The Welsh government has announced that a major research farm will remain in operation, following speculation that it would have to close or be sold off in lots. The 3,500-acre Pwllpeiran Farm, Ceredigion was to be sold off, after research firm ADAS announced in March it could not afford to renew the lease from the Welsh Government.

However, Aberystwyth University has announced its Institute for Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences will take up the lease on Pwllpeiran after the University made a successful bid in June. IBERS teaches and conducts research into rural and environmental sciences.  

Welsh deputy agricultural minister Alun Davies welcomed the development, which he said would provide benefit to the farming sector. Speaking at the Royal Welsh Show today, Mr Davies said IBERS’ tenancy “Will be welcomed by the local community, farmers and researcher alike [and] will help realise our ambitions for sustainable agriculture in Wales.”

The farm has been used as a research centre, conducting research into uplands farming methods, for nearly eighty years.

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