COLUMN: Support our farmers

Farmers have been dominating the headlines over the past month with demonstrations against Welsh Government proposals up and down the country.

Montgomeryshire Member of the Senedd, Russell George (pictured second left), in his latest exclusive column, shares his thoughts on the current proposals.

“Farmers are being asked to do more, for less, with reduced support from the Welsh Government despite their growing environmental demands. The industry is now at breaking point.

The Welsh Government’s draft budget for the 2024-25 financial year, imposes cuts of 13% to the rural affairs portfolio. The largest cut of any Welsh Government department. I, alongside my Welsh Conservative colleagues will be voting against the Welsh Government’s budget next month, the budget will not pass if other parties join us and vote against. 

Last month, Craig Williams MP and I participated in a well-attended public meeting in Llangedwyn in an event that was titled ‘Cardiff Controlling the Countryside’.

I joined farmers in Newtown last Sunday, as farmers and others who care about our rural economy attended in the hope to meet with the two candidates who want to be the next First Minister who were in the town for a Labour party hustings event. 

Despite the ongoing consultation, the Welsh Government has already initiated economic analysis and modelling for the scheme’s potential impacts. The projections indicate a considerable reduction in Welsh livestock units by 122,200, equivalent to a 10.8% decrease in overall livestock numbers. Additionally, there is a forecasted 11% reduction in labour on Welsh farms, translating to approximately 5,500 jobs lost based on current employment levels. 

Farmers across Wales who have attended the Welsh Government hosted ‘roadshow’ events, and those hosted by the farming unions, have rejected the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).

In the Senedd this Wednesday, my Welsh Conservatives colleagues and I are bringing forward a Senedd motion to remove the requirement for each farm to have 10% tree cover and scrap the current SFS proposals and to re-engage with the farming sector to develop a new scheme that has the support of the farming community. The motion will be put to a vote in the Senedd.

The Welsh Government needs to do so much more to tackle the devastation that bovine TB causes. I believe that a holistic approach to defeating the disease is required, working in partnership with farmers and vets to eradicate the reservoir of infection within herds, eliminate inter-herd transmission and the targeted removal of infected wildlife, who themselves suffer a painful death due to TB.

The rallying cry is clear: no farmers, no food. Now is the time to rally and protect Welsh agriculture, preserving not only our farmers' livelihoods but also the essence of our countryside. For the sake of the Royal Welsh Show, what the Welsh Government is calling ‘school holiday reform’ must also be scrapped.  

I have been pleased that the farming sector have the support of the public, many who are not directly linked to the industry. This support needs to be maintained, and this is why we need to make the points needed, strongly, but in a respectful way. I think it is also incumbent on both the farming sector and politicians like me who fully support the industry’s calls, to set out why we need to back our farmers, and what the consequence are if we don’t, not only for the industry, but for us all.”