Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:02 pm on 17 July 2019.
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'?