AS YOU read this, the war being waged by Russia in Ukraine will be entering its second week and it still seems unimaginable that the long-term peace in Europe has been shattered by a despot hell-bent on restoring an empire which had, quite rightly, been dismantled.

This column has many times pointed to an incredible lack of political foresight and a lack of long-term strategic planning that has been breathtakingly naive by our Lords and Masters in Holyrood and Westminster with regard to food security.

Because of those shortcomings, we have more or less handed the keys to the city of Kyiv and, beyond that, the rape of a decent and hard-working population that dared to be free from the shackles of Russia, to the scoundrel Putin. By dismantling the main drivers for our agricultural economy and by allowing Putin to have control of the oil and gas that we rely on too heavily – without a plan B to grow it and store it – the UK has been culpable in some ways contributing to this shameful act of power and aggression.

Now is the time for a political leadership that stands up for 'home-grown' and actually puts policies in place that will allow a robust circular economy that a strong agriculture brings, to flourish. It does not necessarily mean that the environment has to suffer either, but the balance of that needs to be policy driven and with in-depth attention to the equilibrium between food production AND being kind to the environment.

This dual aim will not be easy – nobody ever said it would be – but had the Farmer-led Groups' recommendations been actioned more quickly and thoroughly, then maybe we would not be in this position. That said, the wholesale reduction in output from south of the Border that will be the sure and certain result of a policy there that aims to put butterflies before beef, could still be avoided in Scotland.

The big 'but' is, do we have the political nous to see through the green fog so that food security can be assured?

Plant-based sham

It was quite heartening to find out that despite all the huffing and puffing surrounding the much trumpeted veganuary, did not achieve a wholesale switch away from meat and dairy (see page 19).

What is sad, though, is that this was at considerable expense spent on promotion and advertising by some of the major retailers and their brands, that could have been better spent in encouraging a more balanced diet for consumers. And that expressly includes red meat and dairy products.

As in everything in life, balance is the key. But what could our meat promotional body, QMS, have been able to achieve had it been given the fire-power that 'plant-based' products have had?