Chamber and committees

It was not really a supplementary, but Steven Thomson has asked to respond to that question as well.

We will move on to the next theme.

I ask Elspeth Macdonald to kick off while the question is fresh in her mind and then we will come back to Scott Walker.

Yes.

Our third item of business is an evidence session on the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on food supply chains in Scotland. I welcome our witnesses, who are contributing remotely: Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive officer of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation; Professor Alan Matthews, professor emeritus of European agricultural policy at Trinity College Dublin; Dr Mike Rivington, land use system modeller at the James Hutton Institute; Steven Thomson, agricultural economist at Scotland’s Rural College; and Scott Walker, chief executive officer of NFU Scotland.

We will not take opening statements—we will move straight to questions, and I will kick off. How are Scotland’s food production sectors being directly affected by the Russian invasion, and to what extent are the impacts either a direct result of the invasion or compounding existing challenges? We will start with the witness at the top left on my screen, who is Scott Walker.

I will move on to other witnesses in a moment. You talked about decisions that farmers are taking just now. Do any of those decisions have irreversible consequences? You talked about the bull being put out and there being potentially less ground used for wheat or barley, or resown as grass. Is there any evidence that there will be irreversible impacts on production towards the end of the year because of the decisions that are being taken now?

Staying with you, Professor Matthews, your point that the crisis might accelerate the direction of travel that we recognise that we were going to have to take anyway is interesting. It is a bit like Covid forcing more people to engage with the medical profession and a more triage-based system. People had to speak to their general practitioner remotely, which was an acceleration of the direction of travel that was already happening. It is a bit like an ill wind: it may well drive improvements that need to be made, but over a shorter space of time.

I want to draw on your experience on a more European scale. In France, the issues are being taken incredibly seriously. We are also taking them seriously but, in France, there is almost a panic about the food shortages that might be seen there. Are Scotland and the UK taking the crisis seriously enough?

I remind everybody that we have around 40 minutes left in this session and there are still a lot of questions to be asked. I will bring in Steven Thomson, followed by Elspeth Macdonald.

Thank you. That is most useful.

I thank all the witnesses. The session has been fascinating and, as always, we have run out of time. Thank you very much. Your evidence has been very useful and will play a part in our work as we move forward.