Scottish Berry Project
We move to members' business, which is a debate on motion S1M-1420, in the name of Irene McGugan, on the Scottish berry project. It will help if members who want to take part in the debate indicate that now.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes that the rate of coronary heart disease in Scotland is now the highest in western Europe, that Scotland has a long-established soft fruit industry that is suffering economic distress, that advances in medicine have conclusively demonstrated a link between increased consumption of fruit and vegetables and a reduction in risk from coronary heart disease, but that Scottish consumption falls far below even the World Health Organisation recommended minimum of 400g per day; further notes that a holistic approach to these factors which crosses traditional government departmental structures has enabled Finland in the last 25 years to reduce its rate of coronary heart disease by 50% and that a plan for such a cross-sectoral approach has been put forward as a "Berry Scotland Project", and recommends that the Scottish Executive takes forwards a cross-sectoral project that reflects the aims of the original "Berry Scotland Project" in order to raise consumption of soft fruit, especially the home produced product, which the Finnish experience has demonstrated could significantly benefit both the rural economy and public health.
The background to the motion is very simple: Scotland is a most unhealthy nation and every week a new report highlights that. In particular, the rate of coronary heart disease is about the highest in western Europe. In large part, that is because of our unhealthy eating habits. Advances in medicine have conclusively demonstrated a link between increased consumption of fruit and vegetables and a reduction in coronary heart disease, yet Scottish consumption falls well below the World Health Organisation minimum of 400g a day, despite good campaigns by the Health Education Board for Scotland and others. [Interruption.]
Ms McGugan, I will halt you for a moment. I ask members who are leaving the chamber to do so quickly and quietly.
While we grow and harvest in Scotland some of the highest quality fruit and vegetables, we seem to have been incapable of linking two things—bad health and good produce—and taking positive action.
In particular, we have a world-class soft fruit industry. Our raspberries are internationally renowned, yet that sector, like so much agriculture these days, is collapsing. I have lived all my life in Angus, where I spent every school summer holiday picking berries, so I cannot fail to notice the steady erosion in the production of soft fruit, in particular of rasps, production of which declined from 14,400 tonnes in 1984 to 4,500 tonnes in 1999. There are farmers, producers and growers who are at crisis point and who are trying to decide whether to press on in the face of cheap imports and lack of markets.
I would like the minister to consider an initiative to preserve our soft fruit industry and increase the consumption of berries within the wider aim of promoting the message that all fruit and vegetables are good for one's health. The example that is often quoted in support of such a project relates to North Karelia in the province of Eastern Finland. The Finns started a programme in 1972, at a time when they topped the league for chronic heart disease. The programme that they developed moved people away from a diet that was rich in fat—particularly from dairy products—and on to a regime of berries, fruits and vegetables. Their Government supported that programme, because it recognised not only that it was a good thing to do everything possible to improve the health of the nation, but that a lot of changes must take place at the same time for those changes to be effective.
It is not possible for one organisation, agency or even a Government department to achieve or oversee everything. A Scottish initiative will require an inter-sectoral and truly cross-cutting approach if it is to be even remotely successful. Such an approach has enabled Finland to reduce its rate of coronary heart disease by 50 per cent in the past 25 years. That fact speaks for itself.
I have met Finnish consultants, who seem to place great emphasis not only on the general benefits of what Irene McGugan describes, with which they would agree, but on the consumption of raspberries in particular.
Dr Ewing is absolutely right—I will say a bit more about raspberries later.
About three years ago, a group from Tayside visited Finland to see at first hand how the Finns had advanced their project. Enthused by their findings, that coalition of health and agricultural experts put together a project that it has not yet been able to develop.
Health professionals, nutritionists, soft fruit growers, marketing bodies and the whole Finnish nation cannot all be wrong. A five-year pilot project that would cost a few hundred thousand pounds is surely worth trying; that is what I would like the Executive to support.
Scottish raspberry growers have invested heavily in machine harvesters. For the most part, those harvesters produce raspberry pulp, which is highly nutritious but relatively cheap at only £900 a tonne. That pulp is ideally suited to mass catering outlets such as schools and canteens, and the fact that such outlets have lots of consumers would facilitate the measurement of the benefits. Those mass outlets will also best reach the low-income populations that are most at risk from diseases that are related to poor diet. There are few manufactured products on the market that utilise the potential of Scottish soft fruit, but everybody must get the message from the Executive that soft fruit is beneficial and that they should be making more use of it.
I am aware that the Executive is funding research at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen into flavanoids in raspberries and other fruits. However, it is irrelevant whether berries provide specific benefits over and above other types of fruit and vegetables. Berries could spearhead a popular campaign covering all fruit and vegetables, just as in the Finnish project. I am concentrating on berries because we have—or had—a major soft fruit industry in Scotland and the Finnish experience suggests that the health benefits of berries are easier to promote.
We should be greatly encouraged by the publication by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Scottish Council Foundation called "Healthy food policy: on Scotland's menu?", which notes that
"Scotland is world-renowned for some of the food it produces. But it is more successful in serving the export market than improving the Scottish diet. Scotland is one of the leading areas in Europe for soft fruit and vegetable growing, with Tayside traditionally a major producer of raspberries."
If there are members present who have never experienced a Tayside raspberry, I can reveal that I have some here. [Laughter.] They were picked last summer and frozen, but they are still delicious. They are of the Glen Ample variety—a newish variety that was bred at the Scottish Crop Research Institute outside Dundee—and were grown at Hillend of Burnside, which is outside Forfar. In a way, they are a tribute to a young grower, Ian Watson, who was tragically killed in an accident with a raspberry harvesting machine last summer.
"Healthy food policy" goes on to state:
"Scotland could design a National Berry Strategy to raise home-based consumption of raspberries … Such an approach requires a model of governance that is holistic enough to understand the longer-term vision and offer practical support for a strategy which would, by definition, fail to fit within the traditional departmental structures … The missing ingredient has been sufficient political commitment to act."
I would like the minister to give a commitment to take forward an inter-sectoral project that reflects the aim of the original berry project. Such a project would raise consumption of soft fruit, especially the home-produced variety, which the Finnish experience has demonstrated can be of significant benefit to the rural economy and the health of our people.
Having previously been in receipt of a cake from Dorothy-Grace Elder at another members' business debate, I am very glad that this evening I am not being singled out for blandishments from the SNP.
I am delighted to speak in this debate about berries. Although members' business is normally consensual, I have to put on record that I am very sad to see the benches so empty. [Members: "Labour benches."] Yes, it is the Labour benches that are empty. Given the enormous benefits to the health of Scotland and to our rural economy, it is a poor show indeed to have them empty.
I had to fight with Alex Johnstone for my place in this debate. As members can see, I won. Like Irene McGugan, I was brought up in Angus. As a child growing up near Montrose, our summer holidays were all spent at the berries: first the strawberries and then the raspberries at Charleton. Little did I think, on becoming an MSP, that I would still be talking about them.
The health benefits of eating berries are well documented in the North Karelia project in Finland. The evidence from that project has been brought before the Health and Community Care Committee on many occasions, as the committee seeks to address Scotland's serious public health record. As Irene McGugan said, coronary heart disease in Finland has been reduced by 50 per cent. As coronary heart disease is one of Scotland's top three clinical priorities, we undoubtedly have an enormous amount to learn from Finland.
In what is a most difficult time for farmers, surely we can have joined-up government to help the nation's health and the nation's farmers. With that in mind, I submitted a written question that asked for an increase in financial incentives to farmers to invest in the production and marketing of Scottish berries.
I see that there is a berry on its way to me just now. I do not mean Brian Adam—he is the one who is bringing them.
The answer stated that there were no plans to increase the funding for marketing, but that there was some hope regarding production. It stated that Scottish Soft Fruit Growers Ltd's application for recognition as a producer organisation should lead to a European Union grant of 50 per cent. I hope that the minister will update us on that application and outline and confirm the aid package. If the application has made progress, that will indeed be excellent news in these troubled times.
I am being upstaged by a man with a plate of berries.
Diversification to soft fruit, alongside a strong marketing campaign, would go some way to addressing the rural crisis, especially as Scotland's tonnage has dropped from 18,000 in the 1970s to around 4,000 now. In other words, we are producing around a quarter of the output that we produced in the 1970s. The first year of the Scottish berry project asks for only £150,000. That is a minimal figure compared to the problems that we have in health and the potential benefits to the rural economy. It is also a minimal figure in the overall Scottish budget.
As Irene McGugan said, the WHO has recommended 400g of berries per day. We also have a crucial need for positive marketing. I would like to make a suggestion. The recent Health Education Board for Scotland advertisement for smoking cessation, which has become a hit record, reminded me, when I was researching for this speech, of Billy Connolly's song about his wellies. I am pleased to say that I will not attempt to sing it. [Members: "Aw."] I suggest to the Parliament that Mr Connolly, better dressed than he was last Saturday, could perhaps relate his song to berries.
If it wisnae for the berries, where would we be?
We'd be in the hospital or infirmary.
Nae mair heart attacks or even surgery
If we only keep eating the berries.
Berries they are wonderful, berries they are grand,
They are the magic cure to the health of Scotland.
Now we know we have the chance to gain the health we cherish,
If only we keep eating the berries.
I hope that I have done my bit to raise awareness of the berry project.
I begin by placing on record my thanks—and those of a number of my constituents—to Irene McGugan for her tenacity in securing this debate. The issues that she has spoken about raise an important point—the need for a cross-cutting approach to certain policy issues in government. I will say more about that later.
For two reasons, I want to speak from a constituency perspective. First, the project was drawn to my attention some time ago by Dr Hector MacLean, a constituent of mine in the Kirriemuir area. I have to put on parliamentary record that he has demonstrated enormous commitment to ensure that the project has survived long enough to reach this debate today. The amount of work that he has put into ensuring that there is awareness of the project, support for it, and an understanding of its cross-cutting nature—the project comes under the remits of the rural development and the health departments—is worthy of enormous praise in our Parliament tonight.
The second reason for my constituency interest is that I have the privilege of probably being the MSP who represents the largest portion of the berry-producing areas of Scotland, in the counties of Perthshire and Angus. Just to demonstrate my credentials as a fit young party leader and constituency MSP—and this is designed to put all members to shame—when I am out cycling around east Perthshire in the morning before I come down to Edinburgh, it is my privilege to cycle past vast areas that still, despite all that has been said about declining output from the soft fruit sector, produce a fine crop of berries for the marketplace in Scotland and further afield.
In addition to Dr MacLean, a number of other people, such as Dundee general practitioner Dr James Dunbar, have demonstrated the great health benefits of this project. The opportunities that the project raises for people in my constituency who are still involved in the agricultural and soft fruit sectors are enormous. I hope that the minister will give us some welcome news on where the project is going and on the Government's reaction to it.
The industry is still substantial in my constituency. In terms of manpower, it is much diminished from previous days, but the investment in mechanisation, in plant and in machinery has been formidable and has contributed enormously to the wider agricultural economy. Anyone raising agricultural issues at this time is obviously aware of the strains that the agricultural community is under, but when opportunities arise for positive and imaginative initiatives that will assist the agricultural sector in a proactive way, it is essential that we seize them. Irene McGugan's debate provides us with an opportunity today.
I do not want to be critical of the Government—although the minister is familiar with my being critical of this Government—but I do not think that it has truly grasped the interconnection between the rural and agricultural aspects of this project and the health aspects. There is a danger of such projects falling between the two stools of those respective departments. I say this in an effort to be helpful and to try to encourage the Government to consider the point. I do not want to be impertinent, but I hope that the large number of civil servants who are in the chamber tonight is an indication that both the health department and the rural affairs department are represented. I hope that that will ensure an integrated approach.
My final point is a positive one about what the Government has done. A meeting has now been arranged between the berry project and Government departments to discuss how the project can move forward. The meeting arose thanks to a great deal of co-operation from Mr Finnie's office and dialogue in response to constituency correspondence from Irene McGugan and me. I hope that that is an indication that the Government has something positive to say about the future development of the project, which brings with it enormous economic opportunities and opportunities to tackle the miserable health record. That record concerns us all and we all want to find solutions to the difficulties.
I see that Brian Adam is now handing out raspberries to the civil servants. Before his enthusiasm leads him to the public gallery, I indicate that neither the clerk, Mr Thomson, nor I was being rude when we refused the raspberries we were offered. We were merely trying to lead by example. The standing orders are very clear on the matter of food in the chamber.
It is very nice to be given a raspberry by SNP members rather than have them blow a raspberry, which is what they quite often do when I stand up to speak.
I want to make a short, impromptu contribution to the debate, which is especially important to the inhabitants of the Blairgowrie area, which I know well.
Recently, I have been taking evidence on behalf of the Equal Opportunities Committee on the sites occupied by gypsies and travellers. I have spoken to many gypsies and travellers, many of whom have referred to the work that they used to do, berry picking—it is work that they wish they still did. Berry picking was incredibly important to them, and they were equally important to the berry farmers. Although mechanisation has taken over to some extent, one hopes that an increase in the number of berry fields might once again bring back the important link between the berry farmers and the gypsies and travellers, which profited both parties for so long.
I very much liked Mary Scanlon's artistic contribution. There are many songs and legends about the berry pickers and when the work was done, then there were the parties. Not only would an increase in berry production help the Scottish agricultural community and the health of our nation, it would re-establish an important and rich part of our Scottish cultural heritage.
I congratulate Irene McGugan on securing this debate and pay tribute to her tenacity in pursuing the matter over several months.
I realise that Irene McGugan's previous inquiries about the berry Scotland project have been dealt with by Ross Finnie. I venture to suggest that, contrary to what John Swinney said, the involvement of Ross Finnie and health ministers is a reflection of our determination that the project should be a cross-cutting matter.
I want to talk later about coronary heart disease, diet and the soft fruit industry in general, but it is appropriate right at the start to address the berry project.
We have taken a sympathetic view of the underlying aims of the berry Scotland project. That is why we have encouraged the group to prepare proposals for a pilot project in Tayside. It is perfectly reasonable and normal to run a pilot operation before deciding whether to invest a substantial sum from the public purse. After all, that is precisely what they did in Finland. The oft-cited North Karelia project, which of course involved a lot more than promoting berries, was a pilot project. I remind members that Susan Deacon visited Karelia and assures me that she enjoyed eating berries for breakfast during her visit.
It is not unreasonable to seek a pilot project in Scotland, to establish what is appropriate and what works for our particular needs and circumstances. That is why I am pleased that the Scottish berry group has now submitted proposals for a pilot project. We hope that when we meet the group we will be able to work further on the proposals to develop a project that has a real chance of charting a path for achieving the twin aims of improving the health of the nation and increasing consumption of Scottish berries and berry products.
As Irene McGugan and other members reminded us, coronary heart disease is one of Scotland's major killer diseases. Half a million Scots suffer from it and there were 13,337 deaths from it in 1999. Moreover, our coronary heart disease death rate is 15 per cent higher than the United Kingdom average. In view of that, we are pursuing a host of initiatives with regard to prevention, diagnosis and treatment, which we will bring together in a national plan for coronary heart disease. A key element is the £6 million demonstration project that the Scottish Executive is funding in Paisley, which is based on the same principles as Finland's North Karelia project. Professor Vairtainen from the North Karelia project is an active adviser.
I have spoken for four minutes, which is hard to believe. I will have to miss out part of what I wanted to say.
We have to remember that diet is only part of a comprehensive strategy. I enjoyed Mary Scanlon's adaptation of Billy Connolly's song, but we all know that we have to take action on a range of fronts, including smoking, exercise and poverty. However, diet is crucial, and the Scottish diet action plan aims to focus the efforts of all key interests, so that the interrelated objective to improve the diet of all individuals can be properly met. The implementation of the plan's recommendations will be further supported through the appointment soon of the national diet action co-ordinator. The work of the Scottish community diet project, which has lots of local health projects, is also crucial to this issue.
Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, including the consumption of berries, is one of the most important aspects of improving diet. Indeed, the Health Education Board for Scotland has been promoting the message of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day for a considerable time. Moreover, the health improvement fund, which will involve £100 million over the coming four years, has the consumption of fruit and vegetables as one of its key priorities. More than half the money will be channelled through health boards, and we have advised that they should give priority to improving the diet of children through support for the provision of fruit for infants in pre-school settings, and fruit/salad bars and breakfast clubs in school settings.
I have only one minute left, and because I ate some raspberries I am sure that the Presiding Officer will not let me have any extra time, so I will end by saying a few words about the soft fruit industry. We are well aware of the problems that are besetting the industry, in spite of the unprecedented investment of European and UK funding of about £8 million over the past eight years. The relevant EU programme is now at an end, but Mary Scanlon referred to other European initiatives, and they are being pursued.
We are working with Scottish Soft Fruit Growers Ltd in its application for recognition as a producer organisation under the EU fruit and vegetable regime. We will also assist it in preparing an operational programme under the scheme, so that it continues to benefit from European funding. Also, we recently commissioned management consultants to report on the future of raspberry breeding in Scotland. The rural affairs department has issued a consultation paper on the findings of the consultants' report, and is currently analysing responses.
I have one brief point. The minister mentioned Scottish Soft Fruit Growers Ltd and the berry Scotland project. Is he aware, as is suggested by my recent correspondence, that the members of SSFG are working closely in support of the berry Scotland project, and that common representation is being made to ministers on behalf of the project, which represents a consensus view in the berry industry?
I am impressed by the wide range of people who are involved, including health interests. It is a striking feature of the initiative.
The rural affairs department is funding strategic research and development on pests and diseases that affect raspberry crops, because we know that those have been a problem for the industry in recent times.
The Scottish Executive already is helping, but clearly, we want to work on the Scottish berry project proposals. I look forward to the meeting that will take place soon, and I hope that following it, there will be progress on this worthwhile initiative.
Meeting closed at 17:34.