The Farmers' Union of Wales has welcomed the UK Government's decision to maintain the Common Agricultural Policy funding allocation for the next period (2014-2020) to Wales and the other devolved administrations on the same proportions as before.
"We welcome Defra minister Owen Paterson's announcement today even though we are well aware that the overall budget has been cut by 12.6 per cent in real terms," said FUW president Emyr Jones.
"It was imperative that Wales, at the very least, maintained the same proportion of CAP Pillar 1 monies that it currently benefits from and we are pleased that the union’s lobbying and the Welsh Government’s negotiations has resulted in a fair deal for farmers in Wales.
"The Pillar 2 allocation, which sees an increased allocation of 7.8 per cent in real terms, is also welcomed although the loss of a mandatory co-financing requirement under the Regulations - where Governments must match fund every £ taken off farmers in ‘top slicing’ - will still have a negative impact on farmers' incomes if the Welsh Government decides to top slice the full 15 per cent from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2 to fund rural development initiatives."
In a letter to Mr Jones, Mr Paterson confirmed Wales will receive around €2,245m over the 2014-2020 period, subject to EU ratification. For Pillar 2, Wales will receive €355m in current prices for 2014-2020.