An announcement by the National Trust regarding plans to cut up to 1,200 jobs in an attempt to lessen the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, has highlighted a long-standing concern of the FUW.
Despite already saving millions through other measures, including furloughing staff, the plan hopes that reducing the Trust’s workforce back to 2016 levels will offset part of the estimated £200 million loss. Around £40 million of these savings will go towards protecting key areas of the Trust such as conservation and public access.
The FUW recognises and appreciates all of the hard work that the National Trust does in order to preserve and enable the public to experience the UK countryside. However, the fact that the Trust - a charity solely focussed on conservation and countryside management - faces difficulty due to the ongoing pandemic highlights a long-term worry.
UK food producers have been recognised as heroes during the pandemic, when supermarket shelves were emptied and many consumers turned to their local producers and butchers for food. Despite this, the proposals set out by Welsh Government in last year’s Sustainable Farming and our Land consultation based on the principles of ‘public money’ for ‘public goods’ move away from the importance of food production, security and safety.
The FUW is fully supportive of making sure that farmers do what they can to mitigate climate change. However such work must be considered carefully and must be undertaken in a way that does not undermine our domestic producers and result in more damaging consequences from having to import more food.
Brexit has provided Welsh Government with an opportunity to shape a bespoke replacement for the EU Common Agricultural Policy that suits Welsh agriculture. However, introducing policies which move away from food production could result in similar and damaging consequences for family farm businesses in the long-term.