A Viable Future For Farming

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 30 November 2022.

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Photo of Jane Dodds Jane Dodds Liberal Democrat 2:33, 30 November 2022

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.