Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths has published three documents relating to the second phase of co-design on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).
The SFS will be Wales’ post-Brexit answer to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and will be the government’s main mechanism to support farmers in Wales going forward.
Minister Griffiths outlined scheme proposals for the SFS last July, which were the basis for this period of co-design with farmers and stakeholders, which will help shape the scheme.
Minister Griffiths published three reports yesterday (Tuesday, July 11) in total. The ‘Sustainable Farming Scheme Co-design Final Report’ is the collated feedback from over 1600 contributions, primarily from farmers, covering all main agricultural sectors.
‘Sustainable Farming Scheme – Analysis of feedback to the outline scheme proposals’ reflects the responses of 100 stakeholder organisations, groups and individuals who contributed wider feedback.
Minister Griffiths also published ‘Sustainable Farming Scheme Outline Proposals – Co-design Response.
Key points that the Welsh government has taken from the co-design responses include:
- Farmers need time to understand and implement changes. Because of this, a phased approach could be considered, which could mean rolling out the Universal Actions when the scheme begins in 2025, with Optional and Collaborative Actions in the following years;
- It was proposed a Habitat Baseline Review would be needed before joining the scheme. Consideration will be made on how to make this scalable for the Universal Layer by using information already held, to remotely identify habitats on the farm through the familiar process of RPW online;
- Concerns regarding recognition for good management of existing habitats and woodland above the proposed minimum requirement;
- Based on feedback, further detail has been provided on the scenarios where tree planting is not possible. Changes are being explored so the planting action is not 10% of the entire holding, but 10% of the remaining area once unsuitable areas have been identified. The 10% tree cover would include existing tree cover.
“All of this will now feed into the consultation to take place later this year,” Minister Griffiths said.
“We have never before been able to utilise farmers input in this way, when designing a scheme, and I look forward to further discussing the proposals with farmers at the Royal Welsh and other shows this summer,” she added.
“The feedback and co-operation to date will help us all to deliver an ambitious and accessible scheme for active farmers.”
The next stage in the SFS progress will be a consultation later this year. Decision on the final design of the scheme will not be made until after the consultation has concluded.
Sustainable Farming Scheme co-design
National Farmers’ Union Wales (NFU Cymru) said it remains “supportive of Welsh Government’s overarching framework for the SFS arranged around universal, optional and collaborative tiers”.
However, it reiterated some of the farmer concerns that the Welsh government has taken on board from the co-design reports – such as more detail and time needed to understand and adapt to the new scheme.
NFU Cymru president Aled Jones, said: “NFU Cymru is extremely concerned and disappointed that Welsh Government appears to have doubled down on its 10% tree cover target (on areas Welsh Government considers suitable for tree planting) within the universal tier of the proposed scheme.
“In our response to the SFS outline proposals, NFU Cymru highlighted the broad range of issues associated with the 10% tree cover and 10% habitat targets.
“We remain clear the challenges around these targets present a very real barrier to scheme participation.
“Farmers will be prepared to plant hedges, shelterbelts, streamside corridors and field corners on appropriate areas of their farm but will not plant trees on their productive land.”
Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) said the acknowledgment of the “much-talked-about 10% tree cover requirement” is a positive recognition of farmer engagement on the co-design progress.
FUW president Ian Rickman commented: “This marks welcome progress that reflects the concerns we have highlighted from the outset.
“But further concessions are needed if we are to avoid requiring agricultural land that is important for food production and the sustainability of individual farm business being planted with trees,” he added.
“We’ve been clear from the outset that food production and economic viability have to be considered equally to the environmental aspects of this scheme.”
He said the scheme is now at a “critical stage” in terms of whether progress over the coming months results in a “practical” scheme that delivers “economic, environmental and social sustainability”.
“The most important thing is to make sure this scheme is accessible and works for every farm. That includes the transition into the scheme so any action taken to make that process smoother for farmers is welcome,” he said.
