Royal Highland Show - Rural Affairs Secretary speech

Good morning, everyone.

Kate, thank you for that generous welcome, and my thanks to the whole QMS team for hosting us. The Royal Highland Show breakfast is always a highlight of the show for me, because it brings together every element of our world class agriculture sector - farmers and crofters, processors and butchers, auctioneers, feed merchants, retailers and so many others. I will always champion you at every opportunity.

Now firstly this morning, I’d like to pay tribute to two outstanding ambassadors for our industry, Kate Rowell and Sarah Millar.

I have to say it has been such an honour working with you both and the incredible team you’ve built at QMS. I know you work tirelessly promoting the industry at home and abroad, showcasing the provenance and quality of our red meat sector and I want to sincerely thank you for the work that you do.

And it’s on this work and in particular, QMS’s “Meating Our Potential” campaign, that I want to begin. This campaign challenges us to aim higher.

This Government shares that ambition.

Agriculture is the bedrock of Scotland’s £15 billion pound food and drink economy. Whether it’s livestock production, the fruit, the veg, the crops so essential for our whisky industry, it all starts with our farmers and crofters.

As many of you will be aware this will be my last Royal Highland show in my capacity as Rural Affairs Secretary, so I want to take this opportunity to speak frankly and directly to you, to address some of the key issues facing the sector, and provide reasons to be optimistic as we look to the future.

No sector feels the weather, or the weight of climate change, more acutely than you do. The independent Climate Change Committee recently submitted its advice on carbon budgets to the Scottish Government, which set out its recommendations for us to reach Net Zero, and the carbon budget milestones to get there.

I know this advice has caused significant concern.

Today, legislation has been laid in the Scottish Parliament setting out our response to that advice and setting out our carbon budgets.

While we have accepted the CCC’s proposed carbon budget levels to reach net zero, we will not be accepting their policy recommendations which would have had a detrimental impact on our agriculture sector and wider rural economy.

Let me be crystal clear: this government has no policy, and will have no policy, to cut livestock numbers.

We will reach net zero, and we intend to do that in a way which works for rural Scotland.

But ultimately we want our policies to be designed with you - not something which is done to you. My ask of you is simple: help us to help you by working with us to find the solutions to climate change.

To support that journey, we have today published our code of practice for sustainable and regenerative agriculture. The code will provide guidance and practical examples of sustainable and regenerative practices which work for your farm or croft.

We know however, that climate change isn’t the only challenge we face.

We live in an era of global instability, from extreme weather, geopolitical turbulence and rapidly shifting markets. None of those challenges is abstract; they hit your bottom line. There is a very clear and present danger in the form of livestock disease.

Bluetongue could reach our borders in the coming months, and we’re facing very real threats from foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and Schmallenberg Virus.

Together with my colleague, Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie and our Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas, we are doing everything in our power to protect Scottish livestock.

I urge everyone to work together in our national interest to keep these diseases out through safe sourcing of stock and targeted vaccination. We are continuing to press the UK Government to tighten biosecurity at ports and airports.

Trade and taxation pose risks too. As Kate outlined in her speech - free trade deals represent another threat, trade deals in which we have had no input are causing real concern across the sector, with imported products produced to lower welfare and environmental standards now on supermarket shelves near you.

That is simply not good enough - we support the QMS call to put Scotland first, and I call on our supermarket buyers to support domestic production and Scotland’s farmers and crofters.

Another key challenge we know our producers face is the damaging changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief. Changes again imposed without consultation with devolved governments, let alone you - the farmers and crofters most impacted by it. We will continue to keep pressing for the reversal of these changes which we know are threatening business confidence and livelihoods.

The Scottish Government is trying to tackle these challenges head on, starting with fresh investment that will drive change and deliver our Vision for Sustainable Agriculture.

Scotland invests more than 600 million pounds a year to agriculture through direct payments, the Voluntary Coupled Support schemes and LFASS - which we know are particularly important for those farmers and crofters working on our most marginal land. All of this, in stark contrast to what we’re seeing elsewhere in the UK.

You have told me you need more flexibility and faster access to capital. I have listened and that is why I am delighted to announce today that we will be launching the Future Farm Investment Scheme.

As a government we have worked with key organisations  to develop this new scheme,  which will provide £14m of investment through flexible capital support to help you invest in your businesses to improve efficiency and invest in nature and climate friendly farming. The scheme will provide upfront payments of up to £20,000 and at 100% grant rate.

Through the scheme you are free to choose the most appropriate capital investment to improve your business. The scheme will open for applications from the 14^th of July.

The new scheme will provide priority support in a number of areas including for new entrants and young farmers, small farms and tenants. The next generation are driving innovation and positive change in the sector, helping to find solutions to the challenges we face. I have a clear message for the next generation, this government has your back, we want to support you to succeed and to give you confidence to invest in your future.

Of equal importance is our processing sector. Earlier this year at the NFUS AGM, the First Minister announced that £5m of capital support would be provided for our wider food processing sector. I want to take this opportunity to reassure you that my officials are working at pace to develop a suitable delivery mechanism for the £5million in capital support we have allocated to support food processing and marketing. I hope to be in a position to announce more on that soon.

Another key part of that announcement by the First Minister, was the roll out of Lidar.

I can confirm today that nationwide LiDAR mapping is underway, delivering a full 3D scan of every field and watercourse so that support and regulation go where they matter most, and most importantly, providing that critical data to our farmers on the ground.

Looking to the future, that future depends on fresh talent and new ideas. Under the Future Farm Investment Scheme, new entrants, young farmers, small units and tenants will receive priority support. We are refreshing our wider NextGen package, looking at tailored business loans and greater access to public land.

We have listened closely to small producers who told us they needed tailored help, not one-size-fits-all policy. That is why we have ring-fenced £140,000 for a new Small Producer Practical Training Fund, giving micro-businesses the skills and resilience to thrive on their own terms.

You also asked us to rethink the calf scheme rules for small herds.

Small farms and crofts are part of the rich tapestry of rural Scotland. After close dialogue with the Scottish Crofting Federation and the NFUS, I can confirm that from the 2026 scheme year holdings claiming ten calves or fewer will receive a derogation from the calving-interval condition.

We recognise the importance of small suckler cow herds in some of our most remote  areas - these cows deliver for biodiversity, landscapes, they help to sustain people and deliver socio economic benefits.

We care deeply about our crofters and small producers, and we commit to working with them to ensure future policy works for them and recognises the vital contribution they make to our rural communities, but also to our wider climate and biodiversity goals.

In closing, Scotland is better placed than anywhere else to farm and produce livestock sustainably, profitably and with world leading welfare standards.

I am really optimistic about the future of the industry.

Where we have the powers to protect and support Scottish agriculture we are doing just that. And we are showing that long term policy that's made here in Scotland, for Scotland, will serve this industry well.

Now the choices we have made here mean that we have secured flexible support policy through the ARC Act, that we are ensuring the industry continues to benefit from reformed direct support, that we are delivering actions together to drive down emissions and improve productivity, that we are supporting the next generation and driving innovation through the Future Farming Investment Scheme.

And importantly – that we are working with farmers and crofters as we do it.

I want to thank all of you sincerely for the engagement, the support, and the challenge that you have provided me over the past four years in this role. It has honestly been the privilege of my life to have worked with every individual across this passionate, innovative and resilient industry.

With that, I hope you all have an enjoyable show.