4. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact that the proposed new farm payments system will have on the rural economy? OAQ54285

'Sustainable Farming and our Land' is underpinned by 400 pages of detailed scientific assessments, produced in collaboration with universities around the UK. However, until we have certainty on budgets from the UK Government, we cannot produce an impact assessment. Changes will not be introduced until an impact assessment has been completed.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. The Farmers Union of Wales has forced the Government to admit that the proposed new system may create a postcode lottery of funding for farmers. Some farmers may struggle to identify enough environmental actions to justify adequate payments, while others may find plenty of green opportunities. One of my constituents has a farm that has, for years, been undertaking positive environmental actions, but some of them may not be able to continue once you build the red route relief road through his land. What compensation or adjustments will you put in place for those farmers whose land cannot hit the environmental targets that you set, or find it more difficult to achieve the outcomes that you desire because you have compulsory purchased and built on parts of their farm, vastly increased pollutants and caused environmental damage to the rest of their land? And, if you are going to make a farmer's income dependent on their environmental actions, should you not also be operating by the same rules, and not destroying swathes of our environment? Or is this a classic example of, 'Don't do as we do; do as we say'?

The FUW has not forced me into saying any such thing, and I have no idea where you got that piece of information from. You will be aware that our consultation now looks at both sustainable food production and environmental outcomes. I have not visited a farm in Wales—and I have visited many, many farms in Wales over the last three years—where environmental outcomes could not be produced on that farm. I haven't come across any farmer who has said to me, 'I cannot produce any environmental outcomes on my land'. I think that the basis of our consultation shows just what farmers do already, for which they are not rewarded, and they should be rewarded. There is no market for environmental outcomes, and it is only right that if farmers provide excellent water quality and air quality, and if they are storing carbon, they are rewarded.  

You'll forgive me for not missing an opportunity, Minister, to invite you to a farm in my constituency, given that you have been visiting farms across Wales, to hear some of their issues and their concerns. It's a very good initial question by Michelle Brown. There are concerns out there and the farmers unions have highlighted some of them. I appreciate that there are issues around the Brexit process and uncertainties, issues that are currently outside of your control, but things like the new land management scheme are within your control. Can you give us an assurance, and farmers an assurance, that, yes, the environmental factors that are very important are going to be there in the way that they deserve, but also that issues like production will come into this scheme as well? Because I think we do need to see farmers being recompensed, or however you want to call it, instead of the current subsidy system, but supported for producing food, which is of course their primary aim.

I'd be very happy to visit a farm in your constituency. I think it's really important that I'm out there, visiting farms and listening to farmers' concerns. You'll be aware of the extensive consultation we had last year in relation to 'Brexit and our land', and obviously 'Sustainable Farming and our Land' is part 2 of that consultation. Both unions, I think, welcomed the consultation. I think they could see that there had been a move from what was proposed in 'Brexit and our land' to 'Sustainable Farming and our Land'. One of the things is about having one sustainable farming scheme rather than the two schemes that we propose, so I hope it showed that it's a very meaningful consultation last year, that we listened to farmers' concerns, and I can assure them and everybody else that this consultation will be just as meaningful. It's open till 30 October and I would urge people to put forward their consultations, and certainly, as I said in my answer to Llyr Huws Gruffydd, over the next few weeks when we're attending summer shows, I'm sure that will be a topic for conversation. To be able to reward farmers for sustainable food production I think is very important. Again, it was something that came out of the 'Brexit and our land' consultation. What is very clear to me, and I'm sure to many people here, is that the basic payment scheme and the common agricultural policy have not given us the environmental outcomes that we would want, and that is what we're looking to do with sustainable farming.