‘Bankers and billionaires’ to benefit from Welsh commons payments

Bankers, billionaires and barristers are among those set to benefit from payments designed to support graziers on common land under the new Sustainable Farming Scheme in Wales, ministers have been warned.

As part of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), graziers with legal grazing rights on common land can receive a proportional share of the new Universal Baseline Payment, set to be introduced in Wales in 2026.

But, as with Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements, there is no requirement for recipients to demonstrate they are active graziers in order to be paid.

See also: Welsh Sustainable Farming Scheme: All you need to know

Money will instead go to those with an “ability” to graze the common.

Some graziers’ organisations have claimed this will lead to a continuation of the current situation, where wealthy entitlement holders receive public money for “doing nothing”.

Dewi Jones, secretary of the Tal Y Fan Graziers Association, has written to the Welsh government SFS ministerial roundtable, calling for payments to be directed to active graziers only.

“I’ve worked out what’s happening on our own common and I multiplied it with all the commons in Wales.

“At a minimum, we’re talking about £154m over the next 10 years being paid to people who do nothing on common land,” he said.

Mr Jones went on to warn that traditional farming in the uplands will be put at risk if active graziers continue to bear all the costs, while inactive graziers reap the benefits.

Support

Michael Priestley, policy manager at the National Sheep Association, told Farmers Weekly that the organisation understood these frustrations and would help address them “thorough discussions at the highest level”.

But NFU Cymru and the Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) were less supportive.

For some farming businesses, common land makes up more than 50% of the area eligible for a BPS claim and they are not always able to enter higher level schemes for additional funding.

NFU Cymru’s Less Favoured Areas board chairwoman Kath Whitrow said the union’s long-held policy has been to avoid a “cliff edge” in funding for these farmers.

It supports the approach that farmers with grazing rights should receive a Universal Baseline Payment, with more funding streams available through other layers of the SFS.

The FUW shared this view.  

The Welsh government has been approached for a comment.