Tree Planting on Agricultural Land

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 17 November 2021.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 2:53, 17 November 2021

So, you appear to be quite critical of my earlier answer around my meetings with the farming unions last week. It was them that told me that it was anecdotal, and they offered to bring forward the further evidence. You say that there is an increasing number of concerns, and I agree with you—there is certainly a perception out there. Now, whether it is just a perception doesn't matter, because perception is everything in politics.

We need to know the facts around this, and we do have some idea of, obviously, the numbers. However, the issues that were brought to me, particularly by one of the farming unions, I wasn't aware of, so I have asked for evidence. I don't think that that's unusual, for instance. What we do know is that the majority of our Glastir Woodland Creation scheme beneficiaries are our farmers. So, in developing any future schemes, I want to review how to make sure that these work well for our farmers in the way that I just referred to in a previous answer.