“Whilst we have welcomed the statements made by Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths MS, that new schemes being developed in Wales must work for tenant farmers, we have seen little evidence to date of how this is going to happen in practice. Despite literally years of engagement with Welsh Government explaining the constraints within which tenant farmers have to operate, in terms of the legislation governing farm tenancies and within specific tenancy agreements, none of this appears to have been factored into the way in which schemes are being developed,” said Mr Matheson.

“I have lost count of the number of occasions when TFA Cymru has explained to both Welsh Government Ministers and Officials that trees and woodlands fall outside the scope of nearly all farm tenancies and that most tenants are prevented from planting new trees and woodlands. Despite this, the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme has a universal requirement for all participants to either have 10% tree cover already or commit to providing that level of cover on the holding. That is simply unachievable for the tenanted sector of agriculture,” said Mr Matheson.

“Additionally, the requirements to have 10% of land in seminatural habitat could fall foul of the rules of good husbandry written in 1947. These rules require tenant farmers to make maximum, efficient use of their holdings for agricultural production. The current definition of agriculture, as it applies to agricultural tenancies, does not include the use of land for enhancing biodiversity, ecosystems services or sequestering and storing carbon. These are all things that Welsh Government wants farms to achieve more of. In light of this, it is surprising that the Agriculture (Wales) Bill introduced to the Senedd contains no provisions for amending these historic rules and definitions,” said Mr Matheson.

The introduction of the new prevention of agricultural pollution regulations in Wales is also causing huge issues for the tenanted sector of agriculture. It is very often the case that the fixed equipment on holdings used to store and manage slurry belongs to landlords who will have responsibility to ensure compliance with new rules and regulations. Even where responsibility does fall to tenants, there can often be specific requirements within tenancy agreements which prevent tenants from adding to or amending fixed equipment on their holdings without landlords’ consent.

“In cases where it is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure compliance with the regulations, getting the landlord to comply is not an easy or quick process. Tenants must not be penalised under the Regulations or prevented from joining the new Sustainable Farming Scheme if they have done all they reasonably can to get their landlords to comply,” said Mr Matheson.

“There is no, one size fits all, policy that will work across all types of land occupation. There will be huge differences depending on whether farmland is owner occupied, tenanted, grazed under licence or used as common land. It is at least good news that the Welsh Government has recognised this by establishing a Tenancy Working Group and a Commons Working Group. TFA Cymru is represented on both groups. However, the proof of the pudding will be very much in the eating. These groups must be given a free hand to both highlight the issues and recommend solutions which will then need to be taken forward by Welsh Government,” said Mr Matheson.

“Tenant farmers must not be disenfranchised from taking part in the new schemes simply because they are tenant farmers. Neither do we want tenant farmers to lose access to the land they are farming so that funding goes to their landlords in their place. The Rural Affairs Minister must deliver on her promise to make sure that the agriculture and rural affairs policy within Wales, and the schemes which will underpin that, work for tenant farmers.