Agriculture (Wales) Bill

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 15 November 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:30, 15 November 2022

I know that it is being given further consideration by the Minister, and that she remains in discussions over a fifth goal of economic resilience. I think there is a strong argument to be made that the four goals we have already identified have economic resilience running through them all, because the four goals are all designed to make sure that farmers can go on being paid for the production of the things that only farmers can provide. That begins with sustainable food production—that is the first goal that we propose in the Bill—but all the other things that farmers are able to provide, those public goals that mean that taxpayers will have a direct interest in making sure that investment continues in farming communities—clean air, clean water, sustainable agricultural practices—are already captured in the four goals that the Bill includes. They're there to make sure that farmers have ways in which, through the actions they can take, they can go on having incomes provided to them to achieve economic resilience. In the meantime, as I say, my colleague Lesley Griffiths continues to discuss with others whether a fifth goal would be something that would, in any meaningful sense, add anything further to the way the Bill is already constructed.