Why Welsh farmers should all be passionate, fervent supporters of an Independent Wales

Gwern Gwynfil, YesCymru CEO 

Jacob Rees Mogg wants hormone injected cheap beef from Australia on his plate. The grass fed, high welfare, superior quality beef grown in Wales dismissed in favour of cheap meat from the other side of the globe.

Any Welsh farmers who still haven’t realised that independence offers them the best future need to sit down and give very serious thought to how they see the future of farming developing within the UK. To where their farm, their livelihood, the land they love and the children who’ll inherit it, will be in 20 years.

There’s plenty to discuss in terms of the future of rural Wales and the potential offered by Independence, hopefully the blindness of central government to the realities of rural life and agriculture (on both sides of the political spectrum) are already generating significant debate and discussion on the constitutional future of Wales within the sector.

But, for me, as someone from a rural background, with family still in the sector, that is not the fundamental reason why every single farmer in Wales should desire Independence instinctively and wholeheartedly.

Let’s paint a picture.

Farmers love their land, they always have a deep affinity for it. Whether they have a multi generation family farm or have somehow managed to build a farm business and acquire land from nothing. It is the very nature of farming to care, to cherish and to improve that which you have. This needs long term planning, an often innate conservatism and an understanding of your own holdings which only comes with time and legacy.

Our beautiful farm

So here we are, with our small but beautiful farm. Full of potential but needing a lot of work, as they always do. Unfortunately, there’s a farm 20 times larger right next door. Worse yet, the farmer next door effectively controls around 80% of everything we can do on our farm.

They also collect around 90% of the proceeds of everything we produce on our farm.

They don’t give us an accurate tally of how much this generates for them.

They spend this according to the priorities of their huge farm next door.

Then, ‘generously’, give us money to run our agricultural operations. This they do whimsically, with rules they write themselves.

They stop us investing in improving our farm, its infrastructure and our future.

They probably do love and cherish their own farm, in their own way, but they definitely don’t care for ours.

No farmer would, or should, ever allow the farm next door to set their priorities for their holdings, their livestock, their crops – to decide where and how they can invest or to control the infrastructure that they need to nurture their holdings and their livestock.

It is not because of Jacob Rees Mogg and the failings of the UK government when it comes to agricultural policy that the farmers of Wales should stand up, stand together and stand tall for independence.

They should stand tall for an Independent Wales because this land is their land.