Farmers’ Union of Wales Gwent county chairman Wayne Langford and Union officials recently met with Alun Davies MS to discuss the Sustainable Farming scheme (SFS) and wider environmental concerns.

The meeting was held at Mr Langford’s farm Penrhyn, Nantybwch, near Tredegar. The family farm is a sheep and beef holding and Wayne and his wife Tracy look after a flock of around 300 Welsh mountain sheep, and a herd of cattle on the common in summer and on the farm in winter. The farm is also part of the Glastir Commons contract.

During the farm walk, Union officials highlighted that that members welcomed the overall SFS framework proposed by the Welsh Government based on the principle of a ‘baseline payment’ for all farmers undertaking ‘Universal Actions’ which is not dissimilar to providing a ‘stability payment’ as lobbied for by the FUW for years, with additional revenue streams for ‘Optional and Collaborative Actions’.

Mr Davies heard that existing RPW Online data being better utilised and new data being collected through self-monitoring and new technology was also broadly welcomed, in order to minimise the need for advisers or complex and resource thirsty contracts which would dilute the agricultural budget. 

“The design principles of the scheme which aim to ‘keep farmers on the land’ and recognise that ‘food production is vital for our nation’ are also welcome, however, there are some concerns regarding the scheme details, most notably the feasibility for large numbers to meet the 10% woodland and 10% habitat thresholds,” said Wayne Langford. 

FUW President Glyn Roberts added:

“This would be in addition to a hypocritically raised regulatory baseline for Welsh farmers through the introduction of National Minimum Standards at a time of increased quotas of imports produced to far lower environmental standards.”

Mr Langford further highlighted that the proposed scheme would impact different farms in different ways and for upland hill farms such as his, it would mean a drastic change.  

“We run a low input farm with the ewes and their lambs out on the common as much as possible and they are joined by the cattle in the summer. With the livestock grazing the common it helps keep the Mollinia down and in doing so we are contributing to the biodiversity of the vegetation on the Common. Without some common land environment payments keeping the cattle in this sort of system it would not be economically viable,” said Mr Langford.

The requirement for farmers to ‘have at least 10% tree cover on their farm’ was also discussed with the Member of the Senedd. He heard that this requirement was seen by many members as being the most challenging ‘Universal Action’ requirement, whilst being completely impractical or impossible for many farms. 

“That rings particularly true for those with a large percentage of their farm as habitat land, coastal land, land above the treeline, highly productive land, common land or tenanted land if the landlord either retains the woodland themselves or does not agree to a change of land use within a contract,” said Mr Roberts. 

Mr Langford further stressed that:

“Many people believe that our hills and commons should be planted with trees. Whilst we agree that there are areas which are suitable and we welcome the addition of habitat, consideration must be given to those who utilise the commons and hills for food production. That land is a crucial part of our farming business. Our industry has experienced a drastic decline of hill farmers over recent years so we must endeavour to support them to ensure their survival.”

FUW Gwent and Glamorgan County Executive Officer Sharon Pritchard added:

“There are many alternative routes to reducing GHG emissions and increasing carbon sequestration on farmland. For example enhancing the 410 million tonnes of soil organic carbon currently stored in Welsh soils, focusing on productive efficiencies, or allowing additional habitat land (such as peatland) to qualify for any thresholds. Any overall losses to a farm’s productive capacity will impact negatively on our current and future food security, therefore proposals must work with, and not against, the farming system.”