- Read our response on behalf of all of our members
- Read our 12 page consultation summary document
- See our engagement throughout the consultation, in figures
Over 6,700 farmers responded to the Welsh Government consultation via the NFU Cymru website, more than doubling the previous highest response received by the union for any such engagement exercise. Over the course of the 12-week consultation period, NFU Cymru engaged with over 5,000 farmers and supply chain partners at roadshows, county meetings, board meetings, market visits and other events.
Stress and anxiety
The levels of stress and anxiety the consultation has engendered within the farming community will have escaped no-one. Welsh farming is in the midst of an upswell of emotions that has not been witnessed since devolution.
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “We’ve received an unprecedented response to this consultation and the overwhelming strength of feeling from our members is a clear indicator that the current proposals need a major overhaul. The proposals must move beyond a scheme focussed predominately on the delivery of environmental outcomes and instead become a genuine agricultural policy that underpins food production, resilient agricultural businesses and rural communities, alongside and in harmony with our environmental obligations and ambitions.
“We live in uncertain times, a war in Europe, unrest in the Middle East, political instability, and trade flows around the world under threat – food security can no longer be taken for granted. Population growth, climate change and increasing competition for finite resources make it a matter of increasing strategic national interest to ensure that our country can feed itself. Food is a public good and the Sustainable Farming Scheme must be more explicit in its support to maintain and enhance food production against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile world.
Farmers need stability
“Farmers need stability to underpin the continued supply of safe, high quality, affordable food from Wales. They need stability to invest in their businesses, to invest in efficiency gains and in the environment. Stability provides opportunities for farming families to plan for the next generation, it keeps farmers farming and keeps rural communities and our language thriving. A long-term stability mechanism is also needed to ensure Welsh farming remains competitive with farmers in the UK, EU and globally. It must be an integral element of the final Sustainable Farming Scheme.
“The findings of Welsh Government’s most recent impact assessment modelling for the scheme continues to send shockwaves throughout the industry - 5,500 jobs lost, a £200m hit to farm business income, 11% less livestock in Wales, without even considering the impact beyond the farm gate. A truly shocking scenario, this cannot happen, it must not happen. No government, with the information it has to hand, could surely consent to this? A policy is needed that protects jobs in farming and the supply chain. No decisions on the Sustainable Farming Scheme can be undertaken until Welsh Government has undertaken a full socio-economic assessment of the impact of its proposals on Welsh farming, rural communities and the supply chain. If necessary, the SFS should be paused and delayed until such time as we can be sure that it can deliver the same level of stability to farming, the supply chain and rural Wales as the current support arrangements.
Equal access to all farmers
“The universal baseline payment must be non-discriminatory to all farm types, sectors and locations. It must provide equal access to all active farmers in Wales, including tenants and commoners, and provide fair reward for those managing our most precious landscapes and habitats. The universal baseline payment must go beyond costs incurred / income foregone calculations and incentivise the actions that Welsh Government asks Welsh farming to deliver for society.
“Mandating 10% tree cover on farm will be an insurmountable barrier for too many. A just transition is needed for farming families. We have world class science institutions on our doorstep, we need to make use of their expertise and intrinsic knowledge of Welsh farming systems, our soils, our grasslands, cropping and field boundaries, to provide us with alternatives to deliver outcomes that help us achieve net zero agriculture whilst maintaining our productive capacity, allowing us to be truly world leading in the production of climate-friendly food.
Getting the scheme right
“We must get this scheme right. Neither farming families nor government can afford to have a scheme that fails to deliver on our shared ambitions for food, nature and climate. We need a scheme that underpins food production, our farmed environment, our communities, our language and culture for our generation and those that follow in our footsteps.
NFU Cymru’s consultation response sets out the union’s framework for a future farming policy for Wales. It measures Welsh Government’s proposals against our own, we highlight the legitimate concerns raised by our members as part of this consultation process and provide a pathway for a way forward. We want to work with the Minister and Welsh Government to get this right – we must get this right.”
Our engagement in figures
Read a summary of NFU Cymru's consultation response
