A Government that listens and adjusts
In 2024, there were widespread, strongly felt protests by Welsh farmers against the Welsh Government’s proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme. What happened then?
This is a heartening example of genuine dialogue and mutual adjustment, which has led to major revisions in the SFS. The Farmers’ Union of Wales said the new plan “proposed workable payment rates” and provides “much needed stability for the sector”.
The revised Scheme still has a strong orientation towards sustainable land use, but is more flexible in the requirements it places on farmers. Both farmers and environmental groups regard the current budgets for SFS as inadequate, but at least the policies are workable.
Another example of how Welsh Government has listened and responded is much better support for horticulture and small growers. The minimum scale is now 3 hectares, or 550 standard labour hours per year, making SFS available to many more small producers.
The Welsh Government is taking food security seriously, and working with Our Food 1200, Professor Tim Lang and others on its response. See more about the overall outlook, Tim’s recent report, and ways to respond, in this blog.
Evidence of practical support for horticulture is shown in the three support programmes which the Welsh Government runs:
Farming Connect’s Business Support: Up to 12 hours of fully funded, bespoke business and technical guidance to commercial horticultural growers on topics like soil health, integrated pest management, sustainable technologies, and carbon footprint reduction.
Horticulture Development Scheme: A capital grant aimed at existing commercial horticulture producers, helping them invest in equipment and technology to sustainably expand, diversify, and improve efficiency and quality.
Horticulture Start-Up Small Grants: Entry-level financial support (e.g., around £3,000 per applicant) to encourage new horticulture enterprises, either as diversification on farms or standalone ventures.
It was great to see support in action recently for the Sarn Farm pilot scheme, led by Our Food 1200, creating three horticulture smallholdings on a 36-acre farm leased from Powys County Council. There was excellent and rapid support from a range of sources, including Welsh Government, Powys CC, and a wide range of network organisations, as listed in this blog post.
The average size of farms and fields in Wales is smaller than in the UK overall, and the potential for more agroecological farming methods is high, as Carwyn Williams explains in his excellent book, Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape (see summary blog here).
At a time when so many governments don’t listen, or are dancing to big money’s tune, it’s great to see how Wales is trying to do things better, and genuinely serve the needs of future generations.