The purpose of today's discussion is to question the minister on the concerns that are raised by the petition and on related recent events, and in the light of that information to agree on what advice we will give the Transport and the Environment Committee.I welcome the Minister for Rural Affairs, Ross Finnie, who is accompanied by Derek Bearhop, Ian Anderson, David Crawley and Shirley Laing. He is also joined by Simon Cooper from the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency.