Welsh union stresses importance of adequate funding for farmers at meeting with new government heads
Welsh farming union NFU Cymru outlined the importance of a multi-year, £500m annual budget for the country’s agri-sector in a meeting today (2 October) with the new heads of Wales’s government.
Addressing First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, and Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, NFU Cymru deputy president Abi Reader stressed the need to restore adequate funding to farmers.
She told the First and Deputy First Minister that Welsh farmers are being asked to deliver more than ever before in relation to food security, nature and climate, so government must provide the funding to ensure they can meet their ambitions.
Commenting after the meeting, Reader said: “Our discussions today focused on securing a multi-year budget for Welsh farming, a budget that, in totality, needs to increase to around £500m annually just to keep pace with inflation.
“With the Rural Affairs Budget subject to the largest cuts of any Welsh Government department last autumn, it is imperative that this budget is restored, and inflation taken into account when the Welsh Government draft budget is published later this year.”
NFU Cymru and the Welsh ministers also discussed progress of the controversial Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS). Speaking afterwards, Reader welcomed the move by the Welsh government to maintain existing financial assistance to farmers while a workable SFS is negotiated by all those affected within the sector.
She said: “We very much recognise the commitment being made by the Deputy First Minister to partnership working and NFU Cymru is pleased to be a part of ongoing discussions within the Ministerial Roundtable, Carbon Sequestration Panel and Officials Working Group, it is vital that the outputs of these groups help deliver a scheme that works for all sectors and all farm types.
“We have welcomed the commitment the Cabinet Secretary has made to maintain the [financial assistance] Basic Payment Scheme for 2025, providing much needed stability and certainty to farmers and all those in the supply chain that rely on Welsh farming for so much of their income.
“This decision has provided the breathing space to allow for the design of the SFS that must deliver at least the same level of stability for farming, rural communities and the supply chain.”
Reader added: “We are immensely proud to be the cornerstone of a Welsh food and farming sector worth £9.3 billion to Wales, part of a food and drink industry that employs 228, 500 people, 17 per cent of Wales’s workforce, with over 50,000 employed on farm.
“We have an ambition to further grow the sector both in terms of value and jobs, producing high quality, safe and affordable food, growing established and building new markets at home and abroad with Welsh farming being the driving force behind vibrant rural communities.”
