Wales Deputy First Minister announces changes to farming plans at Winter Fair
Plans to require Welsh farmers to have trees on 10% of their land in order to qualify for government funding have been dropped after widespread protests.
The requirement was part of planned changes to Welsh farming subsidies through the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which is to be introduced in 2026.
Now it is set to be replaced by "a tree planting and hedgerow creation plan", which farmers would need to start to make progress on with a view to delivering this by 2030.
In a speech at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Llanelwedd, Powys, Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies said "it was clear changes were needed - we said we would listen - and we've done just that".
The new requirement would help farmers gain access to the "universal" layer of funding, with tree-planting grants available in an "optional" layer, designed to reward farms willing to go above and beyond the entry-level requirements.
There will also be an overall target set for the amount of additional tree cover provided by the subsidy scheme as a whole, though this figure is yet to be decided.
Other changes to the original plans include cutting the checklist of actions farmers would have to sign up to in order to access the scheme's universal layer from 17 to 12.
A range of tasks around animal health, welfare and biosecurity have been merged into one.
Farms are still being asked to manage 10% of their land as habitat for wildlife under the new proposals.
Irranca-Davies, Cabinet Secretary for rural affairs, said he remained "committed to listening to and working with our stakeholders to ensure the final scheme... will help support the economic resilience of farming businesses, the sustainable production of food, our climate and nature objectives and our rural communities for current and future generations".
The changes come after protests in Llandudno, Conwy, and Westminster against UK government changes to inheritance tax for farmers.
Farming leaders said progress had been made and praised Irranca-Davies's "commitment to collaboration".
Ian Rickman, president of the Farmers' Union of Wales, said the announcement was the culmination of "intense" work over recent months.
"We must now ensure that the associated budget and payment methodology deliver real economic stability for our family farms in Wales as we face a backdrop of many other challenges," he said.
Mr Rickman said recent months had involved "a huge amount of work" and the union's ambition had been "to get to a scheme that's accessible to all farmers".
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “We are pleased to have been involved with the Ministerial Roundtable and the sub-groups, and the updated SFS Scheme Outline published today sets out the progress that has been made as a result of this process.
Mr Jones added: “There is much more work to do in the coming months on the final scheme detail as well as a number of fundamental aspects of scheme design including the payment methodology and payment rates ahead of the publication of the final scheme, expected in July 2025.
