The Scottish Government stated it would not have a repeat of the computer system fiasco which followed the last reform in 2016.

Compared to the £multi-million IT computer system upgrade in 2016, which swiftly went into melt down and largely cost former minister, Richard Lochhead, his job, any computer changes following the upcoming Agricultural Bill will come under a ‘modest’ budget. However, as the detail on the future support scheme has not been established, no computer system has been 'officially' agreed.

This sentiment of evolution, rather than revolution, was echoed by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Scotland, Mairi Gougeon, who said there would be ‘no cliff edges for businesses to fall off’ and that it was a transition to a new system when addressing the NFUS debate at AgriScot.

The Angus MP went onto say she was keen to work with the industry to ‘co-design’ the scheme through groups like the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), which she co-chaired with the NFUS president, Martin Kennedy.

She said: “We have a system which is not flexible. We do not have the capacity to adapt to challenges and to allow us to make the changes. Again this is why we are taking forward this work with industry. There are no more groups and we are not kicking the can down the road. Everyone wants to hear more detail and that is coming.”

Martin Kennedy welcomed the collaborative approach, but aired his frustration at the Scottish Government for not listening to suggestions which were published four years ago. He said: “These proposals are every bit as relevant now as they were then, we could have started by now.”

From the floor, NFUS pig committee chair, Jamie Wyllie, called for additional support for the sector ‘if it was survive the current business environment’. The minister responded saying the government had already run three rounds of the 'hardship fund' and was looking at additional measures, including meeting with Scottish banks to seek support.

Scottish Tenant Farmers Association managing director, Doug Bell, spoke on behalf of the newly established Farm Agricultural Stakeholder Taskforce (FAST). He said: “It is heartening that the Cabinet Secretary is working with the farming led groups. But a lot of representative organisations have little insight of development of the blueprints. On behalf of the members of [FAST] we are ready to work with you.”

The Cabinet Secretary agreed to work with the new group alongside the existing active stakeholders.

Farmer Stephen Withers, from Jedburgh, said five local farms to him had been planted in trees and asked how long the minister would have 'agriculture' in her title if planting continued at the current rate.

Ms Gougeon explained she understood the challenges facing the sector and reiterated the figure of only 2% of prime arable land being planted. She wanted to see more integration between farming and forestry to achieve planting targets.

There were also calls from the audience for LFASS payments to remain non-competitive and for more money be paid into schemes linked to production.