Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's a pleasure for me to open this afternoon's debate because it's so important and so very timely. In the last two weeks alone, we've spoken on a number of occasions about our food security and its significance in the shadow of the invasion of Ukraine. Well, now is the time to put actions into words—or words into actions, rather. We'll have a real opportunity here to turn a corner and ensure that Wales becomes a self-sufficient nation that doesn't have to rely as heavily upon imported goods.

Indeed, we've all seen first-hand how precarious the global supply chain can become, especially when it comes to farming. If it's not energy supplies, which play a critical role in UK food infrastructure, it's the price of fertilizer, a key input in relation to a farmer's production yield. When we see a severe tightening of supply, it leads to the reduction in output of commodities, but these aren't the only factors. Ukraine is known as the bread basket of Europe for a reason. Together, Ukraine and Russia account for 30 per cent of the world's wheat and 50 per cent of the world's sunflower oil, seeds and meal exports. The situation in eastern Europe has already seen skyrocketing prices, and this is set to have a direct impact on both consumer food prices and the cost of livestock production, a situation that this Government is entirely unprepared for. That is why I'm extremely disappointed to see both the Labour Government and Plaid Cymru table amendments against this motion, and it will be no surprise to this Chamber that we'll be voting against those amendments today.

I've spoken once already about opportunity, and this is an opportunity to develop our food production in a sustainable way, enshrining its capabilities within the statute book. Indeed, we can build upon our domestic food production rate of 60 per cent, and ensure that security becomes a key cornerstone of future support for Welsh farmers. Yet, the focus of this Government is sadly distorted. On the one hand they make political decisions to amend this motion, to criticise the UK Government, attacking trade deals, yet on the other hand they refuse to recognise food production as a public good and refuse to offer our hard-working farmers the support they need. And when Welsh Government policy will see an increase in pressure on our farmers, and maybe even a reduction in our own food production and security, we become more reliant on imports—the very ones that this Government wish to criticise. Hypocrisy, thy name is this Labour Government. [Interruption.] It may well be 'rubbish' from the Member from the back, for Alyn and Deeside, but it is only by increasing our own food production that we can make Wales less reliant on imports and more resilient to shocks in the global system, something that this motion seeks to explicitly address.

But let us not forget our Welsh farmers are renowned in their own right. They're the ones who are producing the most environmentally friendly, sustainable and highest quality food on the market, and the general public recognise this. We should be shouting from the rooftops in support of Welsh agricultural product. Throughout the pandemic, we saw the country's reaction to the closure of our service sector. The Welsh people didn't turn their back on locally grown produce—they queued outside their local butchers to make sure they could buy cuts of prime Welsh beef and succulent legs and shoulders of Welsh lamb. The British public have learnt and understood the value of locally sourced meat and veg. Take Pembrokeshire's Blas y Tir potatoes, for example—they aren't tagged with thousands of air miles and lumbered with the travel emissions of imported produce from other parts of Europe or the rest of the world. But, equally, they also aren't as reliant upon the geopolitical situation in eastern Europe, south-east Asia or Australia either. They're locally grown, picked by local farmers, and purchased by people across Wales. And let's be absolutely clear, we're not wanting to industrialise our farming sector; what we want to do is secure the development of high-quality, sustainable food production so that Welsh people have access to Welsh food, and that is why this motion is with us this afternoon, and this is what this motion sets out to do.

The agricultural Bill is set to be presented later this spring, so now is our chance to change tack and take a different approach. There are two options before us: we can either continue the same course of dodging the changing geopolitical situation, or we can turn to our agricultural community and give them the support they need. We can recognise the vital contribution that our farmers and rural communities have made to the health and prosperity of our nation, and ensure that they have the security to continue doing so. Farming needs a friend and, for once, lets make this place that friend. Let's get our farmers, processors and retailers sat around a table at a food summit, let's use the agricultural Bill to ensure food security is a public good, let's back Peter Fox's excellent food Bill, and let's not waste this opportunity before us. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.