The Wales Land Management Forum (WLMF) established a sub-group in January 2017 in order to focus on tackling agricultural pollution. The membership of the group comprises NFU Cymru, Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW), Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Dwr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW), the Tenant Farmers Association Cymru (TFA), Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC), AHDB Dairy, the Carmarthenshire Fishermen’s Federation (CFF), Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh Government.
In April 2018, the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs was given a progress report on the work of the WLMF sub-group.
All those involved have worked collaboratively to help shape the initial recommendations that have been sent to the Cabinet Secretary and are optimistic that they will provide a framework to improve water quality in Welsh rivers in the long-term.
There is no one silver bullet to solve this problem – the solution is a combination of different changes all of which need to be supported by new ways of thinking. The main areas are:
- A robust regulatory regime
- Developing a voluntary, farmer-led approach to nutrient management
- Ensuring better advice and guidance is provided and can be taken up by farmers
- Improving the range of investment opportunities
- Identifying and promoting innovation
The WLMF sub-group continues to work at pace to deliver the recommendations in the report.