1. How is the Government securing a viable future for farming? OQ58785

The Agriculture (Wales) Bill establishes four sustainable land management objectives as the legislative framework for future agricultural policy. The proposed sustainable farming scheme includes actions that will help farmers make best use of their resources and improve the resilience of their farms and businesses.

Thank you for that answer.

I support efforts to establish a set of actions for all farmers in Wales in return for annual universal baseline payments that will promote biodiversity and boost the environment in our country. I do, however, share the concerns of farming unions that tenant farmers or those with common land rights, similar to one I visited within my region, will find it difficult to meet the scheme's requirements. How will you ensure that your universal principles for the sustainable farming scheme will include and protect the kinds of farmers I have referenced? They are part of a long tradition in rural Wales and in the Valleys, which I represent, and their future must not be threatened by unintended consequences of the scheme.

Thank you. It's really important that the sustainable farming scheme works for every farmer on every type of farm in every part of Wales. So, what we've established is half a dozen working groups to look at specific areas. Tenant farmers is one area, and common land farmers is another. Both are very important parts of the agricultural sector here in Wales. We know that common land is important for environmental benefits, for instance, such as biodiversity and water management, and for the large number of farmers that rely on it for forage too. You'll be aware that we've just come to the end of the co-design of the sustainable farming scheme. We'll now look at the responses that we've had and the discussions we've had before we go out to the final consultation. But obviously the outputs from the working groups that I've just mentioned will be mixed in with all the responses that we've had to the co-design output, along with ongoing policy development.

Minister, ensuring our farmers have a viable future is very important, but one sector in particular that is facing huge pressure is our poultry industry, as they are managing avian influenza and a massive rise in energy costs. Can you please outline what steps the Welsh Government is taking to support our poultry farmers to make sure that they have a sustainable, viable future in the poultry industry here in Wales?

Obviously, we've seen an unprecedented series of outbreaks of avian influenza. We've had no respite at all over the summer, when we usually do see no outbreaks at all. We've just had it constantly over the last three years. We start counting the new outbreaks from 1 October of each year, and since 1 October 2022, we've already had three outbreaks here in Wales, so, it's a really difficult time for our poultry producers at the moment, particularly, because we know that many farmers have diversified into poultry farming. It's really important that we look at this across the UK. Next Monday, I'll be having my regular inter-ministerial group meeting with my counterparts from across the UK. I've asked for this to be an agenda item, because, clearly, we need to work as four nations to support our poultry farmers.

Can I draw your attention to the register of interests and the multiple organisations that I belong to that have an interest within this area, including the British Veterinary Association, Ramblers Cymru and others? But could I just commend the Minister on how she is trying to bring forward a future for sustainable farming within Wales that balances what sometimes appear to be competing interests, but actually are not competing interests?

Could she tell me how, within the agriculture Bill—and Llyr and I welcomed the opportunity to be in part of that Bill the other day, taking evidence from the Minister—but also in the future sustainable farming proposals as well, how she will make sure that we have that livelihood for farmers and landowners going forward, particularly because of the impact on Welsh language and culture, but small and medium-scale farms? But also, how do we actually expand and augment those wider public benefits that she's talked about, like flood alleviation, like carbon sequestration, but also, Minister, access to the land, biodiversity—how do we square those all off? This is complicated, but it has to be done because I think this is a one-off opportunity to get it right.

Yes, thank you. I do think it is a one-off opportunity and it's the first time, obviously, that we've been able to have this Wales-specific policy, and it's really important that it works for our farmers here in Wales and for ensuring that we keep farmers on the land and that we protect the fantastic landscapes that we have here in Wales.

You'll be aware that the agriculture Wales Bill has those four objectives, and you mentioned a couple of the objectives, particularly around culture, environmental, social and economic outcomes. I said in my earlier answer that it's really important that that scheme is accessible to everybody. Now, I believe that, at the current time, there are lots of those environmental outcomes being produced by our farmers that they're not being rewarded for. So, I think it's really important that we try and incentivise our farmers to be part of the scheme. I certainly would like to see more farmers participating in the scheme than who currently participate in the basic payments scheme, for instance. So, we've got parallel working now with the agriculture Wales Bill and the sustainable farming scheme. But that quality water and soil, and the protection of our habitats that farmers currently undertake but don't get rewarded for will certainly be part of that sustainable farming scheme.

Good afternoon, Minister. I wanted to follow up on Peredur's question, particularly around farmers who farm on common land. On Monday, we were at the winter fair—many of us were there—and we met farmers, Gary Williams from Carmarthenshire, and Guto Davies from Clwyd, both of whom farm on common land. It was really interesting to hear some of the challenges that they face, which you'll, no doubt, be aware of, particularly the concerns that Peredur has mentioned: the ability of farmers on common land to access the sustainable farming scheme and deliver against some of the elements of the scheme that may not even be possible for some of those. We know that it's critical for farmers with common land rights, for whom the basic payment scheme and Glastir is central to farm incomes—that they are able to access and participate in the SFS. We know that some 65 per cent of common land is within Glastir and more than 3,000 farm businesses declared common land for the purpose of claiming BPS in 2021. Could I just ask you to expand a little bit more on your commitment to ensure that the scheme is sensitive to the needs of farmers on common land? Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thank you, and as I said in my earlier answer, we are setting up a common land working group and what I want that working group to do is explore what specific support and advice may be needed, as well as what flexibility we may need to offer to account for the complexities that are posed by common land. 

As you'll be aware, within the sustainable farming scheme outline proposals, we have three tiers: we have the universal, the optional and the collaborative tiers. And, certainly, in my discussions that I've had with common land farmers, I think it's fair to say that the universal and the optional actions, as are currently described in the outline document, don't apply to common land in the same way that they do to other farms. So it could be that we'll need to have a focus on the collaborative level for our common land farmers. You know, common land is very unique, and therefore I think it needs a much more tailored approach.