IN HER previous stint as a rural affairs minister, Ms Gougeon never shirked hands-on engagement - including this outing spraying off a giant hogweed infestation Crofters have greeted Scotland s new Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands with a to-do list. The Scottish Crofting Federation warned newly-appointed Mairi Gougeon that there is much to be done to protect crofting and the island economies it underpins. SCF chair Donald MacKinnon said: “We are pleased to see a strong cabinet appointed to lead Scotland, and welcome Mairi Gougeon as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands. We are, of course, sad to see Fergus Ewing go as a strong rapport builds up with time and he had a good feel for crofting. But we are confident that Ms Gougeon has the experience and capacity to get to know crofting and our islands and to take them into consideration in forming policy. We need to see all policy ‘croft-proofed’ and ‘island-proofed’ before it is enacted.