The Farmers’ Union of Wales has responded with criticism to the news that 13% has been cut from the draft Rural Affairs budget.
The publication of the Welsh Government draft budget for 2024-25 has revealed that the total funding for rural affairs will be cut by a total of £62 million, around 13%, compared with the final 2023-24 budget as announced in February, to help address the approximate £1.3 billion shortfall.
Whilst it has to be welcomed that the Welsh Government draft budget for 2024-25 for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) is maintained at £238 million for 2024, the overall backdrop of this budget reinforces uncertainty for the sector.
The cuts made to Wales’ rural affairs funding in the Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2024-25 are a serious cause for concern, not least because replacement EU CAP funding alone should now equal around £440 million when taking inflation into account.
At a time when Welsh farmers face huge uncertainty around future farm support and the actions they will be required to undertake in order to receive such support, it’s of paramount importance that the Welsh Government recognises the sustainable food farmers produce and the contributions they make to the environment and wider rural economy when allocating funds to the rural affairs portfolio.
The FUW recently published its report on the role of farm support in Wales’ livestock supply chains, revealing the stark impacts cuts to direct farm support could have on the wider rural economy and as such welcomed that at least some clarity was offered around the BPS.
The level of clarity around the BPS provides some much needed certainty for the FUW’s members for next year and will also allow the FUW to provide some indicative figures for the minimum financial support they can expect to receive during the transition into the Sustainable Farming Scheme.
The FUW welcomes the announcement which recognises the significance of the Basic Payment Scheme for around 16,000 farm businesses in Wales, and the thousands of tertiary businesses situated within rural communities which rely directly or indirectly on farms for a proportion of their income, however, the overall shortfall to the sector has to be reviewed and addressed.