8. What plans does the Welsh Government have to revise the food and drink action plan to meet the challenges presented by Brexit? OAQ52304

Thank you. Work to develop a successor to the current food and drink action plan is already under way. This will provide clear direction to the industry beyond 2020. Brexit will not impact the Welsh Government's commitment to the delivery of the current action plan, which is clearly delivering results.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Brexit poses some major questions around the resilience of our food supplies to enable us to feed our populations. We currently import £9 billion-worth of fruit and vegetables across the UK, and that compares with a mere £1 billion-worth of vegetables and fruit that we grow here in the UK. So, there are some pretty major issues around food security if the UK Government were to fail to negotiate a seamless customs union. So, I'm very keen to understand what our plans are to deal with this possible threat.

You clearly don't need to have it pointed out to you that vegetables and fruit are going to deteriorate extremely rapidly if they are held up at Dover, Southampton or Cardiff Airport. And, given the importance of fruit and vegetables to a healthy diet, I'm sure you'll agree with me that this is a major strategic issue. Even today, we are having difficulty in getting the people to pick the produce that we do grow in this country because European citizens are being made to feel unwelcome or because of the change in the value of the pound. 

We know from the expert panels that you have been using to advise you on Brexit that the future already looks very challenging for sheep farmers under any of the outcome scenarios around Brexit. But, I have little tolerance for those who argue that Wales is not suitable for growing vegetables and fruit. They need to get ready to tell shoppers that they will have to either do without fruit and vegetables or pay a premium price for a scarce resource, and they need to acquaint themselves with the new ways of growing, like hydroponics and aquaponics. I know that Cardiff council is looking very actively—

You do need to get to a question now, Jenny. 

Okay. So, diversifying into horticulture requires planning, training and the development of new distribution mechanisms, even before we start talking about food processing, which already occurs across country boundaries. So, how does the Government plan to proceed to tackle these strategic issues, either through revising the food and drink action plan or some other mechanism?

Thank you. Well, part of the work we've been doing with the sector over the past two years is preparing them for a future post Brexit, and horticulture is one area where I think we can make great strides. So, when we go out to consultation at the beginning of July, this is an area that will form part of the consultation. You make a very important point about fruit and veg sitting on portsides and airport sides, and we are very concerned about that, along with seafood. Our meat shelf life is very important, so we need to do a piece of work around shelf life too, to make sure that the sector can compete with other countries that do have a longer shelf life for their food produce.

You mentioned that this is a public health issue. We clearly accept that food is already recognised as that. We don't want to see unhealthy diets. So, it's an area where I think we can make great strides. As you say, our farmers can grow fruit and veg, and I've certainly not heard people say to me that Wales isn't able to do that.   

When the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister met last, we met in Newtown, and we spoke with a number of food producer businesses—Hilltop Honey, Monty's Brewery—and in our pre-discussion, before we met with the First Minister, those businesses suggested that designating food and drink as a tourism theme for a future year, to promote Wales through Welsh produce, would be an idea. We mentioned this to the First Minister, who said that consideration would be given. I wonder if you could update us on that.

I haven't had any discussions with the First Minister around it, but certainly I have had discussions with Ken Skates around food tourism. I think it's an area where we can make huge strides. I mentioned before in an earlier question that I was out in the Basque country last year. At the airport in Bilbao, they have the most amazing shop selling local produce. I think it's an area that we could do here in Cardiff Airport. It would be great to see a shop there with Welsh produce, and certainly, it's something that I'm going to work with colleagues to bring forward.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.