Welsh farmers ‘must take long-term view’
The Welsh government is to launch a consultation on the switch from a historic to an area-based farm payment system.
Wales’ deputy farming minister Alun Davies said the consultation period would begin in the New Year and he encouraged farmers to have their say.
Mr Davies said: “This change will have a significant impact on 30% of Welsh farms. Any business needs to know what its income will be over a period of time.”
He added that farmers could be given as much as a decade to make the transition from one system to the other.
“It is important that farmers are given time to adjust their businesses,” he said.
Mr Davies announced plans for the consultation during the Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales – conference at Llandudno on 8 November where he also used the platform to speak more widely about farming’s role in shaping the future of the countryside.
The aim he said, would be to shape a farm industry that was fit for the long term. “It is a matter for the industry to determine its future. The objective is not simply about today or tomorrow, this year or next, but a far-sighted shaping of the industry.”
Mr Davies insisted that he wanted to work in partnership with farmers to ensure that vision was “strong, confident, profitable, sustainable and attractive to coming generations”.
“It is not just about individual farmers or what we do today but what sort of industry we want to hand on to future generations,” Mr Davies said.
He also stressed the importance of creating new European export markets to boost the Welsh meat industry.
“We all need to focus on the bigger picture. It is important not only to maintain existing contracts but to find new ones at home and abroad,” he said.