Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. Most probably the most exciting thing that's happened to me today is that I get to use the lectern, because we've got a rural affairs statement.

But, it is worth reflecting on the size of the industry to Wales: £20.5 billion in total turnover, 210,000 or 217,000 jobs in total if you take the catering sector into mind. And the growth of the sector and the awareness among the consumers is staggering over, certainly, the last 10, 15 years. And people are very concerned about the provenance of the food that they're buying, and they are prepared to put their money where their mouths are and actually decide to spend that money on food that they can have confidence in. So, it is important that people do have the ability to grow their businesses here in Wales, and that where best practice can be identified in the various clusters, that best practice is shared. 

I think you've identified the breadth of the clusters, from the most recent, the honey sector, right the way through to the export market, which is a very complicated field to say the least. And, very often, to give customers confidence to go in that export market, they do need to obviously be peer-led and know that Government is there to support them. 

There are a couple of questions that I do have to ask. Obviously, only recently, Tomlinson's went bankrupt up in north Wales, or into administration, should I say, and there is a precarious state amongst some of the big processors here in Wales. When you look at the Tomlinson's model, which was all about backing Welsh produce—in this case, milk—and allowing that milk to get shelf space amongst the big retailers, it really does show that there does need to be a gradual evolution in this field, because, obviously, a well-established business can grow very quickly overnight, and put a particular financial stress and strain on the business. Can you give us a sense of how the processing sector here in Wales is benefiting from the cluster network, in particular in the red meat sector? Because I think, if you took one large abattoir out in Merthyr, there would be very little beef-processing capacity left in Wales. So, it's important to understand, from those two examples I've given you, how the processing sector is benefiting from the cluster network. 

I'd also like to try and understand how the rural development plan is helping inform the cluster network, and by the RDP informing, I mean how much money is going into the cluster network from the rural development plan. Because, again, the cluster network should be driving efficiencies within the industry, whether that be at the farm gate, or whether that be in the processing sector, or whether that be in the retail sector, so that we do have an efficient chain that can compete both in the export market and the domestic market. So, if you could give us some sense of how important the RDP has been to informing the development of the cluster network in Wales, I think that would be really, really helpful.

I'd also like to understand how you keep the cluster network fresh and vibrant. Because having eight sectors represented, it is important that they don't just end up turning into talking shops, and not developing what we want to see as the best practice, the innovation, and driving the new ideas, and that, when that particular sector does need revitalising, or revamping, that does happen, rather than we've just got the tick-box exercise of saying, 'Well, that sector's taken care of by that particular cluster network.' We all saw what happened with the techniums in the early part of the Assembly's life, and, sadly, they weren't the success that obviously people wished them to be, because they were felt that they just couldn't achieve what was replicated in other parts. And in your statement this afternoon you talk about various clusters, in California, in Italy, and they seem to have worked there well. Well, the technium model was very much focused on what was going on in California, but yet it didn't transfer across the Atlantic into Wales. So, I'd be very keen to understand how the department, and you as Minister, is working to make sure that the cluster network stays fresh and stays vibrant.

And importantly, obviously, on the consumers' agenda, radar—call it what you will—is the climate change emergency that has been declared, and carbon reduction. And I notice in your statement that you do refer to that, and some of the best practice models, and the investment that's been made into Aberystwyth University for research. I would be really keen to understand the Government's thinking on this, because, obviously, we are in a general election at the moment—I have questioned you on this before. Various political parties have this agenda to try and squeeze that carbon-neutral agenda into a 2030 target, as opposed to the 2050 target that the climate change committee says is the only credible option available at the moment with the technologies we have. How confident are you that the carbon reduction that is identified in your own plan as a Welsh Government will meet the goals of what the consumers want to see, which is a carbon neutral world, with a good environmental footprint, and is achievable without causing long-term harm to the industry, and the industry can go along with the goals that you are setting? Because it is about setting goals that are achievable and don't, ultimately, cause the economic damage that, potentially, some shortening of that timeline could, if the 2030 target was brought into play.

So, if I could receive answers on those couple of questions I've put to you, I'd be most grateful, Minister.