"There will be a need for a rapid and concerted effort from the leaders in the rural and farming sectors to hold the Government to account on ensuring that the gulf between urban and rural support does not become even wider"

"I wonder what people who are struggling to feed their families think when they hear the Conservatives crying foul over policies which protect people (farmers) from paying tax on assets worth up to £3 million in certain areas"

"Labour have not thought through this policy"

"For generations, farming families have served to grow food for us all. They are a service to their country and they are custodians of the countryside"

First Minister John Swinney said his Government would return the £46 million taken away from the agriculture Budget in previous years but could not guarantee a commitment to longer-term funding due to only having 'information' for one financial year

"This tax could well mean the end of the family farm"

"I am totally committed to supporting our farmers"

"I know this is already having a chilling effect on farming and rural businesses"

"If I am around and I happen to see a tractor, I am not excluding the possibility that I would strongly sympathise with the driver of that tractor"

Falkirk farmer Robert Baird pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering and failing to ensure the welfare of his border collie which was found in a trailer measuring approximately two by three metres, with a single small window obscured by mould