The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed the announcement that 97% of those farmers claiming the BPS payment, will receive the advance payment on 14th October 2022. The Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales and Trefnydd, Lesley Griffiths, announced that 70% of their estimated claim value will be paid, which represents over £161 million that will be paid to more than 15,600 Welsh farm businesses.
Farm businesses are set to receive the full and remaining balance of the BPS 2022 payments from 15th December 2022, subject to full validation of the BPS claim.
The FUW has said that this is excellent news for the sector and for all those farming businesses across Wales that will receive the first instalment of the payment on 14th October, especially considering the on-going cost of living crisis. It is a credit to the Welsh Government that this system works so well and should serve as an example of excellence to others. It is therefore essential that such a financial mechanism remains in place going forward in order to ensure that farm businesses and the wider rural economy don’t suffer.
Most of the money arriving in farm accounts through the BPS will go out in the coming weeks to other businesses which are directly or indirectly involved in agriculture, such as agricultural suppliers and vets, thereby supporting tens of thousands of Welsh livelihoods and businesses.
It must therefore also be remembered that the Sustainable Farming Scheme proposals have significantly changed and reflect many of the issues the FUW has been lobbying on since the Brexit and our Land consultation, such as the provision of a baseline payment for undertaking Universal Actions, and utilising RPW Online and existing data collection.
The FUW would reiterate that it strongly welcomes not just the announcement of the BPS payments but also the commitment to a baseline payment for all farmers, providing much needed stability for food producing family farms. The FUW has been clear that in future the majority of the budget should be used to provide this stability payment in return for the new Universal Actions required of farmers on top of new ‘National Minimum Standards’.