SO WHAT can farming expect from the SNP's alliance with the Green Party in a deal which gives the Nats an outright killer of a majority? As Burns famously wrote in 'To a mouse' and entirely appropriate in this context: 'Tho' I cannot see, I guess an' fear!'

Will there be more trees and more trees; will there be suffocating legislation with regard to livestock husbandry; and will there be an arable landscape devoid of all of the chemistry that helps produce the crops that feed the nation?

We've used the 'cannot see the food for the trees' phrase before, but the Greens will have to face up to the fact that people need to be fed and even they can appreciate that food miles will count for much in maintaining a happy environment ... and electorate. Food safety is another huge area of concern and so if the Scottish Government – including the Greens – want to have control over the way food is produced and limit its impact on the environment, then they have to look after farming at home.

There is simply no point in planting the whole of Scotland in trees and then ScotGov – like British Airways robbing Peter to pay Paul with green brownie points (AKA carbon credits) – exporting carbon emissions elsewhere in the world to food producers who, quite frankly, don't give tuppence for the environment. Contrarily, they will give themselves a pat on the back for a net gain of hee-haw.

So, in that respect, we would hope that the cross-party Holyrood support for the workings of the sterling work done by the Farmer-Led Groups (FLGs) that has been so much in evidence until now, will be maintained. In that respect, then, there should be no need for Green Party support for the schemes that this board hope to implement.

However, if the Greens really want to grain credibility across a wider spectrum of Scotland, they have to show willing that they can work with industries, such as agriculture, to help them reach the Holy Grail of being carbon neutral and still have a sustainable productive capacity.

As for the machinations of the implementation board announced this week (see page 5), it can only be hoped that the last hour appointments we saw to this board is not a portent of future workings. This is a crossroads for the entire industry that can take us down the road to a green heaven, or a wasteland hell.

There has rarely ever been such a cohesive effort by the industry, both to come up with solutions and be content to implement them. Therefore, there is no place in this for the faint-hearted or for those who would wish to scupper the industry by being favour of a slash and burn policy for the livestock industry especially.

This is a time for a team approach, with resolve – and not just from the implementation board, but also for those charged with making sure that the measures agreed upon are actually put in place. It's time to show COP 26, for instance, that agriculture can get in shape to meet the many environmental challenges asked of it and still deliver a productive and profitable outcome.