A Viable Future For Farming

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:31 pm on 30 November 2022.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 2:31, 30 November 2022

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.