Brexit and Our Land Consultation

On 10 July, the Welsh Government launched a consultation seeking views on their proposals for a post Brexit land management programme for Wales called ‘Brexit and our Land’ consultation.The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, wants Welsh farmers to have their say on “…one of the most important consultations for the farming sector in generation.”

The Welsh Government are proposing a new Land Management Programme to replace the Common Agricultural Policy and Basic Payment Scheme in Wales in its entirety and propose two new grant schemes to replace the current subsidies received from the European Union.The first scheme is The Economic Resilience Scheme which targets investment for improvements in business resilience and productivity especially for high quality food production, and the second is the Public Goods Scheme which provides funds for farmers addressing issues such as reducing flood risk, decarbonisation and habitat loss.

Wales’ two farming unions, the NFU and FUW have joined forces and launched a joint principles paper entitled ‘A Welsh Way Forward’ to set out their ideas for how the agricultural industry should be funded and the five key principles in their views are Stability, Family Farms, Supporting Rural Communities and Welsh Jobs, Sustainable Agriculture and Rewarding Environmental Outcomes.

The consultation period ends on 30 October 2018, so make sure you have your say.

Written by Sioned Thomas.