The announcement, on the first day of the Royal Welsh Show (Monday 20 July), was a key ask of NFU Cymru in its Senedd election manifesto published in June 2025 and fulfils a commitment made by Plaid Cymru in its own election manifesto.
Much needed stability and certainty
Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show, NFU Cymru President Abi Reader said: “Today’s announcement securing £340m per annum for the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) for three years through to March 2030 is a major boost to the sector. It’s a move that will provide the sector with much-needed stability and certainty during a time of extreme volatility and global uncertainty.”
Support is key
Also announced today by Welsh Government is a guaranteed £238m per year for the universal layer and £102m for the optional and collaborative layers of the SFS, a continuation of the current 70:30 split weighted to the universal layer. This was another key ask of NFU Cymru in its manifesto and has therefore been warmly welcomed by the union.
NFU Cymru President Abi Reader said: “It is the universal layer – and in particular the social value payment within this layer - that provides stability to farm businesses. It is this support that underpins the production of high-quality food for the nation, keeps farming families on the land and supports our rural communities, heritage, culture and language.
That is why we warmly welcome the confirmation that the Cabinet Minister will stick with the 70:30 split for the length of this Senedd term.
Underpin financial resilience
“This year we have seen farm-gate prices fall in some key sectors and input prices soar in response to global instability. This move to a ring-fenced multi-annual system of farm support, coupled with a 70:30 funding split, will underpin the financial resilience of family farms and help them ride out these challenges, whilst at the same time helping deliver on our ambition for the sustainable growth of the sector.
“Farming is a long-term business with production and business investment cycles which run into many years. By moving away from a funding arrangement which offered no funding certainty from one year to the next, and by allocating 70% of the funding resource to the universal layer, the Welsh Government has recognised the volatile marketplace and complex long-term production cycles we work within.
I very much commend the Welsh Government on its announcement, one that provides long term stability not just to Welsh farming but, as evidenced by all the businesses in attendance at the show, also to all those who rely on Welsh agriculture for so much of their income.”
