What would the Welsh Conservatives do if they were in charge of agriculture reform in Wales

Emily Price

The Welsh Conservatives have been making a lot of noise about the government’s proposed post-Brexit agriculture reforms - but what would they do differently if they were in power?

Over recent weeks, there has been mounting anger and frustration amongst farming communities over the Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme.

The scheme has been developed with climate and nature emergencies in mind and will reward farmers who farm sustainably.

It will require farmers to bring their existing tree and woodland cover up to 10% – and earmark another 10% for habitat.

Farmers, unions and opposition politicians say this would never be practical whilst running a farm business in an already struggling sector.

Andrew RT Davies has added the SFS to his ever growing list of things he would scrap - along with the 20mph speed limits and plans for more politicians in Cardiff Bay.

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Support

The scheme will be voluntary – but will be the main source of government support for farmers in Wales in future.

The reforms come against a backdrop of continuous bovine TB breakdowns and the slaughtering of thousands of Welsh cattle every year as well as bureaucratic pollution regulations.

It's also argued that the information the Welsh Government has on farms in Wales is outdated.

A farmer recently voiced his frustrations over one of his grass fields which the Welsh Government had marked as “enclosed wetland”.

But in the absence of previous European Union grant funding, Wales must have some form of agriculture payment scheme in place to help farmers maintain a viable business.

So what would the Welsh Conservatives do differently if they were in power?

We invited shadow rural affairs minister Sam Kurtz to explain what the Welsh Tories would do if they were in charge of agriculture reform in Wales.

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Anger

He says if his party was making the decisions in Cardiff Bay, agriculture reform in Wales would not have a one size fits all approach.

The shadow rural affairs minister says farmers would be offered payments to support food production and that a series of calculations would be carried out to determine levels of carbon sequestration.

As farm crops photosynthesise, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and create the oxygen we need to breathe. Through this chemical process carbon is sequestered (stored) in the soil.

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Incentive

Speaking to Nation.Cymru, Mr Kurtz said: "We would ensure a direct farm payment to support food production. Funding would then be available to incentivise farmers into environmental schemes that are tailored for their farm, not a one-size-fits-all approach.

"Calculations would be undertaken to determine the current levels of carbon sequestration on Welsh farms, amongst other environmental and productivity metrics, so that our farm support policy could be measured against this baseline to ensure that Welsh farming continues to make environmental improvements while ensuring food production isn’t jeopardised."

A previous FoI revealed that the Welsh Government doesn't hold the information on how much carbon is already sequestered on Welsh farmland.

Mr Kurtz says that although this would take time to get the analysis done - it’s important that the baseline is understood.

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Soil health

He said: "There are also calculations around soil health and quality, bio-diversity audits on farms etc. Some of which farms have already undertaken via Farming Connect and other means. But as we saw with the Habitat Wales Scheme, that data can’t be uploaded to the Rural Payments Wales website.

"If we’re looking to get a scheme that is right for farmers and nature - and I don’t believe that is contradictory - then let’s make sure we have all the data available to us to inform good policy."

The Welsh Conservatives say they would also use legislation to unlock opportunities in agriculture research in order to improve farming practices.

Mr Kurtz said: "We would also incentivise the sector to embrace science and technology as a means of improving productivity sustainably.

"We would look to legislation, such as the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill as a means of unlocking opportunities in agri-research, helping to put Welsh agriculture at the forefront of these advances which would see improvements to farming practices, yields and environmental outcomes."

In 2022, the Welsh Conservatives launched their alternative vision for the agricultural sector in Wales.

They said their plan would protect, promote, and provide for Welsh agriculture seeking to work with farmers and not against them.

The Bill would focus on food security, enabling Wales to produce more of its own to reduce reliance on imports.

Incentives

The Tories say it would be simple to deliver and sustainable whilst taking into account the relationship between the land and those who work it.

Mr Kurtz said: "Our farm support policy would recognise the role farmers are already playing in food production and how they are doing so sustainably, whilst incentivising the sector to move forwards in a way that is collaborative and meaningful.

"The three Ps – Protect, Promote, Provide, were the basis of our Alternative Agriculture Bill and that would be the ethos for our farm support too."

Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths says the Welsh Government has had a seven-year conversation with farmers to design future farming support and is committed to continuing to working with farmers.

The consultation on the final proposals for the scheme will end on March 7 and farmers are urged to take part.

Alterations are expected to be made to the scheme before it is rolled out next year.