Agricultural reform was the subject of another debate at Holyrood last week.

In a session that offered little new substance, food security, Brexit and the Scottish Government’s net zero targets, including reducing agricultural emissions by 31 per cent by 2032 were a constant thread throughout.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the Scottish Government’s vision for the future of agriculture in Scotland put farmers, crofters and land managers at its core and recognises their essential role in delivering climate adaptation and mitigation and in biodiversity recovery and nature restoration.

She said: “Farmers, crofters and land managers are vital to our ambition to make Scotland fairer and greener.

“That journey will be challenging and will carry risks, but it also presents opportunities and can be transformative.

“I and the Government remain committed to working with and listening to our industry and all who have the interests of a vibrant and successful rural Scotland at heart, so that we can achieve our ambition.”

Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton said the Scottish Government has a crucial role in providing the platform on which farmers can thrive.

She said: “For too long agriculture in Scotland has been succeeding despite SNP Government policies rather than because of them.

“The same is true for rural Scotland. In its motion, the SNP-Green Government talks of delivering, but delivering anything for anyone in rural Scotland has repeatedly been proved to be beyond its capability.”

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Speaking for the Lib Dems, Shetland Islands MSP Beatrice Wishart pointed to rising production costs driven by the war in Ukraine and added while the impacts will not last forever there may be some long-lasting impacts that can be addressed now.

She said: “Both the UK and Scottish Governments have been slow to respond on the multiple threats that agriculture faces.

“The lack of certainty around the future of the post-CAP schemes is deterring investment, and that will be detrimental to the future of the industry. Farming is on a journey, but the destination is not clear.”

Tory MSP Oliver Mundell took aim at the coalition between the SNP and the Greens in Government: “Farmers should be the SNP’s first partners when it comes to driving forward change and aspiration for rural Scotland.

“Sadly, that has not been the case. In their place sit the so-called Scottish Greens, whose answer to protecting the countryside is to ban it.

“In the Scottish Greens’ utopia, in place of the evils of farming and food production, we would instead see a small but merry band of volunteers tending rank vegetation, and we would have to cross our fingers that reintroducing a few predators would do the rest.”

Mr Mundell said hill farmers in his constituency are under “huge pressure” as a result of forestry.

SNP MSP Jim Fairlie intervened, asking for Mr Mundell’s view on the free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia. “I also have to say that it must have been one of your staff who wrote your speech.” He added.

Mr Fairlie said replacing EU directives from scratch had added complexity and fears that “we might be trying to do too much in one bill.”

Concluding, Mairi Gougeon said the Scottish Government is in alignment with, and working with, our farmers and crofters to ensure that we get this right in a way that delivers for ruraI Scotland.

However, speaking after the debate, Rachael Hamilton described the session as “yet another missed opportunity” to give clarity to farmers and the wider agriculture sector.