Dust ‘still needs to settle’ on farming subsidy plans | UK News

Welsh farmers are set to be given a first indication of how much subsidy they will receive next year, as debate over a major shake up of agricultural funding continues.

As the annual Royal Welsh Show gets underway in Llanelwedd, Powys, the Welsh government has published an online tool to help farmers estimate future payments.

The final version of its protest-hit Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) was announced on Tuesday, to a mixed response.

Ministers said they had “listened carefully to farmers across Wales”, revising the proposals to make sure they worked for the industry as well as the environment.

However, wildlife groups have warned that the scheme had been watered down, with RSPB Cymru now calling for “a clear plan” to explain how the SFS helps Wales meet its 2030 biodiversity targets.

After years in the making, the SFS will replace EU-era payments for farmers, which were given largely based on how much land was farmed.

Ian Rickman, president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW), said there was “a lot of dust still to settle” as farmers got to grips with what the new, greener scheme meant for their businesses.

“We’re proud of the changes we have helped secure,” he added, which include “workable payment rates” and the scrapping of a controversial 10% tree cover rule for farms.

But he described a faster transition process, that will see farms lose 40% of their subsidy if they choose not to join the SFS immediately, as “a particularly bitter pill”.

RSPB Cymru will use an event on the showground at the Royal Welsh to highlight demands for Wales’ environment sector, including the need for “a clear plan detailing how the SFS will contribute to meeting Wales’s 2030 biodiversity targets”.

The charity said the National Audit Office “has identified the lack of such a plan for the equivalent English scheme as a significant flaw resulting in the poor use of public money”.

Further long-term funding was also needed to invest in nature-friendly farming, it added, with analysis carried out on behalf of wildlife groups putting the figure at £594m a year – approximately twice the existing rural budget.

Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said the show marked “the culmination of a landmark week for Welsh agriculture”.

Alongside a new “ready reckoner” tool, allowing farms to calculate how much they might be offered, Irranca-Davies announced £33m for nine preparatory schemes to ” back farm businesses during the transition to the new SFS”.

“This funding will help farmers invest in nutrient management, environmental improvements and efficiency equipment while delivering on environmental benefits like water quality and biodiversity,” he said.

Politicians of all colours are set to descend on the showground, each with competing visions for the future of rural communities ahead of May’s Senedd election.

Other issues set to dominate include the ongoing row over changes to inheritance tax rules for farmers, and restrictions to trade along the Welsh border as a result of bluetongue disease.

Organisers have promised to deliver a “tremendous” display of livestock, despite limits on animals from England and Scotland travelling to Llanelwedd.

Sheep, cattle and goats from across the border have been banned this year as part of efforts to keep bluetongue out of Wales.

The livestock virus poses no risk to humans or food safety – but can have serious implications for livestock.

The cattle sheds are noticeably quieter, with entries down by around a third, while there will be no competitions in the goats section.

But sheep numbers have held up after places were offered to Welsh competitors on a waiting list after Scottish and English farmers were forced to pull out.

Will Edwards, from Nelson, Caerphilly county, is entering a Charolais cow and calf and said the atmosphere was “a bit different”.

“There aren’t as many cattle here – there’s still a lot of sheep though and I suppose it gives all the Welsh ones a go against each other.”

Farmers Thomas Corbett and Emily Simpson, from Felindre in Powys, said it was a shame not have the English and Scottish cattle because “the ones that come all that way are often the good cattle and you lose the best opposition”.

Ms Simpson farmed in Scotland before meeting her partner at the show three years ago, and said friends there “would love to come down” but she understood why they stayed away this year.

“You’ve got to put safety first,” she said.

Aled Rhys Jones, chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, said he was “really pleased with the response we’ve had from Welsh exhibitors”.

Numbers of native sheep breeds, pigs and horses were up, he emphasised.

“We’ve sympathised with exhibitors, particularly those from England and Scotland that have been coming to the show for years, and we really want to make sure that we maintain that goodwill.”

“Many of them are still coming this year to enjoy the show – and there’ll still be a spectacle.”