Diolch, Llywydd, and I'm very pleased to be responding to the debate on behalf of the Government today and welcome the many contributions to the report that have been highlighted in the debate today. Last month, we held several lively sessions on the subject of food during the first Wales Climate Week, and we've seen a wide range of food-related proposals coming forward in the work of NRW in catalysing action to support a green recovery. Broad coalitions to create solutions for fair and sustainable food in Wales will be needed to inform a new Welsh Government food system strategy and build on last year's consultation. We are committed to close engagement with any grouping in Wales that comes together in pursuit of that aim.

Several Members have referred to food poverty and the use that we've seen of foodbanks, particularly during the pandemic, and political choices made by the UK Government have undermined the resilience of the food system here in Wales, and their policy of reform has driven up use of foodbanks. Welsh Government officials were directly involved, alongside communities and businesses across Wales, in supporting those foodbanks, particularly the ones that were so overwhelmed during the pandemic, and their ability to meet demand was in question.

Last week, the UK Government decided to deprive Wales of more than £200 million in rural development funding, sacrificing the incomes and prospects of our rural communities. I agree with Janet Finch-Saunders, we should support our farmers and our rural economies and community, and I hope that she and her colleagues in the Welsh Conservatives will find the courage to join with us in calling for that decision to be overturned.

Despite this challenging context, the Welsh Government can do more to achieve more sustainable food production in Wales and a fairer distribution of the benefits of healthy and high-quality food that Wales can and does produce. Our most powerful national asset in maximising the benefits of food production and consumption in Wales is our farmers, who manage the majority of land here in Wales, and as Members have referred to, I'll be publishing a White Paper on the future of farming later this month.

Some do argue that we should continue the basic payments policy in farm support, despite the fact it's not been successful in fostering a resilient agriculture industry or environment, and we learned this week of the UK Government's plans in which nothing more than the bare minimum standards of land management will be required at the entry level. So it's a basic payment scheme, really, in all but name.