Held at Pant Du in Penygroes, Caernarfon, on Tuesday 9 January, the timely meeting gave NFU Cymru members the chance to hear Mr Currado discuss the current Welsh Government Sustainable Farming Scheme consultation, titled ‘Keep Farmers Farming’.
Discussing the evolution of Welsh Government’s policy since initial public engagement in 2018, Mr Currado said the launch of the final stage of consultation was a ‘milestone moment’ and showed Welsh Government’s ‘current thinking’. He said the scheme was designed to be a ‘whole farm’ scheme and that he hoped the scheme’s universal actions would be achievable for all farmers in Wales and make them more resilient. He stated the objective of the scheme was to deliver for farming businesses, rural communities, the environment and the climate.
Draft Budget announcement
The guest speaker also discussed Welsh Government’s recent draft budget announcement. He said the Welsh Government Cabinet had had to make ‘difficult decisions’ when faced with a £900m shortfall. Mr Currado noted that despite these financial challenges, the Rural Affairs Minister had prioritised protecting the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2024 and cited NFU Cymru’s lobbying campaign highlighting public support for farmers receiving government funding to produce food.
Habitat Wales Scheme
Another area discussed during the meeting was the Habitat Wales Scheme, the interim scheme replacing Glastir before the move to the Sustainable Farming Scheme in 2025.
Mr Currado’s speech was followed by a lengthy question and answer session, where farmers in attendance provided robust scrutiny of several elements of the Welsh Government policy. One of the areas discussed in greatest detail was the repeated concerns of farmers at the difficulties they would face meeting the 10% tree planting universal action in the proposals. Other topics discussed included the need for an agreed carbon calculator as part of the final Sustainable Farming Scheme and concerns that Welsh Government policy did not align with food security challenges and a growing global population.
Agriculture Wales Act
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones then addressed the audience, where he outlined NFU Cymru’s lobbying work on the Agriculture Wales Act and the ongoing development of the Sustainable Farming Scheme.
NFU Cymru Mid Gwynedd County Chairman Trefor Parry said: “We were pleased to welcome a bumper crowd of new and familiar faces to our annual county conference. The meeting was an excellent platform for members to air their opinions on Welsh Government policy proposals. It was clear that there remains a great deal of concern among the county’s farmers over elements of these plans, not least the 10% tree planting stipulation and the eligible land criteria. For our farmers on the Llyn Peninsula, in particular, where newly-planted trees simply won’t survive, they have legitimate concerns about their ability to participate in the scheme based on this requirement.
Responses needed for the Sustainable Farming Scheme
“Farmers must respond to this consultation in large numbers and I encourage members to take advantage of all of the resources being made available by NFU Cymru to assist them in their response.”
NFU Cymru is holding its own series of Sustainable Farming Scheme consultation roadshows across Wales in late January and early February. A list of these events can be found on the NFU Cymru website.
