deere66
Well-known member
I arranged online for parcel force to redeliver today but it hasn't turned up. Went online again to arrange delivery and it'll be wednesday now
Environment scheme
- Thread starter Alicecow
- Start date
Alicecow
Megastar
Climate change: Welsh farmers to be paid more for protecting nature
Wales is to plough ahead with reforms to agriculture although similar plans in England are in doubt.
www.bbc.com
Climate change: Welsh farmers to be paid more for protecting nature
By Steffan Messenger
BBC Wales Environment Correspondent
Wales is to plough ahead with major reforms to agriculture that would see farmers paid to help protect nature and fight climate change.
The Welsh government said its long-awaited Agriculture Bill marked an "historic" moment.
Industry leaders added that the new legislation would "define farming in Wales for a generation to come".
The move comes after similar plans in England were thrown into doubt after the UK government signalled a review.
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It was finally laid before the Senedd on Monday to start its journey towards becoming law.
The bill paves the way for Welsh ministers to set up and operate a brand new subsidy scheme for farmers with a much greener focus.
Farms in Wales currently receive a share of over £300m a year in public funding, based largely on how much land they have.
But in future they'll be rewarded for environmental work such as planting trees, restoring peat bogs and wildlife habitats as well as deploying sustainable methods of food production.
The bill also sets up the framework by which the impact of the changes will be monitored and assessed with requirements for ministers to set indicators and targets, and report on progress.
In a UK first, the new legislation also includes introducing a complete ban on the use of snares and glue traps, which rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths described as "not compatible with the high animal welfare standards we strive for in Wales".
She added that the "historic Welsh Agriculture Bill" outlined "how we can keep farmers on the land, produce food sustainably and deal with the climate emergency".
Image caption,
Unions want food production to have the same emphasis as the environment in the new bill
"I'm extremely proud of our farmers and the agriculture sector here in Wales. Through the provisions in the Bill, I want to ensure we can continue to support and encourage our farmers and producers to create and sustain a thriving agricultural sector," she added.
Meanwhile England was further ahead with its own subsidy reforms which planned to reward farmers for their environmental work.
But its new government has announced a review of these plans, prompting outspoken attacks from the environmental sector and some farmers, though the NFU union had requested a delay.
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones described the Welsh bill as a "landmark moment" and the most important piece of legislation for the industry since the post-war Agriculture Act of 1947.
"It comes at a pivotal time for society with the importance and fragility of food affordability and security, both at home and abroad, being brought into sharp focus by the effects of the devastating conflict in Ukraine.
"This is why the bill, as a key objective, must underpin the production of a stable supply of safe, high quality, affordable food in Wales," he said.
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Wildlife charity WWF Cymru said polling it had commissioned suggested people living in the Welsh countryside largely supported the idea of changing farm subsidy payments to help nature.
The poll of 1,000 residents found 60% felt only farms working to protect wildlife should receive grants in future.
It also found 96% of those questioned agreed that Welsh farmers had an important role to play in protecting nature, while 88% said the same for tackling climate change.
However only a third (34%) thought farms were already doing enough.
Head of communications at WWF Cymru Rhian Brewster said the survey's results came "at a critical moment for Wales" and gave an insight into how rural communities themselves were feeling.
"The new Agriculture Bill gives us a once in a generation chance to set Wales on a path to a more sustainable future," she said.
"We, along with the majority of rural Wales, want farmers rewarded for adopting climate and nature friendly, regenerative farming practices - this vital transformation can only be achieved by bold changes to agriculture payments."
Alicecow
Megastar
Farmers paid to protect nature in dramatic overhaul of subsidies scheme
The UK ranks among the worst globally for the state of its life-sustaining nature. The new system aims to support food production while protecting habitats and wildlife. The new system has been described as "the one genuine benefit of Brexit".
news.sky.com
Last-of-V8's
Well-known member
What a load of tosh. You can't tell me that the Devon ( for example ) countryside has less wildlife that the Aus/ US / Russian wheat belts. Grrrrr.Farmers paid to protect nature in dramatic overhaul of subsidies scheme
The UK ranks among the worst globally for the state of its life-sustaining nature. The new system aims to support food production while protecting habitats and wildlife. The new system has been described as "the one genuine benefit of Brexit".
Slackjawedyokel
Well-known member
We used to have “Subsidies” which “subsidised” farmers to produce “food” at sometimes “ below the cost of production”.
Payments in the proposed (new) new system are not subsidies but simple payments to do things that people in offices, mainly in the heart of a very large city, think that farmers ought to be doing that might be generally good for the environment. They are NOT subsidies. When the
hits the fan, there won’t be any more cheap food around.
Payments in the proposed (new) new system are not subsidies but simple payments to do things that people in offices, mainly in the heart of a very large city, think that farmers ought to be doing that might be generally good for the environment. They are NOT subsidies. When the
hits the fan, there won’t be any more cheap food around.
4wd
Well-known member
The only element worth applying for as an upland grass farm is £487/hectare to remove all stock and stop mowing and weed control until tussocky grass and scrub develop. Nothing else in the scheme would pay out more than a few hundred pounds after additional costs.
It's pretty obvious what it is really all about - exactly the same agenda enacted as we saw earlier in Holland - major destocking by any means available.
It's pretty obvious what it is really all about - exactly the same agenda enacted as we saw earlier in Holland - major destocking by any means available.
Slackjawedyokel
Well-known member
I think you’re right. In which case I’d be unwilling to take a small fraction (1/15th? 1/20th?) of the lands value as an annual payment lest ‘they’ turn around at the end of the term and tell you you can never farm it again properly because they’ve decided it’s now really interesting (see ‘elsewhere’ where something similar has already happened)
4wd
Well-known member
So I logged in RPA site and ticked all the boxes to get the SFI payment on the whole area and it would be £2400.
This is after testing 36 'parcels' for organic matter (why) and drawing up a 'soil management plan' (so inappropriate to more or less all permanent grass.)
Those tests are going to be how much?
£10 each would not surprise me.
This is after testing 36 'parcels' for organic matter (why) and drawing up a 'soil management plan' (so inappropriate to more or less all permanent grass.)
Those tests are going to be how much?
£10 each would not surprise me.
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Slackjawedyokel
Well-known member
Matthew
Well-known member
If RPA need them, they'll be double that.
And is the test for a field, a 'parcel, a defined area or what?
Some farms have 100 ac fields, while others have land parcels of 5 acres. How long is a piece of string?
I think as far as RPA are concerned a "parcel" is an area of land with a separate number, ie what we would call a field.
Matthew
Well-known member
Yes. That's what I was getting at. Some of our 'parcels' are 1- 5ac. with most being useful 10ac. But the whole farm would fit into 2 x 100ac 'parcels'. And as I understand it, each 'parcel' needs an OM certification, and like 4wd., that's a lot of work, for not a lot.
Jeremy Clarkson calls Welsh tree-planting policy 'completely daft' as Mark Drakeford launches defence
Protests have taken place across Wales in recent weeks over controversial proposals which would mean farmers would have to plant trees on 10% of their land in return for government funding.
news.sky.com
4wd
Well-known member
What a surprise
www.theguardian.com
Defra officials buried analysis showing dire financial prospects for hill farmers
Exclusive: FOI request reveals fears many would sell up if they saw assessment of post-Brexit farming payments scheme
www.theguardian.com
deere66
Well-known member
Pleased to see the comments understand what farm subsidies are/were about, doesn't seem that way in England
Alicecow
Megastar
Why Poland's farmers oppose the Green Deal
Protests by farmers have taken place in a number of EU countries this year against the bloc's proposed Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Some of the strongest opposition has come from farmers in Poland, which argue that the deal will be too costly to implement.