, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Diolch, Cadeirydd. I was wondering if the Minister could give her views on the viability of alternatives to farming by calendar, specifically the role technology can play. As I understand it, some of your officials visited the Gelli Aur agri-college in…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Diolch.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Thank you for that. And one final question on unintended consequences, if I may, Chair, and this relates to farmers' mental health. I know that this is actually something that the Minister has done a lot of work on, in fairness, and I know it's something that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Thank you for that, Minister. Of course, I don't think anyone is denying the need to deal with the environmental crisis, but, of course, as part of that, nature and biodiversity are very important as well. Can I take it from your answer, Minister, that if we…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Diolch, Cadeirydd. Of course there have been concerns raised by farming unions that an all-Wales approach is disproportionate and could have unintended consequences. If I could pick up on the potential risks to the environment and biodiversity to start with…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Thank you for that, Minister. I'm conscious that I might actually, with some of the supplementaries I have to that, stray into other Members' questions, so in the interest of safety and not annoying other Members, I'll hand back to you, Chair.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
There are a couple of things that I think we have an opportunity to come back to later, so I'll stick to this particular point. I was wondering if we could look briefly at the limit to how much nitrogen farmers are allowed to spread per hectare of land. I am…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Review of the Agricultural Pollution Regulations
Diolch, Cadeirydd. Good morning, Minister, and the rest of the panel.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
For the record, I do agree with the position that Roger laid out as well, but thank you for those answers. Much appreciated. But I'll pass back to you now, Cadeirydd.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Well, I'm going by what the Minister has said here. I'm just seeing what you see as the Minister's views on that, whether you agree with those views or whether you do not.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Yes, of course.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Thank you, Roger. Elin, anything to add there?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Diolch, Elin. My final question relates to how we incentivise and disincentivise certain behaviours. We touched on this in the last panel. I was just wondering if you could share your views on how behaviours that are detrimental to disease control could be…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Diolch, Roger. Elin.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
The Welsh Government has said that the current system is unsustainable. We established earlier that with increased testing, you're going to be finding more cattle that have tested positive for TB, which, in turn, will mean that more compensation is needed…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Thank you for that, Elin.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Thank you, Roger, and thank you for sharing your own personal example as well. It's much appreciated. Elin, did you have anything you wanted to add there?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Farming Unions
Diolch, Cadeirydd. I have a couple of questions on the compensation payments, and we have touched on this already throughout today's session. But, of course, if you'd like to add anything additional, then please do. I thought I'd kick off by asking if you…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Brilliant. Thank you, Glyn. Diolch yn fawr, Cadeirydd.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Thanks, Gareth. Glyn and James, do you have anything further to add before I hand back to the Cadeirydd?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Thank you. And again, we touched on this in some of those previous answers on incentivising behaviours and disincentivising behaviours that might be detrimental to disease control. I was wondering—and, again, I'll go back to Gareth—if you could expand on that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Thanks, Glyn. Did you have anything to add at all, James?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Glyn, James, did you have anything further to add on that?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Thanks, Glyn. We've already alluded, potentially, to this, I think, in Gareth's answer, but one driver for the Welsh Government's proposals to change compensation has been that overspend in the budget. I was wondering if—and I'll stick with Gareth on this, if…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Bovine TB panel—Academics
Thanks for that, Gareth. Glyn, did you have anything further you'd like to add to that?
