Ffermio Bro scheme oversubscribed as demand surges

Ffermio Bro, the Welsh government’s new agri-environment scheme for its designated landscapes and national parks, has reached capacity with funding for the current round exceeded.

The scheme, which launched in earnest in May, is paving the way for the collaborative layer of the Sustainable Farming Scheme and aims to encourage nature-friendly farming practices across Wales’ designated landscapes.

It brings together both farmers and the local bodies responsible for the three national parks and five national landscapes, formerly known as areas of outstanding natural beauty.

See also: New Welsh government scheme funds nature-friendly farming

The scheme will run until March 2028, and the first set of works need to be completed by 31 March 2026.

Lawrence Harris, national programme lead for the project, said: “Ffermio Bro has proven extremely popular, with over 350 expressions of interest received totalling around £6m in value, far exceeding the total funding available.”

Unprecedented demand

The “unprecedented demand”, he said, shows how passionate farmers are about the places in which they live and work, and the “strength of their desire to protect nature”.

With more than £1.25m of projects signed off this year, Mr Harris hopes to secure a significant increase in funding for 2026.

“This would enable us to do even more to help farming and nature thrive side-by-side in our designated landscapes,” he added.

Several landscapes have now approved applications for their entire funding allocation and are no longer accepting applications for this year.

Some funding for 2025-26 is still available for Bannau Brycheiniog national park, Wye Valley national landscape, Gower national landscape and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley national landscape.

Mr Lawrence added that all national parks and national landscapes are now accepting expressions of interest for 2026-27.

Case study

Robert Vaughan, Llanerch farm, Gwaun Valley, Pembrokeshire national park

Robert Vaughan © MAG/Anne Dunn

Robert Vaughan runs just under 100 suckler cows and a flock of 100 pedigree Llyn sheep on his 154ha (380 acre) Pembrokeshire hill farm.

Under the scheme he is set to start double fencing, capping up hedges and steep banks will be planted with trees to help hold the soil back.

Ponds will be restored and, working with the national park, he is also putting in a fire break on the mountain to manage the summer burn and protect the land from wildfires.

The farm includes 60 acres of woodland which, under the scheme, will also be returned to grazing.

“The woodland is brilliant, but we haven’t been able to graze it properly for the last few years due to fences deteriorating,” said Mr Vaughan.

“With the scheme we get some help to restore that and then we can control the grazing on the woodland. That way we can then improve the habitat and improve the environmental standard in the woodland,” he said.

Previous schemes he has taken part in, he said, didn’t help the environment much, though he is optimistic about Ffermio Bro.

“The people we deal with now have good local knowledge and we can work on projects that will work for this area.”