As the opener, Sam Kurtz, touched on when he was opening this debate—. He talked of the cost pressures within the industry, he talked of the interdependency of the industry, from primary producers, farmers, to the processors and the retailers. That's why such an important part of the motion that's before the Senedd today is about pulling together that whole chain to discuss what is needed from Government. You have a unique opportunity, Minister, with the agricultural Bill that is coming before the Senedd in April to actually do that. That's why the Agriculture Act 1947 was so important—that the Labour Government brought forward in 1947—to address the crisis that faced Europe from the devastation of the second world war and the food security that needed to be put in place. That's why we put the motion down today to try and be constructive in trying to tease out from the Government a vision for where it wants to be. But, as we heard from the Member for Cardiff Central who said that there was a lack of coherence in the Government planning—. I can see the Minister whispering to her colleague the Minister for education. You might like to take note of what the Member for Cardiff Central said about the lack of coherence around the plans that you have put in place as the Minister for rural affairs for the last five years. That's not me speaking; that's coming from your own benches. 

I want to see the Senedd working collaboratively together so that we can deal with the food security issues that Peter Fox has tried to touch on with his Bill, the food Bill that he has put forward that is moving through this Senedd at the moment and touches on the points that John Griffiths also mentioned about food waste, because that is another critical component that we need to deal with—rather than just producing the food, seeing so much food going to waste from major multiples as well as restaurants. But it is the issue that the amendment tabled by Plaid Cymru, which talked about the trade deals that have been discussed post Brexit—. I make no apologies for those trade deals at all. It is an opportunity for us to unlock the potential and open up markets, the Pacific rim market of 1.2 billion consumers—1.2 billion consumers. I will stand on any platform and make the case that we need to be engaged to support the farmers in Wales and the rest of the UK to unlock that potential. That's where the growth will be coming from. But, in the immediate, what we need to be dealing with is making sure that we have the capacity here in Wales to grow the food, to process that food, and sell that food.

The point that was made about milk production is well made time and time again: sadly, we don't have a major milk processing facility here in Wales; we have to send that processing capacity over the other side of Offa's Dyke and then return it. So, Members across the Chamber can talk about local production, but unless we've got the processing facilities to do it, we're not adding value here in Wales, and that's really important—something that the Government again could be focusing its energies on, that the Irish Government have been so successful with. I have time and time again raised this point with the Minister and the Labour frontbench about the 'Harvest 2020' document that the Irish Government brought forward, that Janet Finch-Saunders touched on. She was talking about the other countries—Finland, for example, with exceptional food security rates, and the Republic of Ireland coming second in the league table because they've got the processors, they've got the producers, and they've got the retailers around the table and have mapped out a way forward to achieve that. We haven't succeeded in doing that here in Wales, and we need to up our game.

John Griffiths's contribution was so well timed, highlighting success stories of local produce actually making it from the farm in a local area in Newport to the actual retail space from vending machines and the Newport market redevelopment. That is an important development that more producers need to be able to access and enjoy that benefit that we can see. But, it is vital, Minister, that you use the opportunity that you do have to use the agricultural Bill to put those incentives in place. Several Members, including the regional Member for North Wales on your own benches, said that producing food is a public good. It is a public—[Interruption.] Well, your own Member on the backbenches pointed that out. And with the greatest of respect, what's going on in Ukraine today will be measured for decades to come, and the danger is that we don't use this opportunity to make sure that we make food security an important part of what we want to support going forward. And you can count on it as being a public good. It was European regulations that would prevent that being part of the public good. You have the legislative ability to carve out your niche here, Minister, and put your stamp on this. And I would hope today that we could call on the Chamber to support the motion that's before us, because it is vitally important that we gain the attention of the public of what is coming down the road at us. And if we can do that by driving forward a food Bill that Peter Fox has put before us, and also the agricultural Bill that your Government are bringing forward in the spring, we can make a real difference to people's lives, the length and breadth of Wales.

And I will end again on that comment from David Beasley, who's head of the food programme, who said if you think that we're going on hell on earth at the moment, you just get ready for it, because that is what's going to happen the longer the Ukraine war continues, and it's wrong if we don't put the precautions in place to make sure that people can have food on the table at an affordable price. We can do it, we must do it, and we can't lose this opportunity to get on with it. So, I hope the Senedd will support the motion before them today.