S4M-12849 Dairy Industry

The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick): The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-12849, in the name of Rob Gibson, on the dairy industry inquiry. We have a bit of time in hand, so the Presiding Officers will be generous if members wish to take interventions. Indeed, we might be generous if members indicate that their speeches are likely to be a bit longer.

I call Rob Gibson to speak to and move the motion on behalf of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee.

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Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP):

As with other members, milk is very much woven into my personal history. Dave Thompson referred to the dairy break. He is not that much younger than me, so he probably remembers, as I do, the third-of-a-pint glass bottles that came to the school for us all at our 11 o’clock break. That was done and paid for by the Ministry of Food, which existed through the war and after the war, for health reasons. It promoted health and good eating habits.

I have to say that the quality of the milk in Castlehill primary school in Cupar—I can refer to it as it is not there any more—was not greatly improved by the crate of milk sitting next to the radiator. The curdling was well under way by the time the milk reached the pupils’ mouths at 11 o’clock, so it perhaps did not have the positive effect on us that it might otherwise have had.

The issue of milk not reaching its markets in the required condition has been mentioned today. My father was a country doctor, and when there was too much milk on the farm, the farmer’s wife would make crowdie in the kitchen, and the crowdie would come home with my father. Now, it is almost impossible to get hold of crowdie; only our former colleague Jamie Stone’s company in the far north seems to get any of it into our supermarkets. It is not quite the crowdie that I remember—it is not as moist and luscious as the stuff that I remember the local farmers making. There ought to be a market for bringing that back as an example of nostalgia food.

Yoghurt has been mentioned. I can actually remember where I had my first yoghurt: it was on the pier at Kirkcudbright in August 1966. It was made by one of my fellow sailors with whom I was attending a regatta. It was absolutely terrific stuff, and I got addicted to the extent that, when the former First Minister Alex Salmond and I were down in the south-west campaigning in 1997, we visited the Rowan Glen factory, which produced what was—certainly back then—the best yoghurt in Scotland. The factory used a microfilter system to make the yoghurt creamy and smooth rather than putting additives in it, which contributes to making the taste not as effective, as can be found elsewhere.

Rob Gibson: As we are talking about south-west Scotland, I note that in a Herald article today, Stewart Jamieson says:

“As a dairy farmer in south-west Scotland for 40 years, I watched the large dairying estates such as Stair, Bute and Buccleuch decline due to lack of investment with farm steadings becoming increasingly outdated. The dairying owner occupiers close by have become prosperous businesses with modern buildings. Investment is one of the keys to economic prosperity.”

Does Stewart Stevenson agree that talk of efficiency in the dairy farming industry is tied up with investment by landlords in fixed equipment?

Stewart Stevenson: Rob Gibson makes a good point. I recall that my family used to go camping at Faskally farm just north of Pitlochry, and I remember the excitement when I went into the milking shed to see the first automated milking machines. They were introduced because the farmer owned his farm and felt that it was worth investing in. In later years, we went to Ardgualich, just down from the Queen’s view, and the farmer there was a tenant who could not afford to do the same.

I very much welcome the fact that three of the objectives in the Government’s response relate to investment and getting the enterprise agencies involved. I hope that farmers get some certainty on the return on the investments that they make in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their milking operations.

Rhoda Grant referred to rickets, whose effects milk can mitigate and prevent. That is absolutely true, but milk does more than that. It is particularly important for females, who are affected more by hormonal changes later in life. If they have good bone structure, they suffer less from those effects. Milk is an important part of building good bone structure early in life, and continuing to drink it helps to sustain that structure for ever.

Having done a lot of travelling to many places around the world over the years, I find it interesting to compare and contrast the standards to which milk is produced elsewhere. One of the first things that I like to do when I get off the plane after visiting many of those places is to drink a glass of cold milk, because I might have been away for three or four weeks and not felt that I could drink a glass of cold milk in safety.

The standards of production in these islands—not simply in Scotland—are very high. I love the Indian drink lassi, which is a liquid yoghurt, and specifically lassi sal, because the way in which it is made means that I can trust it, but I am not so sure that I would otherwise drink milk that was produced in some countries beyond Europe.

We have a good-quality product that delivers more value than we have perhaps heard mentioned today. When supermarkets sell milk at below cost price, they do not do so for altruistic reasons. It is a commodity that is widely bought and widely sought after. When a supermarket sells a product such as milk—a staple that is bought relatively frequently—at lower than the supermarket’s cost price, it does so because it will make a profit elsewhere. It is time that the supermarkets considered sharing the wider benefit, which they derive from increased footfall and profits across other products with big margins, that is delivered by having milk available that is of good quality, is locally produced and is valued by consumers.

The dreaded word “subsidy” comes into the debate. We provide support to our farmers—dairy farmers and other farmers. When the townie comes to the country, they see the product of our supporting our farmers, and that is valued by urban dwellers, who are prepared to support our farmers, just as we in the countryside need support for them.

The debate has been useful and timely. The committee is to be absolutely congratulated on its endeavours and on the flexibility and speed of its response to the crisis created by First Milk.

I continue to drink milk and I continue to enjoy it. I hope that we can have the kind of infrastructure and economic support for the dairy industry that means that I can continue to do so for the rest of my days.

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