Farmers have been “duped”

 

Farmers who have applied for the scheme are being informed that the recommendations of the Glastir Independent Review Group (GIRG) have been approved by the European Commission. A letter will inform them that the payment rate for the All Wales Scheme will rise from a basic rate of £28 to £34 per hectare in recognition of the increased costs of meeting scheme conditions.

 

But, according to the NFU, there will not be a differential in favour of applicants from the Less Favoured Areas (LFA), as had been intended and applicants will have, at most, just two weeks to decide whether to continue with their current application or to withdraw or alter it.

Mr Bailey said: “The Glastir agri-environment scheme from the very outset has been based on shifting sands.  As a consequence of the Union’s concerns over the scheme, an independent review group had been given narrow parameters to review and add prescriptions to the All Wales Element of Glastir to make it more appealing.   The acceptance of these revisions was to be welcomed but it had also been widely understood that applicants who sign contracts next January (2012) would be allowed to amend these in the New Year. Now farmers effectively have two weeks to decide how to proceed, many of whom would require professional guidance, during this short period.

 

“It has taken Welsh Government two and a half years to appreciate that a differential in favour of the 80 per cent of Wales designated as Less Favoured is not possible. Just over a week ago at a meeting with the Deputy Minister Alun Davies AM, I raised my concerns over Glastir and was advised that only ‘i’s’ needed to be dotted and ‘t’s’ crossed. One week on, we find a fundamental change to the scheme. Frankly,  I feel farmers have been duped. They will be confused and frustrated by another raft of changes. Change has been the only common theme since the scheme was first announced.

 

“Last week I raised the possibility of a further extension of the Tir Mynydd scheme beyond the 2012 payment because of concerns over Glastir and also because of the possible implications of the ‘greening’ effect of Common  Agricultural Policy Reform for Glastir. Today’s announcement merely fuels my anxiety and I have sought an urgent meeting with the Minister.  We simply cannot afford to see Wales’ LFA compromised when there is recognition in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland of the permanent handicaps in these areas,” Mr Bailey said.