Cuts In Welsh Assembly Funding Will Decimate Farm Incomes

The leading representative group of organic livestock farmers in Wales has written an open letter to the Minister for Rural Affairs to warn that controversial new funding arrangements threaten to decimate the income of many family farms and jeopardise the wildlife habitats created by a decade of environmentally friendly farming.

Graig Producers a marketing group representing 700 organic livestock producers throughout the UK, including 350 in Wales has urged the Minister, Elin Jones, to rethink the funding regime for the new Glastir agri-environment scheme announced last month.

I know you are personally committed to supporting family farms in Wales, but the reforms you have put forward are likely to have the opposite effect for many, writes Nigel Elgar, Director and Co-Founder of Graig Producers, in his letter to the Minister. I would like to invite you to visit my own farm to hear how drastically our income will be affected and see for yourself the kind of environmental benefits that are being put at risk.

For nine years Cannon Farm, Nigel Elgars 390-hectare holding in Montgomeryshire, has received Welsh Assembly grants to reward good environmental stewardship under the Tir Mynydd and Tir Gofal schemes. Under the new Glastir scheme it stands to receive a 47 per cent reduction in income from these sources.

The net effect will be to wipe out all of the profits of my farm business, writes Nigel Elgar. I am personally very committed both to organic farming and to environmental stewardship schemes because I have seen for myself what a difference they make to the numbers and variety of wildlife on so many farms. But Im sure you will appreciate that I also need to run a viable farm business. The wildlife habitat we have set aside and nurtured under Tir Gofal will be put at risk because well need to manage the land differently to some extent to increase our income unless we are among the lucky few who qualify for higher-level funding under Glastir. What a waste of nearly ten years work!

Graig Producers points out in its letter that the changes being introduced will adversely affect not only organic farmers but also other family farms that have spent many years embracing environmental measures promoted by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Charles Weston, another member of Graig Producers, stands to lose 83 per cent of the agri-environment funding he currently receives. Tanyfedw, his 80-hectare holding in the Brecon Beacons, is typical of organic upland livestock farms in Wales. In 2008 he received funding through Tir Mynydd, Tir Gofal and the Welsh Assembly Governments Organic Farming Scheme. Under Glastir he will receive only 2,688 a flat-rate payment of 28 per hectare plus a 20 per cent top up as a previous recipient of Tir Mynydd. Specific funding to acknowledge the environmental benefits of farming organically is being withdrawn by the Welsh Assembly Government, except in the two-year period of organic conversion.

Charles Weston is a good example of farmers who have followed Welsh Assembly Government policy to the letter by converting to organic production and entering the Tir Gofal scheme, writes Nigel Elgar. Farmers like him should receive specific ongoing payments to acknowledge the unique environmental benefits of farming organically, as they continue to do in England, Scotland and most of Europe. Instead their livelihoods are being undermined by a new funding regime that is taking that support away and favouring bigger producers at the expense of family farms.