In a meeting on Wednesday 15 October with the Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca- Davies MS, NFU Cymru President Aled Jones expressed his appreciation to the Deputy First Minister and his staff within RPW (Rural Payments Wales) for ensuring that the vast majority of farmers in Wales were able to receive this advance payment at the earliest opportunity.
Aled Jones said: “I warmly welcome the announcement from the Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, that BPS advance payments have been made to most farmers in Wales this week. I would like to recognise the work of the staff at RPW for ensuring that this payment has been delivered, and to all those who support farming businesses with the completion of the Single Application Form by the May deadline date.
Cashflow
"This support, which will see over £158m delivered to the rural economy, will be a major boost for the cash flow of more than 15,500 Welsh farmers, along with the allied industries who rely on farmers for so much of their income.
“We have previously welcomed the maintenance of the BPS budget for 2025, which will provide much needed stability in what continues to be a challenging year for Welsh farming. This summer we have experienced prolonged dry weather meaning many farmers have lower feed stocks and will therefore need to purchase in significant additional supplies to maintain production through the autumn and winter months. This is yet another example of the importance of a stability payment to underpin high quality food production on Welsh farms.”
Budget
In the meeting with the Deputy First Minister, Aled Jones highlighted the importance of a budget that allows Welsh farming to continue to deliver on its multiple ambitions.
"NFU Cymru continues to support the framework of the SFS, but we believe it is incumbent on Welsh Government to commit to continue to evolve the scheme and act on the results of the economic modelling. In our meeting today, in addition to our ask on budget, we set out a number of areas that we believe need to be kept under review."
Aled Jones, NFU Cymru President
Aled Jones said: “I welcomed the announcement from the Deputy First Minister in July this year to commit £238m to the Universal Layer of the SFS (Sustainable Farming Scheme) in 2026, this must be the absolute minimum level of support for the Universal Layer in the years to come. A key priority for NFU Cymru is to secure a commitment from Welsh Government for a well-funded, multi-annual budget for the scheme.
“The existing budget for farming needs to increase to over £500m just to keep pace with inflation, with a minimum of 70% of the overall budget committed to the Universal Layer - to ensure Welsh farming can continue to deliver for food, nature, climate, and communities.
“Whilst I am pleased to see this injection of funding into Welsh farming, we must not forget the small percentage of farmers who will not have received an advance payment today, I sincerely hope that any outstanding issues can be resolved so that their payments can be made without further delay.”
Evolution of scheme
NFU Cymru also used the meeting today to ask the Deputy First Minister to commit to evolve the Sustainable Farming Scheme. This follows the publication of the economic modelling last month, estimating the scheme will have negative impacts on livestock numbers, jobs and farm income.
Aled Jones said: “NFU Cymru continues to support the framework of the SFS, but we believe it is incumbent on Welsh Government to commit to continue to evolve the scheme and act on the results of the economic modelling. In our meeting today, in addition to our ask on budget, we set out a number of areas that we believe need to be kept under review.
“These include giving further consideration to the conditions attached to the 10% habitat scheme requirement and for Welsh Government to urgently work with the farming industry to bring forward proposals under the Optional Layer of the SFS that support farm efficiency, productivity and increase profitability and the sustainability of farming businesses.
Reassurance
“It is also important to consider the very significant change farmers face with the introduction of this new scheme. As the scheme reaches implementation stage, we are seeking reassurances from Welsh Government that RPW will adopt an advisory-led approach to delivery and seek to minimise the stress and anxiety that farmers experience at inspection and the disproportionate system of penalties.”