A survey of businesses in rural Wales by the Farmers Union for Wales (FUW) has provided a snapshot of farming’s value to the Welsh rural economy.

The survey of businesses attending the Royal Welsh Spring Festival last weekend showed over two-thirds of respondents are reliant on farming for the survival of their business. Most businesses asked were small businesses employing fewer than ten people, though some had up to 50 employees on their books.

Pushing for bridging payments for farmers who had been affected by severe delays to 2015 farm payments earlier this year, NFU Scotland arranged meetings with government ministers, farmers and owners of ancillary businesses to discuss the wider impact of cash flow problems. A South Lanarkshire farmer who hosted a meeting with MSPs highlighted the effect not just on farms, but on businesses that rely on farmers’ custom, saying “the wheels have stopped turning” in response to delayed payments.

Commenting on FUW’s survey findings, the union’s Deputy President Brian Thomas said, “We know that a lot of second and third sector businesses are already struggling as a result of the knock on impact of low agricultural incomes and farmgate prices, and this snapshot survey confirms the potential wider impact if there was to be a further downturn in farm incomes.

“We must remember that agriculture is the powerhouse of the rural economy, generates billions of pounds which benefit a host of industries including many not directly associated with agriculture.

“The impact of the most recent recession on our economy as a whole has been severe, but there can be no doubt that in rural Britain and many of our urban areas the impact has been buffered by the core role agriculture has played in generating income for communities the length and breadth of the UK.”