Welsh farmers are being encouraged by the Farmers' Union of Wales to provide feedback about the scoring system the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has set to gain access to its new Glastir land management scheme.
WAG has just published the documentation for the All Wales Element of the scheme - including the scorecard and guidance, Whole Farm Code and the All Wales Element Options - which can be found on the FUW's website at www.fuw.org.uk
The Scorecard has been developed as a guide to assist farmers in selecting the options available to them to complete on the farm. It will also determine the threshold number of points required to access Glastir based on the size of the farm and whether it is part of the Organic Scheme.
Once the chosen options which the farmer wants to or is able to complete have been added, the Scorecard will determine if the farm has accrued sufficient points to enter Glastir.
"The union is encouraging all its members to have a go at completing the Scorecard to ascertain how accessible Glastir actually is to farmers. We are also encouraging them to feed the results back to their county office," said FUW land use and parliamentary committee chairman Richard Vaughan.
"The feedback is vitally important to the union so that it can understand whether particular sectors are having difficulty in earning sufficient points to enter the scheme.
"This information can then be used as evidence to the Welsh Assembly Government on the accessibility of the scheme to its members."