After meeting with local representatives from the farming unions in Montgomeryshire, the local AM for Montgomeryshire has again called on the Welsh Government to respond to the concerns of farmers and support the farming industry in Mid Wales.
Raising farming unions’ concerns about the Welsh Government's "Sustainable Farming and Our Land" consultation, Russell George, Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, called on the Welsh Government to provide farmers and rural communities with greater confidence in the Welsh Government's plans.
Since the publication of the Welsh Government’s original consultation, “Brexit and Our Land”, the Welsh Conservative opposition has consistently held the Welsh Labour Government to account over its plans and has pushed it to fully recognise the importance of food production in Wales and the role that farmers play in developing the rural economy.
Speaking after raising the issue in the Senedd this week (Wednesday 13th November), Mr George said:
“The Sustainable Farming and Our Land consultation lacks sufficient detail and raises a number of serious questions regarding how the new scheme will work in practice.
“The proposals lack a stability mechanism, which is vital to protect farmers from market volatility, whilst the lack of a clear eligibility system could potentially result in the large expansion of the scheme and result in some farmers losing out on funding.
“We need more detail about how the bespoke support for every farm will work and whether this will result in extra bureaucracy for farmers. This may mean that farmers are not able to deliver the projects that are expected of them, meaning the aims of the new scheme will remain unfulfilled.
“I believe that Brexit and the scrapping of the Common Agricultural Policy could provide an exciting opportunity to directly support farmers and food producers, and to open new trading markets to enhance the agricultural sector, which will be so vital to the future of the wider Welsh economy.
“I urge the Welsh Government to carefully listen to the concerns of farmers and our rural communities and to urgently respond to these concerns to provider greater confidence in its plans.”
