Opportunities must be 'fully seized' on Welsh farming bill

NFU Cymru responded to the completion of the Agriculture (Wales) Bill’s Senedd stages by welcoming the significant step forward it represents in developing a ‘made in Wales, for Wales’ agricultural support policy.

President Aled Jones said: “Over the course of the Agriculture Bill’s nine-month journey through the Senedd, NFU Cymru has worked closely with MSs from across the political spectrum, hosting a range of meetings and events, as well as feeding in our views to the Senedd’s Economy, Trade and Rural Affairs committee as part of the scrutiny process.

“The passing of the Agriculture Bill into law will offer a once in a generation opportunity to devise and implement the right agricultural support policies for Wales. Opportunities to legislate, develop policy and put agriculture and rural Wales on the right path and the surest foundation must be fully seized.

“The bill itself is a framework which will amongst other things allow Welsh Government to develop and operate future support schemes. There will in due course, be further consultation on the finer details of future support schemes, and NFU Cymru looks forward to engaging with Welsh Government as part of that process.

"When we do that, we must all work together to make sure that the new system works and is fit for purpose, and, as we transition away from the current system, there must be sufficient time to allow farmers to adapt their businesses to what is expected of them.

“For NFU Cymru, future support schemes have to deliver against the multiple challenges that we will face in future. These challenges include meeting our environmental and climate change obligations, as well as driving productivity and efficiency in order to meet our responsibilities in relation to food production – both domestically and globally.

“In a world of uncertainty as we adapt to new trading arrangements and the economic impacts of new policies, it is of utmost importance that the Sustainable Farming Scheme includes an adequate stability element and is also flexible enough to provide occasional support at times of wide scale crisis as a result of factors such as animal and human diseases and geo-political factors. Complementing this stability element must be a fair reward for environmental outcomes both in terms of what farmers have already delivered and what they will deliver into the future.

“With family farms forming the backbone of our rural and wider communities, we must have a scheme which delivers for our economy, landscape, language and culture whilst also underpinning the top-quality food production, which makes our farmers lynchpins in a food supply chain which sustains a multi-billion-pound food and drink industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

Mr Jones added: “I am most grateful to those MSs who have engaged with us as part of the bill process. By working closely with them we have been able to secure some positive changes to the bill which I believe will make a real difference as future policy is developed.

"These changes include provisions for Multi-Annual Support Plans, obliging Ministers to provide information about the expected use of powers under the bill.

"In addition, the bill now also contains specific provisions which will go some way towards helping monitor agricultural production and ensuring that this in turn informs policy making, as well as changes to the objectives on the face of the bill, acknowledging the all-important contribution of agricultural businesses to their local economies. I thank all those involved in getting us to a significant milestone.”