I thank Plaid for this motion, to coincide with COP27, and also for the passion with which Delyth Jewell introduced the debate. I also want to pay tribute to the excellent and blessedly short report by Shea Buckland-Jones on behalf of WWF, which really does summarise exactly how we are not taking account of our global responsibilities and our need not to continue exploiting countries of the global south, with all the unacceptable consequences of impoverishing local communities who cannot afford to feed themselves, ironically, whilst continuing to grow nice-to-have commodities for us in the global north.

So, it isn't just in relation to our carbon emissions, it's also in relation to our food that we need to have a just transition, so that we are supporting the poorest in the world and living much more lightly on this earth, changing our food habits and equally eating—I agree completely with Mabon—locally grown seasonal food instead of relying on food from abroad. We have to be mindful, however, that we shouldn't do this too abruptly, because some people are relying on selling us food from abroad in order to earn a living, but we have to have transitional arrangements to enable them to grow more of their own food and enrich their diet whilst we import only food that we see as luxuries, rather than relying on it.

We have seen all too often these days that relying on just-in-time food imports—their days are numbered, in any case. The combination of Brexit, the climate emergency and increasing tensions and conflicts between and within different countries means that food security issues are staring us in the face. In any case, fresh food, produced locally, tastes better and is more nutritious than food that has been prematurely picked and sprayed with wax or chemicals in order to make it look good once it has been transported across the world. So, we really do need to focus on growing food locally.

We are committed to delivering net zero as Wales's contribution to averting the global climate disaster, and that requires huge changes for all of us. And reducing our carbon emissions from food is something we can all play our part in, because whilst it's our job to scrutinise Welsh Government on how quickly Wales can decarbonise its industry, its transport emissions and public buildings, that is not something that ordinary householders are going to be able to influence. Where they can make a real contribution is in what we eat, because I learned recently, and it was a really important message, that it's not vehicle use, it's not home heating, not even holiday flights that are at the top of the list of carbon emissions in individual homes; according to research for the Brecon Beacons National Park, it's household carbon emissions from food and drink that generate more than twice the carbon emissions we create from holiday travel.

So, I recently attended a conference organised by the Landworkers Alliance Cymru, where I heard plenty of evidence that regenerative agriculture is profitable without any public subsidy. That's worth repeating: without any public subsidy. One speaker reported that one acre can feed 50 families, another reported feeding 150 households on nine acres. And it creates jobs, too. It varies quite a lot, but generally it would appear that each acre of land can generate one job. So, if we had a proper training scheme for people to develop a career in horticulture, we could quickly start to deliver the food we need for our free school meals programme locally and not bring it in from outside Wales. We are blessed with people like Castell Howell who are dedicated to this campaign as well, but we are still doing far too much buying food from outside Wales, which means that the profits all leave Wales.

So, both the Agriculture (Wales) Bill and the public procurement aspects of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill offer great opportunities to really deliver the change we need to make our ambitious universal free school meals programme affordable, as a springboard for the whole nation to eat healthier, better food, even in the teeth of this cost-of-living crisis. So, I really do hope that we can get better funding for trainees to ensure that school leavers really understand that there is a really exciting career in horticulture, and that is one of the growth industries that we need to be developing.