Chamber and committees

If you could bear with us, we will try to improve the sound quality.

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in session 6 of the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee. I remind members who are using electronic devices to switch them to silent mode.

Our first item of business is consideration of the legislative consent memorandum for the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I welcome Mairi Gougeon, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, and her officials, who are not joining us remotely but who are certainly remote in that they are at the back of the committee room. I welcome Andrew Voas, the veterinary head of animal welfare, and Keith White, a solicitor, from the Scottish Government. I invite the cabinet secretary to make an opening statement.

I think that the committee will come to NPF4 sooner than we expect, and there will be a bit of work to do there.

We move to questions on blue carbon from Mercedes Villalba.

Perhaps we can hear from Professor Sir Ian Boyd on those points, before I bring in Ariane Burgess for a supplementary question.

Thank you. I will kick off with a question. Given that it is some time since we left the EU, why has this legislation been brought forward only now?

I ask Rob Brooker for a brief response, followed by Pete Smith. I will then bring in Rachael Hamilton for a supplementary question.

Some organic farms have been running for 25 years. It has taken 25 years to get to a point at which nearly all non-organic fertiliser—nitrogen or whatever—has been removed and the soil has regenerated to such a point that it is delivering yields that are sustainable both economically and in terms of biodiversity. Has any work been done to assess the condition of Scotland’s soils in order to give a timescale for their just transition—as I suppose we could call it—from artificial to organic fertilisers? We have a target to become net zero by 2045, and agriculture has a big role to play in that. What scientific work has been done to assess how long it will take for the soils, given their current condition, to start delivering in the future? Again, that question might be for Dr Black.

I have another question for you. Is there any calculation of how much peat has been displaced by the wind farms that we currently have and what their carbon impact has been? When local authorities grant planning permission, is there any obligation on them to use the wind farm carbon calculator to assess the suitability of new wind farms? Undoubtedly, through the new national planning framework, there will be a push for ever more new wind farms. Do we need the calculator to play a bigger role in the planning process?

We move to Jim Fairlie for a final question on sustainable agriculture management.

I am very conscious of the time: we have 20 minutes left. Rachael Hamilton has a quick supplementary question.