Welsh green scheme deadline extended

Farmers in Wales have been given an additional three weeks to apply for membership of the country’s new environmental management programme because of a last minute change to the scheme.

The Welsh Assembly Government has bowed to pressure from farming unions and introduced a new option relating to the management of woodland within Glastir.

The assembly government has now announced that there will be a new application period – from October 4th to November 22nd.

Glastir has been finalised following extensive dialogue with farming and countryside organisations in the last 12 months. The new option means there are now 40 in the overall number of choices available under the All-Wales element.

The Farmers’ Union of Wales has given a guarded welcome to the deadline extension.

Its land use committee chairman, Richard Vaughan, said that the decision to move the deadline forward was welcome.

But he believed it would create more confusion for farmers coming to terms with what he described as “an already complicated scheme”.

“We feel strongly that such confusion could have been avoided. We have lobbied long and hard, stressing that Glastir was far too hastily drawn up without enough consideration given to how practical it would be for farmers,” said Mr Vaughan, who farms at Tywyn, Meirionnydd.

“We have repeatedly called for all the details to be properly put in place before the scheme was opened so that this inevitable confusion could have been avoided. This latest deferment just adds to the conflicting advice circulating within the farming community.”

Detailed guidance will be made available in the Glastir application pack that will be sent to farmers who expressed an interest in the Glastir All-Wales element on their 2010 Single Application Form (SAF).

The assembly government says the inclusion of the woodland management option will not impact on its plans to hold one-to-one interviews with farmers who submit an application.

In addition to the detail that will be provided in the application pack, and information already made available, a significant number of presentations and training events for farmers are being held across Wales.