Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 17 November 2021.
Thank you, Llywydd. As we look beyond COP26, we must now, of course, turn our words into actions to tackle the climate emergency. During the summit, there was an agriculture day and leaders within the farming sector in Wales made ambitious and very firm commitments to help Wales reach its net-zero ambitions.
Of course, we understand that we need a viable agricultural industry in Wales to ensure that we don't see fewer steps being taken to safeguard the natural environment and fewer economic contributions by the sector to the Welsh economy. And we certainly don't want to see negative impacts on the climate by importing farm produce from abroad, as we've heard might be possible, particularly from Australia and New Zealand.
Over the past few weeks, Hybu Cig Cymru published an update to its report, 'Perfecting the Welsh Way', which includes guidance on farming sheep and producing beef in a sustainable manner. NFU UK also published a comprehensive report on how the sector can lead the way towards net zero. And this is very different to the empty rhetoric we've heard from the Tories on climate change. Does the Minister agree, therefore, that the contribution of farmers is crucial to achieving net zero and that they are part of the solution and not of the problem?