Alyn Smith, SNP MEP for Scotland, had that rare opportunity on Thursday of being the only politician on the platform and he might have been expected to make the most of it by arguing the case for Scottish independence, writes Ewan Pate.
As it turned out, his appearance at the Scottish Agronomy annual meeting was dominated by other matters.
In stressing the need for research into agriculture and food production, he had pointed towards the availability of funds through the Horizon 2020 programme.
“This is for real, practical research and I hope the uptake is good. The EU is still importing 40% of its food requirements, and this is not good in the face of continued unrest in areas such as the Middle East.
“The position can only get worse,” he said.
Eric Anderson, senior agronomist with Scottish Agronomy, agreed but pointed to the slashing of UK science budgets.
“We used to have a very powerful body in the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and it was able to pursue research which was applicable.
“Now SCRI has become part of the James Hutton Institute and it is having to chase money from abroad and has a different policy.”
The research gap in Scotland was having serious consequences, believed Mr Anderson.
“For example we have seen some very dodgy science advanced from both sides on the neonicitinoid argument,” he said.
“SCRI used to be available to support Scottish agriculture in cases like this but now it is not.”
Nick Wallace of seed company Limagrain asked Mr Smith what the position was in Europe as regards GM cropping.
The EU stance was broadly similar to Scottish Government’s, said Mr Smith, who sits with the Green group in the European Parliament. “The GM debate has gone down a cul-de-sac. I am not against research but I draw the line at field trials.
“There are plenty of other places, such as North America, where GM crops are already grown which can be used for trials.
“If we had field trials here we would have activists from all over Europe coming to sabotage the crops. As farmers you have a national reputation to guard and that would do you no good. As we have seen too often, food scares can start very easily.”
It wasn’t a reply that satisfied Scottish Agronomy managing director Andrew Gilchrist, especially as regards trialling abroad.
“You can’t test spring barley in Nebraska, it wouldn’t grow. Without trialling new crops here we are not going to get anywhere,” he said.
Eventually, to Mr Smith’s delight, the questioning moved on to the independence referendum and the likelihood, or not, of an independent Scotland being admitted to the EU.
“I have been an MEP for 10 years and I can assure you that no one I speak to in Brussels wants to see Scotland not included.
“We would have 18 months from the referendum to negotiate moving from being a territory within an EU state to becoming a member state in our own right,” he said.
He did, however, admit that there was “no roadmap” for such a move.