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I will let Paul Neison answer that question.

Good morning again, and thank you for inviting me to speak about the Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (Scotland) Regulations 2025. The draft instrument seeks to introduce mandatory sheep carcase classification and price reporting for abattoirs that process above the threshold of 500 sheep per week on a rolling annual average.

The regulations will align sheep with cattle and pigs as well as aligning with EU regulations, including the use of the EUROP grid, which is the system that licensed classifiers use to grade carcases and which underpins payments to farmers. The regulations have been drafted in response to an industry review, and subsequent consultation has shown that producers and processors are supportive of the move to align sheep classification rules with those for beef and pigs.

I want there to be a more transparent, productive and efficient sheep market, and these regulations will ensure that farmers are paid a fair price that is based on the quality of their sheep, with prices reported and made publicly available. The standardisation of classification rules will then help producers to rear lambs that will fit market specifications and consumer demand.

Many plants across the United Kingdom, including those that are likely to meet the threshold figure in Scotland, already carry out sheep classification on a voluntary basis. The regulations will therefore result in little or no cost to business, and the licensing of classifiers by Government inspectors is free of charge.

The dates on which regulations will come into force across the UK are aligned, with the exception of the date for the regulations for Northern Ireland, which will commence one month later. The main point that was highlighted in responses to the consultation was that, to operate sensibly, the system must be implemented simultaneously across the UK.

Classification machines are already operating for cattle, and a further aligned date of February 2027 will provide for the introduction of automated classification methods for sheep. In the year leading up to February 2027, data will be collected from a large sample, to support the formula or algorithms that will be used in setting up any new automated grading equipment before the technology is then authorised for use.

The regulations also mean that any infringements will lead to enforcement procedures. Scottish Government meat and livestock inspectors will carry out unannounced inspections on behalf of the Scottish ministers, record their findings and operate a risk-based approach. Although operators will be supported in relation to classification, reporting and the required presentation specifications, any operator that is found to have committed an offence will ultimately be liable for a fine, as is laid out in the regulations.

I hope that those remarks are helpful in setting out the rationale for the instrument. I am happy to answer any questions that members may have.

I am giving you the clear message that my thinking right now is about how we take the sector with us by delivering policies that it will buy into. As I said to the convener, we are asking people to meet a 5 per cent EFA requirement in 2026, which will go up to 7 per cent in 2027, and we are already getting pushback. You have seen NFU Scotland’s letter to the committee. Despite the fact that NFUS has been in the meeting rooms, in ARIOB and in more discussions than any other stakeholder, we are still getting pushback from it on the increase to 7 per cent. My biggest consideration right now, Mr Eagle, is making sure that we take the industry with us on any new policy that we introduce.

The purpose is to achieve the vision for agriculture that we want in Scotland. Specifically, if you plant legumes in your grass, that is a nitrogen-fixing crop, so you will be fixing nitrogen and you should be using less nitrogen. I particularly like the idea of small-scale tree planting, to try to get away from the narrative that trees are bad on farms. Integrated tree planting on farms is also an option. Planting herbaceous and mixed crops and getting away from monoculture will benefit biodiversity. In the summer, a field of clover is generally buzzing with bees and other pollinators all over it. However, there are very few bees on fields with a monocrop of ryegrass.

That sounds simplistic, but such things will help us to enhance biodiversity and get us back to where we were in the past. A lot of the things that we are doing now used to be done. For example, wintering stock on arable places was done previously, but it stopped happening. In a sense, it is a case of going back to the future.

It could be.

It is entirely up to the committee to decide whether it wants to vote against the regulations. That is your decision, and you will have to answer for it yourself.

The ambition is to deliver the whole-farm plan and sustainable regenerative agriculture. That is the vision. What we will do with tier 2 is being worked on. We have kept the basic payments, as you know, and we are adding things such as the calving interval, the work on peatlands and the EFAs. We are developing things as we go along.

I am not quite sure what the problem is in relation to letting people know what we are doing. Paul Neison has just outlined how much engagement has taken place in that regard. We are moving our farming community to a place where they can actually be part of this whole process.

We have seen what happened down south. The decisions were made—they said, “This is what we’re gonna do”—and there was a cliff edge. Numerous people fell out of that system completely because it did not align with how they could farm. What we are doing seems staged—I absolutely accept that it is staged—but it should be staged to allow people time to adapt and come to it in a way that allows them to develop their own processes.

There is a policy of alignment but that is not a problem with regard to our moving forward.

We are developing a Scotland-based agricultural support system. That is what we are delivering.

Yes, I think that it shows Parliament respect. We have delivered the regulations within the timescale in which we are required to deliver them. It is more important that the farming community has the time that it needs to do the work that we are asking it to do.