Seòmar agus comataidhean

Is it a limited market in the sense that goose meat has only ever been used or exposed in a very limited marketplace—in other words, does the meat have to be sold only in the Western Isles? The availability of goose meat could be rolled out, in the same way as was done with Orkney Gold beef. It represents a marketing opportunity for big supermarkets at a time when we potentially face food shortages and we want to have a resilient food and drink sector. I do not understand why, with proper marketing, the product could not be sold right across the United Kingdom.

I could talk to you all day, Patrick. Just quickly, there are tensions between landowners and tenant sheep farmers on the issue of grazing deer, and an agreement that landowners have to control deer at a certain level. As part of their responsibilities, what do landowners have to do to protect tenant crofters’ grazing and cropping?

But it is not sufficient at the moment.

There is an opportunity for collaboration on the use of slurry, though, if farmers do not just have to use it on their own farms but can use it in their area, with small localities working together.

We cannot chuck the baby out with the bath water. We are on this course to try to get to net zero, and we all accept that that will be an issue. I believe that we need to increase the processing facilities in this country, because cattle and sheep that travel south on the hoof take up much more room and many more lorries than they do when they travel down on the hook. Surely we need to be able to do the processing in this country and then export the products. I think that it was Steven Thomson who said that we should have a just-in-case rather than a just-in-time approach. Would you say that there is value in trying to invest in those areas?

I want to quickly touch on something that Scott Walker said about rolling back on EFAs. I would caution against rolling back on EFAs from the point of view of reputational damage—it would not go down well in the other sectors across the country. Farmers already plant huge volumes of legumes as it is. The problem is that we then batter 4 or 5 hundredweight of nitrogen over the top of that and kill the clover out of our grass. A shift in behaviour would also help us there.

I want to touch on the vulnerability of the wider supply chain. Scott Walker talked about the conversations—or lack of them—with supermarkets and the role of the supermarkets ombudsman. Supermarkets supply 90 per cent of our groceries. They have a role to play in ensuring that we maintain resilience in our food supply system in Scotland. Does it concern you that Lord Frost tweeted the other day that the best thing to do is to reduce tariffs on not just imported goods that we cannot grow but all the products that we can grow—including, in this country, beef and lamb—and to bring those goods in from somewhere abroad?

That takes me on to the point that we were talking about beforehand. I will ask a couple of questions, and Alasdair Allan will probably come in and mop up what I miss.

I see the situation as an opportunity to use goose meat as a product. Why is there no recreational shooting? People will pay to go out and shoot, so I do not understand why we need to pay people to go and shoot geese. It gives us a good-quality source of protein. Why do we need Government intervention at all? Why has it not become a microbusiness for the places where goose numbers are large? As far as I can see, the marketing opportunities would be immense.

What is a flapper track?

If so few people turn up and there is no online betting system, where is the financial incentive for greyhound racing to continue? If proper regulations were brought in, surely the financial side of it would make it an irrelevant pastime anyway.

What about at regulated tracks?