8. What is the Welsh Government’s strategy for supporting local food and drink producers in Denbighshire? OQ59668

Llywydd, our strategy continues to support food and drink producers across Wales, including those in Denbighshire. We assist producers to improve performance and competitiveness, to pursue diversification and to identify and succeed in new and existing markets.

Thank you for your response this afternoon, First Minister, and I may have mentioned a couple of times in passing the Denbigh plum, which is Wales's only native plum, which dates way, way back to the 1700s and has special status. And what's to be celebrated is the fact that many local businesses and enterprises have capitalised from the success of Denbigh plum, including Shlizzy from Bodfari, which is a local gin and vodka producer that uses Denbigh plums for their juice. And there's also the Denbigh Plum Feast in the town every September, which has been very much a success in the Vale of Clwyd. And more generally, on top of this, we have the Snowdonia Cheese Company Limited in Rhyl, which exports high-quality dairy products across the four corners of the world from its factory in Rhyl. And recently, we've seen the incorporation of Vale Vineyard in Llandyrnog, which grows white and red grapes, much to the delight of wine lovers across Denbighshire and broader afield. So, with that in mind, First Minister, will you join me in celebrating the success of local food and drink producers in Denbighshire, recognise that we punch well above our weight in terms of a small geographical county in terms of the output we have with food producers, and will you reaffirm your Government's commitment to enjoying the successes of culinary developments in north Wales? 

Llywydd, I thank the Member very much for that supplementary question. I'm absolutely keen to join with him in celebrating the success of those producers in Denbighshire. The Welsh Government was very pleased to play our part in securing food name status for the Denbigh plum early in 2019, and, indeed, to provide funding for the Denbigh plum event last year. When the former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, retired from being First Minister, those of us who worked with him decided that the gift we would provide would be to give him a set of native Welsh species to plant in his orchard at home, and the Denbigh plum was quite certainly one of those. 

Llywydd, I look forward to being at the Royal Welsh Show this year. We know that there will be at least two producers from Denbighshire in the food hall and in the trade business lounge, which is where a lot of long-term business gets done. There will be nine producers from Denbighshire alone making sure that they are able to display the fantastic products that they have on offer, and secure new orders for the future. And to have nine producers from a single county at that event, I think it is a tribute, as the Member said, to the enterprise, the initiative and the sheer hard work of those who work in this sector in his constituency. 

I'd like to thank the Member for tabling this important question. Denbighshire is famous, of course, for its plums, but also for its other produce, including the produce from fantastic independent brewers across the county. First Minister, would you agree that those independent brewers contribute not just to the economy, but positively to the identity of the communities that they're based in? And will the Welsh Government go on promoting them and supporting them all that it can? 

Llywydd, I think I had an opportunity to visit one of those outlets with the Member when we were said to be on the campaign trail in his constituency not that long ago. [Laughter.] And of course, he is right that those small, independent brewers, they provide not just an excellent product but that sense of local identity that goes alongside it. Just as we celebrate the Denbigh plum, so we celebrate the work of those independent brewers that operate in that part of Wales.