Updated September 2024
Supporting Farmers and rural life.
Earlier this year, we witnessed the largest protest ever seen at the Senedd. I was pleased to join and speak with some of those that attended. I also attended the protest that took place in Newtown. Thousands of farmers and those who care about rural Wales demonstrated and gave a strong message to the Welsh Government that the industry is at breaking point.
Farmers are being asked to do more, for less, with reduced support from the Welsh Government despite their growing environmental demands. My Welsh Conservative colleagues, and I voted against the Welsh Government’s budget for the 2024-25 financial year, as this budget imposed a cut of 13% to the rural affairs portfolio. The largest cut of any Welsh Government department.
As Welsh Conservatives, we have brought forward several Senedd motions this year, including forcing a vote calling on the Welsh Government to scrap the current Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) proposals and to re-engage with the farming sector to develop a new scheme that has the support of the farming community. Our motions have also called for the removal of the requirement for each farm to have 10% tree cover.
The Welsh Government had already initiated economic analysis and modelling for its earlier proposals. Its own forecasts show a 11% reduction in labour on Welsh farms, translating to approximately 5,500 jobs.
Following several protests and the various votes that took place in the Senedd, there seemed to be some movement from the new Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Huw Irranca-Davies MS. The Basic Payment Scheme will continue to be available in 2025, with the proposed SFS transition period starting from 2026, with an announcement to follow on the BPS ceiling.
An announcement from the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, at the Royal Welsh Show 2024 confirmed that the management of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) will now be included in the universal baseline payment within the SFS.
We are told this decision shows the Welsh Labour Government is listening to farmers concerns. In my view, they should have been listening from the start of this process. Whilst this is progress, the unions and farming community are clear that there remains a lot of work to do on many other aspects of the scheme – as set out in the farming unions responses to Welsh Government’s consultation.
I am in no doubt that this delay and re-engagement with farmers by the Welsh Government is only down to the enormous pressure and display of unity by farmers, farming unions and rural communities.
The Welsh Government also needs to do so much more to tackle the devastation that bovine TB causes. I believe that a holistic approach to defeating the disease is required; working in partnership with farmers and vets to eradicate the reservoir of infection within herds, eliminate inter-herd transmission and the targeted removal of infected wildlife, who themselves suffer a painful death due to TB.
Huw Irranca-Davies has also set up a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on TB, which is welcome. One change recommended by the TAG means that farmers will be able to choose to delay the removal of a cow or heifer in the last 60 days of pregnancy and animals that have given birth in the previous 7 days, subject to biosecurity conditions to protect other cattle in the herd. There is a lot more work to do if we are to catch up with the progress made in the fight against TB over the border in England where the removal of infected wildlife takes place. As Welsh Conservatives we have lobbied the Welsh Government to end the dreadful on-farm slaughter policy. I am pleased the Welsh Government have made this decision.
Another growing area of concern in recent years has been the increasing pressure on farming business from government regulation. The farming industry have been looking after our countryside for centuries, but the burden of further unnecessary regulation, and again a one-size-fits-all approach, is why I and Welsh Conservatives, voted against The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations (NVZs). The additional burden in Wales also makes famers less competitive than farming businesses often just a few miles away over the border.
The key headlines from Montgomeryshire farmers that responded to my survey this year were:
- 99% of respondents do not support the Welsh Governments original Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals.
- 98% of respondents do not believe the Welsh Governments approach to NVZs is the right approach.
- 100% of respondents believe that the Welsh Government need a new strategy towards dealing with TB and 92% of responses suggest that the removal of infected wildlife should be considered.
Following my survey, I fed in, and worked with my Welsh Conservative colleagues, and we are working our own proposals as an alternative to the SFS. We announced several key areas that we intend to focus on at the Royal Welsh Show this year. Our proposals will be designed to be an alternative to the current SFS, which I hope address issues raised with me and the specific challenges faced by Welsh farmers. I am keen to keep engaging with all interested parties as we develop our proposals. As well as lobbying Government to adapt our plan, they will also form part of my own party’s proposals ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections.
With Vaughan Gething stepping down, it is looking increasingly likely that Eluned Morgan MS will be our new First Minister and Huw Irrance-Davies will be our Deputy First Minister. Eluned Morgan represents mid and west Wales, a rural region that includes Montgomeryshire, I hope that she will grasp the message that our farming and rural communities are sending the Welsh Government and with Huw Irranca-Davies, the current rural affairs cabinet secretary as her deputy, the Welsh Government have a direct opportunity to listen to farmers, the unions and the wider rural community and create a farming environment that works for farmers.
I have been pleased that the farming sector have the support of the public, many who are not linked to the industry. This support needs to be maintained, it is incumbent on both the farming sector and politicians like me who fully support the industry’s’ calls, to set out why we need to back our farmers, and what the consequence are if we don’t; not only for the industry, but for us all.