Senedd Committee report raises serious concerns about controversial farm subsidy scheme
Emily Price
A Senedd Committee has outlined serious concerns about the Welsh Government’s controversial farm subsidy reforms.
A highly critical report by the Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) has been published today (July 22) – the first day of the Royal Welsh Show.
It branded the SFS as “beset with delays, mis-communication and unprecedented levels of concern about whether it can deliver.”
The Senedd Committee report outlines concerns about the scheme’s design, its targets for tree cover and the methodology of payments to farmers.
Committee members say significant fears have been raised that it is not taking into consideration the future of farming by supporting new entrants and tenant farmers.
The Committee says it heard frustrations from environmental organisations about delays to the scheme.
The report calls on ministers to ensure the SFS is accessible to all farmers, regardless of their farm type and tenure.
It also called for a sharp focus on the protection of the future of farming and food production baring in mind the climate and nature emergencies.
Since the passing of the Agriculture (Wales) Act last summer and mass protests from farmers, the Welsh Government has delayed the introduction of the SFS to work with the industry and unions to develop proposals further.
The scheme will be rolled out in 2026 with a number of interim payment plans available in the meantime.
Concern
The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change Rural Affairs Huw Irranca-Davies says that no final decisions on the scheme’s design have been made yet.
But he added that he understood the concerns raised by farmers and wouldn’t be introducing the scheme until it was ready.
The Committee is now calling on the Welsh Government to outline how it is listening to farmers’ concerns and how it will amend its plans to reflect their views.
Paul Davies, Chair of the Senedd’s Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs Committee said: “We’ve consistently raised concerns on behalf of farmers that the Welsh Government simply isn’t listening to their concerns.
“At this year’s Royal Welsh show it will be almost a year since the Welsh Government’s Agriculture Act became law and delays on implementing it remain. For those involved in farming, and for those working to protect our environment, this uncertainty is worrying.
“A major concern throughout this process is the way the Welsh Government has communicated the big changes coming from the SFS. It’s essential that farmers are involved throughout the process and are kept up to date.
“We’re calling on the Welsh Government to demonstrate how they are adapting their plans to meet the needs of our agriculture industry and our environment.”
Tree cover
The SFS in its original form would have required farmers to farm sustainably by bringing their existing tree and woodland cover up to 10% – and earmarking another 10% for habitat.
Farmers and opposition politicians in the Senedd argued that this would never be practical whilst running a farm business and unions said the tree cover requirement represented a “major barrier” to scheme entry.
The Committee says increasing tree planting is essential if Wales is to meet its climate change targets but acknowledged the strong feeling from farmers that this would make many businesses unviable.
Work developing this scheme began over seven years ago, and with recently announced delays, the Committee is calling for the Welsh Government to publish a timetable for the next stages as soon as possible.
The Committee says that they are open to alternatives to the tree cover requirement as long as they deliver the intended results.
Llyr Gruffydd, Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, said: “The Sustainable Farming Scheme is a new chapter for Welsh agriculture, but the Welsh Government has a lot of work to do before it’s ready to be rolled out.
“With the Welsh Government now having worked on these plans for close to a decade, it’s imperative that solutions are found so that a workable scheme can be up and running for 2026.
“The SFS has the potential to put agriculture on a truly sustainable footing, with farmers taking the lead in the fight against climate change and nature decline. I would urge the Welsh Government to adopt our recommendations before moving ahead.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We would like to thank the committee for this timely report and it is good to see recognition of the importance of the Sustainable Farming Scheme and the progress we are making towards its introduction in 2026.
“We all agree there is still much to do and that the most important thing is working together. We will respond to the committee’s recommendations in due course.”
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Remember, when the farmers have gone that will be the one of the biggest earners for the economy and food security up the swanny.
We will be forced to import all our food, lower quality, more expense, from countries that don’t give a stuff about nature or emissions.
That is, until Labour bans imports too, then I guess we starve?
As well as all private transportation, holidays, any manufacturing, new building, forced veganism and more.
Yes it’s real, yes it’s coming, “UK fires absolute zero”.
UK Gov figures show we import 46% of our food at a cost of £48 billion, while exports of food raise £21.4 billion. The largest earners to the economy were services, manufacturing construction and tourism. Services ( finance ,retail, and entertainment)accounted for 80% of economic activity, construction 10%, agriculture accounted for 0.67%, hardly one of the biggest earners for the economy. Farmers have put themselves into this position, no more EU CAP funding.
You go into Welsh supermarkets and there is predominately farm produce grown in England. Why can’t Wales Gov legislate that these supermarkets have to take
30-50% produce made locally, this will help climate change as well.
Laws passed in Westminster, such as the internal market bill, prevent our government imposing rules such as you are suggesting, as it would harm English businesses by giving preference to products from Cymru, eg, our Gov can not ban genetically modified food, if it is saleable in England, we also have to allow it to be sold, under internal market rules.
Let’s not forget that this works both ways. Trade between Wales and the rest of the UK gives Welsh shoppers access to food grown over 11 times greater land area, and gives Welsh farmers access to a market of 20 times more people.
We had access to food from England before the internal market was imposed, the new law allows for Westminster to overrule devolved areas and impose laws that we, as a gov and country would want to oppose, or not implement. Cymru and Scotland both wish to implement the glass recycling refund system, but it has been stopped by Westminster using the internal market bill, as England do not want to implement the cash for returns system regarding glass.
You may wish to go hungry or eat a very limited diet in the winter, but I hope even Welsh Labour could work out that it isn’t in the interests of the health of the people to deprive them of fresh fruit and veg for half the year.
This highlights the arrogance of the Welsh Labour – listening to farmers only after they have passed legislation that is completely impractical. It also highlights the complete absence of checks and balances in the Welsh Government system. For 25 years we have had a single party with control of the Assembly/Parliament/Senedd. If we have to expand the number of people, the additional head-count should be in a second chamber that exists to challenge the government and revise the detail of proposals. This second chamber is a standard part of any functioning democratic system and yet it is absent from the… Read more »
Under the previous arrangements, my farm had its all habitat and woodland supported financially for decades. It looks like funding is going to be cut by over 50% and I can’t get any reliable information. Glastir advanced options applied to the whole farm. The replacement interim scheme, which I signed up to, had a funding cut of more than 2/3, plus Glastir Organic was initially deleted entirely and no information is available on what replaces it. Welsh Government guidance proposed stocking levels lower than what I already have. The livestock enterprises will definitely be loss making. Viability was tenuous before.… Read more »