7. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: Sustainable Farming: the future of agriculture support

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:40 pm on 8 July 2020.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 4:40, 8 July 2020

Thank you very much, Mandy Jones, for those comments and questions. I absolutely agree—everybody in the food supply chain have been key workers in ensuring, as I said earlier, that we didn't go without food.

One of the things that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic, unfortunately, on one occasion, was milk being poured away, and I absolutely agree with you about how heartbreaking that was for the farmers, and it's the reason why we've brought forward the dairy sector scheme.

Whilst you and I will never agree on EU transition, one thing I do agree is that active farmers have not been rewarded enough, and this scheme will reward active farmers. That was very important as we bring the scheme forward: that it is not the landowners but the farmers, the people who do all of the work, who will get rewarded. I also have said all along that, if we have more bureaucracy, then we will have failed. We need to make sure that things are much more simple.

The short answer is that Liz Truss had no conversations with me before she announced that, but I wouldn't expect that. We tried to get her to come to many of our Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs quadrilaterals when she was in the Treasury and failed miserably, apart from one phone call, so that doesn't surprise me. However, I will be having conversations with George Eustice, the Secretary of State for DEFRA. As you know, we meet regularly—we met last week—and that's a conversation that will be going forward as we discuss frameworks as well.

I want to assure everybody that we will not go to the new scheme without a significant transition period. We will not transpose to that scheme until everything is in place. As I said, I think it would be very surprising if it were before 2024.

Obviously, the future generations Act and the environment Act have guided us, and will continue to guide us. I do think there is enough flexibility. I want to see innovation in our agricultural sector—it's something that we've encouraged and I think has been grasped by many parts of the sector.