week, I attended the Royal Highland Show on Thursday and Friday. I spoke to many folks over the two days about promoting food, farming, production, science and sustainable farming, as well as about sheep worrying. There was a lot of concern about what exiting the European Union will do regarding tariffs, stability in the supply chain and EU farm workers. It is important that we remember that workers on dairy farms are not seasonal workers; they are here all year long, their kids are in our 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—a Sutherland sheep farmer—along with the cabinet secretary. I attended the women in agriculture breakfast event at the RHS. We heard from Joyce Campbell, Kate Rowley and Minette Batters, who is the UK president of the National Farmers Union. We are all encouraging more women to go into agriculture.

NFU Scotland has presented its “Steps to Change” document and suggestions for change as we head to exit the EU on 29 March 2019. I encourage everyone to read that document so that we can all be better informed.

It is essential that people across Scotland connect with food producers. It is important that kids grow up learning where their food comes from and how many miles it has travelled, and knowing that a lot of people are involved in getting that food from farm to fork.

I see the tide turning in Scotland. We are witnessing a change in the attitude towards protecting and promoting the provenance of our guid produce.

One expert presented the argument that shows give a false impression of what farmers do because the public observe sheep being delicately trimmed with scissors at eyeball distance and the beasts being presented all washed and manicured. The perception is that the public do not get the opportunity to see what farmers actually do and how they get covered in muck and stuff like that. A direct rebuttal to that comment was made at the women in agriculture meeting when the Royal Highland Education Trust was commended for its work in encouraging school visits to farms. Indeed, the RHET in the south west, which is co-ordinated by Fiona Jamieson, has been successful in letting first and second-year children experience directly visits to Scotland’s Rural College at Crichton campus, which is a working farm.

Like many other farmers, NFUS vice-president Gary Mitchell holds open-farm days and gets primary 4 kids on to his farm. As a consequence, 12 out of 14 of Gary’s employees are sourced locally.

I applaud the work of farmers, growers and crofters and the rural businesses that they support. From farm to fork, Scotland’s economy is rural.

I thank Rachael Hamilton for bringing this timely debate to the chamber, now that we are very much in agricultural show season. I also thank every farmer, crofter, food producer and person who works on the land.

I grew up in the Caithness countryside and spent many long weekends and holidays with the Mackays on the neighbouring farm, Biggins—or “Beagins” as it is in Caithness dialect. I belonged to Bower young farmers club, which was the Scottish young farmers club of the year in 2016, and I continue to have great friends in the farming and crofting community across my constituency.

I congratulate Bower young farmers junior team on winning the junior stock judging at the Royal Highland Show, and I congratulate Beth Dunnet for getting first junior individual and Alistair McCarthy for getting second junior individual. [Applause.] Yes—thank you.

I remember those days well. They shaped my childhood and, indeed, they shaped who I became as a person. Members will not be surprised that finding new kittens in the shed or the barn, being out on the tractor or in the lorry on the way to the mart—we had a mart in Caithness in those days—gathering in and dipping the sheep, getting bitten by the horse, helping with the lambing, playing on the bales and just being outside are some of the best memories from my childhood. Those experiences made me aware of where my food comes from and gave me a huge appreciation of the hard work that farmers and crofters put in at all hours of the day and night, and they gave me an inherent love and respect for farmed and wild animals.

My constituency holds several shows that celebrate agriculture: the Caithness county show, the Sutherland show and the Dornoch show. Although the Black Isle show is in Kate Forbes’s constituency, a strong northern contingent is always present. Shows provide a chance for like-minded people to get together, celebrate success, share best practice and chew over the latest prices, weather and beasts. Such shows are, of course, immense social occasions—I think that we all know that, after a certain time, the beer tent at an agricultural show is the place where all the best deals are made.

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. Agriculture has a proud history, but we are at a stage when we need to look forward to make sure that it has a secure future, too.

The motion mentions bringing “ruins and derelict buildings” back into use, and I could not agree more. Unfortunately, some of them in my constituency stand as a permanent reminder of the horrific circumstances surrounding the Highland clearances. The crumbling stone edifices remind us of the people who should still be working that land.

I recently wrote a piece for the Farmers Guardian in which 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 and they want that nation to look like.

Our legislation needs to be bottom up. I suggest that we need to get a farmer or a food producer on every enterprise agency board, every community development trust, every community planning partnership and every community council, and in every meeting and advisory group. We cannot underestimate how crucial those voices are.

I warmly congratulate Rachael Hamilton on bringing forward this topic for debate. The debate is timely, given that almost all of us who have participated seem to have attended the Royal Highland Show last week, along with 190,000 others who visited the show over its four days. Indeed, I encountered so many MSPs at the show during the Thursday that I wondered whether the chamber was entirely empty when we were supposed to be at work. Instead, we were enjoying huge gulps of fresh air, unaccustomed though we are to that experience in here.

As we have heard from all the contributors today, the Royal Highland Show and shows across the country are an essential part of rural life and part of our cultural heritage. As I think Mr Chapman said, they bring people together, which is a good thing, especially at this time when many farmers and crofters live a fairly isolated life and may no longer have people working on a farm. It is easy to forget that these days. Shows are very social gatherings and an important annual staple in the calendar of many people in rural Scotland, and rightly so.

One of the many bodies that make a huge contribution is the Royal Highland Education Trust, which at this year’s Royal Highland Show received more than 6,000 children over two days. In total, 30,000 youngsters, including my 10-year-old daughter, visited the show. The trust plays an enormous part in bringing home the realities of farming to young people, although I think that there is common ground across the chamber that much more could be done in that area.

In addition, the women in agriculture event, which Rachael Hamilton and Emma Harper mentioned, was an excellent and well-attended event, with a real buzz in the room. The contribution by the president of the National Farmers Union for England and Wales, Minette Batters, was outstanding. Unfortunately, I missed Kate Rowell’s contribution, although I heard that it was excellent. It was a really inspiring event. I pay tribute to Joyce Campbell, who co-chairs the women in agriculture group that has been set up in Scotland. I should say that the group was not my idea but the First Minister’s; I should place that clearly on the record and not claim credit for it. However, I have been co-chairing the group, and it has been a really exciting experience.

There is the possibility of fairly major change, unleashing the full potential of the female section of the population in agriculture and rural life. They achieve great things at the moment, but it is common sense that if there is a bit more help and access to training and other opportunities, an awful lot more could be done. I think that that is the view across the chamber.

Rachael Hamilton pointed out, quite rightly, that the average age of a farmer is 59. I know that she has not experienced this, 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. There anent, Presiding Officer—you do not need to look so surprised—a new experience will befall me when, in August, I will be a chieftain of the Grantown highland show. I am not quite sure what power I will have and whether it exceeds the powers that are available to me as cabinet secretary, but I shall certainly make the most of my day in the sun in Grantown.

However, to be serious, much of the debate quite rightly focused—as did the motion—on new entrants. That area is close to all our hearts across the chamber. I am proud of the fact that we have been doing a lot for new entrants. We want to do much, much more. Let me be absolutely clear about that lest I be accused of complacency—perish the thought. The theme of new entrants is a common one and, given the age profile, it is absolutely essential to get new entrants. I had the pleasure of meeting again some of the leaders of the young farmers movement at the Royal Highland Show and we discussed how we could move forward and perhaps seek new ways of bringing in new blood to the farming community and the wider rural economy.

In recognition of the importance of encouraging new entrants to the industry, the Scottish Government has provided £22 million in start-up and capital grants since 2015. I think that it is fair to point out that we are in fact the only part of the UK to do so.

I also established a group called FONE, which is an acronym that stands for farming opportunities for new entrants—quite catchy, I thought, Presiding Officer. I actually thought of it myself, in a rare flash. In any event, to be serious, the group developed a programme in order to identify holdings of land in the public sector generally—including Scottish Water, the Forestry Commission, and quangos—that could be used for farming by new entrants. Henry Graham has been a driving force behind that initiative and I am pleased to say that the initiative is ready to make available more than 1,000 hectares of public land to new farmers. That is the sort of exercise that we can do in Scotland, which arises from our brain power and application and drive rather than any cash being involved, although cash greases the wheels. The FONE initiative is one that we will take forward and advance.

That was Finlay Carson giving a short speech.

I am certainly aware of the arguments, although from talking to farmers—I made two farm visits in Ayrshire this morning, at South Corton and Girtridge, and I thank Willie and Alison Kerr and John Howie for hosting the visits—I think that most of the initiatives in that regard come from individuals and communities. I am not convinced that we need a new public body to drive forward the rural economy. The tag of national park is certainly regarded as an asset by some people, but one must also consider the potential consequences, such as planning restrictions, which other people argue are a counterbalance. That is perhaps an argument for another day, because I do not think that the issue is mentioned in the motion—although I am broad minded about these things, as you know, Presiding Officer.

John Finnie and Gail Ross talked about housing and the need to bring old buildings back into use and indeed to repopulate rural Scotland. The issue is very close to my heart. I will not wax overly lyrical about this, but I will say that it would be terrific in Scotland to see the clearances counterbalanced by a de-clearance and a bringing back of people into the rural economy—a repeopling, as it were, of many parts of Scotland. If we are seriously to do that, many policy changes will have to be put in place.

I am pleased that, since 2007, the Scottish Government has awarded more than £18 million through the croft house grant scheme, which has helped to build or improve more than 900 croft homes, thereby providing homes for 900 people. What a good way of spending a relatively moderate amount of public money. I mention that scheme; there are many other housing developments at the moment, on which Kevin Stewart is leading.

I think that my allotted time is coming to an end and that I had better wind up. On behalf of all members, I think, I thank everyone who is involved in the volunteering and the huge amount of work and commitment that make agricultural shows happen. Such shows are part of our national life. They are really important events and, above all, they are great fun.

That concludes the debate. I suspend the meeting until 2 o’clock.