Powys first for Tir Gofal sign-up
Powys first for Tir Gofal sign-up
A POWYS farmer was the first to sign a contract for the new Welsh whole farm agri-environment scheme Tir Gofal.
Christine Gwyther, National Assembly agriculture secretary, and John Lloyd Jones, chairman of the Countryside Council for Wales, were on hand on Tuesday when Dyfrig Davies formally signed the five-year contract.
Under it he will be paid £4000 a year to manage the 58ha (139-acre) Bedlwyncoch farm, Crai, near Sennybridge, in an environmentally friendly way. He and his wife, Gaynor, will also get £20,000 over five years for a capital works programme that includes hedgerow restoration, planting broadleaf woodland, and the creation of wildlife buffer zones adjacent to streams and rivers.
The partners, who run beef and sheep enterprises on the unit, have also agreed to allow some semi-improved pasture to revert to an unimproved condition, and to provide voluntary access for locals and visitors to the Brecon Beacons National Park.
About 600 contracts will be offered in the first operating year and a new application period opens in April. *