The meeting on Thursday 13th March, held at Tanygraig Farm, Lampeter, Ceredigion, provided the ideal backdrop for a wide-ranging discussion on a range of key Welsh agricultural issues.
The visit began with host farmers Dai Charles Evans and his wife, Eryl and family, showing the First Minister around the busy sheep shed during lambing time. Following the farm tour, those present moved to the kitchen table to discuss issues including budget, the Sustainable Farming Scheme and changes to inheritance tax reliefs and their impact on Welsh farming businesses.
Much-needed degree of stability
Speaking after the meeting, NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “We are grateful to the First Minister and Cabinet colleagues for securing the BPS budget for 2025, which I’m sure was a difficult task in the current financial climate but, nonetheless, has provided a much-needed degree of stability and certainty for farmers in Wales. During the meeting, we advocated for an inflationary uplift to the level of agricultural support coming to Wales, however, we have shared with the First Minister our misgivings around the loss of the ringfence around agricultural funding and the fact that future adjustments to funding will be through the Barnett formula. This population-share based arrangement would be of considerable detriment to Welsh agriculture going forward. We are pleased that the First Minister has already raised our concerns at Welsh Affairs Committee and those present today have impressed upon her that Welsh Government must continue these representations to UK Treasury to ensure Wales gets a fair share of funding for agriculture.
“Our meeting also provided an ideal opportunity to discuss the development of Welsh Government’s Sustainable Farming Scheme. While we feel good progress has been made in terms of listening to the industry and streamlining the universal actions, information about payment rates remains outstanding. It is NFU Cymru’s firm belief that a social value payment will ultimately determine the success, or otherwise, of this scheme. We have asked the First Minister to work alongside the Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Rural Affairs to ensure that farming’s economic, environmental and social contribution is recognised. It is also imperative that a full economic assessment of the scheme is undertaken to ensure that no particular farming sector is negatively impacted by these proposals. We remain committed to working in partnership with Welsh Government to get this scheme right.
“The ongoing fallout from the UK Government’s planned changes to inheritance tax reliefs has also been a major part of our discussions. While we respect that this issue is not devolved, it will certainly have a massive impact on Wales’ agricultural sector, rural communities, economy and culture. We have impressed upon the First Minister that we need Welsh Government to echo our call that UK Government must pause these changes until a thorough consultation and economic review of its impact on working farms has been completed. We have also stressed that Welsh Government’s current and future agricultural policies must take account of UK Government’s damaging inheritance tax proposals, with adjustments and mitigations put in place to limit the impact on family businesses.”
Challenges facing the industry
NFU Cymru Ceredigion County Chairman, Tom Cowcher said: “We are grateful to the First Minister for making the time to meet with us on farm today and listening to the challenges facing the industry, but also the ambitions that can be realised by Welsh farmers in the future. I would also like to thank the Evans family for hosting today’s visit in Ceredigion.”