Scottish farmers will not lose out on subsidies as a result of Brexit, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed.
Mr Gove said leaving the European Union offers "huge opportunities", and producers believe sales could be doubled.
He was speaking alongside Scottish Secretary David Mundell at a UK Government gin reception at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, and both said they were there to listen to farmers on how agricultural policy should be shaped following Brexit.
Mr Gove said he is aware of concerns and ministers want to make sure they "do it right".
He added: "There are huge opportunities. Opportunities for us to get rid of some of the bureaucracy that stands in the way of effective food production.
"Talking to people in the Scottish food and drink sector earlier today, they have ambitions to double the amount sold."
Questioned later if Scottish farmers would lose out on subsidies through Brexit, he said: "No."
He added that the agriculture and fisheries Bills in the Queen's Speech would enable "taking back control" over fishing, and the system for agricultural support that replaces the Common Agricultural Policy is "more effective" than ever before.
Mr Mundell played down concerns that powers over fishing and farming currently devolved to Scotland but overseen by Brussels could be repatriated to the UK and not devolved.
He said the devolved powers would return to Westminster in "holding pattern" before further devolution as this is the most straightforward way to deal with them.
He said: "There's no-one lined up at Defra who wants to grab control of hill farming in Scotland. It's preposterous."
In a message to the Scottish Government, he added: "Stop the politicking and let's actually get down to have some mature adult conversation on how we get the best deal for Scotland and how we bring back these powers relating to agriculture and fisheries in a way that works best for the industry."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel