Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 4 October 2016.
Production subsidies are very much a two-edged sword. I remember when we had production subsidies and we produced probably 25 per cent too much in terms of sheep meat particularly, and the price was depressed as a result. We have to produce what the market will bear and not what we think people need to buy, because the reality is we’ll over produce and we’ll see the price drop. So, that has to be managed very carefully.
I know that Lesley Griffiths has had meetings on this very issue. I think it’s fair to say that the UK Government has no idea what farming policy should look like in the future. It’s also true to say that it has no real idea of the nature of devolution, when it comes to farming policy. From our perspective, what we want to see is autonomy for Wales in terms of farming policy, amongst others, together, of course, with a fair share of the money that we are told will be made available as a result of Brexit.