Farm support and the Sustainable Farming Scheme

Cefin CampbellPlaid

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Okay. Thank you. A final question on this particular topic. One of the things that concerned farmers a great deal during the consultation was that, if they were expected to reach targets in terms of tree planting or biodiversity, there should be some kind of data or a baseline agreed so that they…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Gian Marco Currado

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

…for this financial year and sits alongside the commitment the previous Minister made to maintain BPS for 2024. As we were discussing earlier, the preparatory phase—. In a way, the way to look at it is probably that it's a dual track. So, on the one hand, it's the work around SFS design and…

Tagged for: “BPS”, “SFS”, “sustainable farming scheme”, “universal actions”Official Record

Huw Irranca-DaviesLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Yes. So, we've—. I'll bring Gian Marco in in a moment. We've continued the support of the BPS, and we've continued the support of things such as some of the small grant schemes. We were talking earlier on about nitrate pollution—so, some of the on-farm measures that can be taken. We continue to have…

Tagged for: “BPS”Official Record

Cefin CampbellPlaid

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

May I just follow on from that point? The year's delay, of course, means that you can assess and plan in a more considered way, but also we're losing a year of opportunities, perhaps, for farmers to deliver on some environmental schemes. So, is there funding or a budget available for them to do…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Huw Irranca-DaviesLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Thank you, Cefin. Well, first of all, I would say we're not delaying indefinitely. When we say there's a preparatory phase, we genuinely mean that. There is work to do. I've described already the pace at which we're doing this and the intensity, and I should just take the opportunity to say 'thank…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Official Record

Paul DaviesConservative

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Thank you. I'm going to ask my next questions in Welsh, so if you could use the headphones. This delay worries environmentalists, of course, because they worry that any delay is going to mean that we don't move on quickly enough to achieve the targets on climate change and biodiversity. How do you…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Huw Irranca-DaviesLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

…as well. But their views are being represented very keenly. We're adamant that the final design of the SFS has to provide that level of certainty that those who want to come into farming can do. But I've got to say that the most significant barriers—and this will be part of my discussions this…

Tagged for: “SFS”Official Record

Huw Irranca-DaviesLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Yes, we're committed to making sure that happens and working through that with the ministerial round-table. It's no surprise that this is one of the issues that has emerged. One of the ways forward, for example, possibly could be if graziers were to participate in a commons agreement, which would…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Official Record

Hefin DavidLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Yes, I think my question, which I was going to ask about common land and tenant farmers and accessibility has just been addressed, but can you just clarify that the scheme will be accessible to common land and tenant farmers?

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Official Record

Gian Marco Currado

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

Absolutely. And we've had a lot of really good feedback through the consultation on what are those actions that stakeholders want us to see develop. So, as the Cabinet Secretary said, part of the discussion with the stakeholder group will also be that, to say, 'Okay, well, what are the priority…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Official Record

Gian Marco Currado

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

So, our hope would be that we can bring online as many of the optional and collaborative from day 1, given that we are having a longer period to have that discussion. Realistically, I think—. When we consulted, we consulted about a transition period from 2025 to 2029; realistically, I think there…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Sustainable Farming Scheme”Official Record

Huw Irranca-DaviesLabour

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

So, the first principle is to say that need to make sure that those universal actions are genuinely available to every type of farmer that wants to be part of this—not every farmer will. But whether it's upland, lowland, intensive, extensive, whether it's cattle, whether it's dairy or beef or…

Tagged for: “universal actions”Official Record

Samuel KurtzConservative

13 June 2024, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee

Inquiry: Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme

…there into it, a delay to its implementation. Are you expecting, from 2026, all three tiers of the SFS to be live at the same time, or is there going to be an introductory—? It's going to be universal, followed by optional and collaborative at a later date?

Tagged for: “SFS”Official Record