AS September draws to a close and the nights are slowly getting darker again, our teams across Wales have done anything but slow down, writes FUW president Glyn Roberts.

Many of us have been meeting with our elected representatives from Cardiff and Westminster to discuss the most critical of farming matters.

One of these is, of course, the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme, the proposal outlined in which will have huge consequences for our sector in the years ahead.

We have, as members would expect, been engaging with the proposals and overall we have welcomed the commitment by the Welsh Government to a baseline payment for all farmers, providing much needed stability for food producing family farms.

The union firmly believes that the majority of the budget should be used to provide this stability payment in return for meeting the new Universal Actions required of farmers on top of new ‘National Minimum Standards’.

Of course, we still have concerns about the impact of budget cuts from Westminster and the size of the budget after 2023, particularly as the proposals are ambitious, covering a wide range of objectives, whilst farmers are experiencing a significant increase in costs.

We have also been clear in our discussions with Members of the Senedd that it is highly disappointing that the outcomes required of the scheme, which are based around Sustainable Land Management principles such as Clean Air, Resilient Ecosystems and Enhanced Access, still do not incorporate the economic sustainability of farming families, agricultural supply chains, rural communities and food production explicitly.

Without such objectives being central to the scheme there is a risk of economic damage, particularly if the calculation of baseline payment rates cannot take such economic support into account.

Many of the proposed universal actions would be wholly impractical for large numbers of farmers and therefore require greater consideration.

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Most notably is the requirement for all farms to have at least 10 per cent tree cover before being able to access the baseline payment.

For farmers who are tenants, have a vast amount of habitat land or designations unsuitable for planting, or who farm in areas where trees will not grow this would be difficult or impossible.

The proposal would also be extremely challenging for highly productive farms, particularly given the current strain on food security.

Whilst the recent document is not consulting on the National Minimum Standards explicitly, the scheme will be underpinned by that legislative framework.

We have repeatedly stressed that consideration must be given to ensuring that a raised regulatory baseline does not lead to a competitive disadvantage for Wales’ farmers versus imports of lower environmental and animal welfare standards.

On a final note this week, the scheme framework has significantly changed and reflects many of the issues we have been lobbying on since the 2018 Brexit and our Land consultation.

Positive changes include the provision of a baseline payment for undertaking universal actions, utilising RPW Online and existing data collection, the consideration of capping payments, a lengthy transition to avoid a cliff-edge of funding, an emphasis on active farmers, and payments for both the maintenance and creation of environmental outcomes.

Members can be assured that our work will continue on this and that all of our representatives and staff are working hard to ensure that we have thriving, sustainable family farms here in Wales for years to come.