WE believe that the Welsh Government should honour its latest commitment to making Welsh farm businesses more efficient and profitable by:
- Introducing practical Quarantine Units over the coming 12 months, and ahead of any changes to the County Parish Holding (CPH) system and its associated rules, in order to allow farmers to better access markets and circumvent the six-day standstill rule without compromising animal health. This would avoid the problems inherent in the current proposals, which Gareth Williams’ Working Smarter report states “…would not be an acceptable solution”
- Reviewing the six-day standstill rule at the earliest possible opportunity, with a view to abolishing it, as has been proposed in England
- Ensuring changes to the CPH system and Sole Occupancy Authority (SOA) rules are accompanied by measures which reduce costs and bureaucracy for all farmers, including those relating to TB testing
- Ensuring that the introduction of EID Cymru and any associated changes to the rules on sheep tagging do not add to input costs for farmers, either through addition administration, tag costs, or risks of penalties due to technological failures
- Extending the hedge-cutting dates in Wales in order to address health and safety, Cross Compliance and economic impacts for Welsh farms
- Altering the relevant Welsh legislation in order to allow a general derogation to cut hedges outside the hedge-cutting dates where weather conditions have made accessing fields dangerous, impractical or illegal
- Reducing the significant burden associated with farm record-keeping, particularly those for the Glastir scheme, which far outweigh requirements under previous agri-environment schemes
- Reducing production costs for cattle farmers by abandoning pre-movement TB testing, as was done in 1996 in the Republic of Ireland which, since 2000, has experienced a 50% reduction in the number of TB reactors
- Reinstating the plans to remove badgers in the Intensive Action Area, in line with the view of the Bovine Tuberculosis Subgroup of the EU Task Force for Monitoring Animal Disease Eradication which concluded in 2012 that “The Welsh eradication plan will lose some impetus as badger culling will now be replaced with badger vaccination…There is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that badger vaccination will reduce the incidence of TB in cattle. However, there is considerable evidence to support the removal of badgers in order to improve the TB status of both badgers and cattle…UK politicians must accept their responsibility to their own farmers and taxpayers as well as to the rest of the EU and commit to a long-term strategy that is not dependent on elections”
- Ensuring all farmers are able to make maximum use of their pasture and that Environmental Impact Assessments are assessed proportionately and in a way which takes account of farm efficiency - particularly where land has degenerated due to participation in agri-environment schemes
- Increasing the period farmers have to report cattle movements from three to seven days, thereby bringing Wales in line with the EU requirement and reducing unfair penalties for farmers
- Ensuring that Cross Compliance and other requirements introduced under the post 2014 CAP regime are kept at the minimum level required by the EU, and that the penalty matrix ensures proportionality in all circumstances
- Securing changes to planning guidance which minimise restrictions on the ability of farms to secure succession, diversify, and make efficiency improvements
- Guaranteeing that all farmers have access to meaningful Rural Development funding which is guaranteed to improve the efficiency of their farm businesses
- Ensure that Glastir does not place undue restrictions on farm practices which reduce the efficiency of farms
- Recognising the essential role that grazing animals and hefted flocks play in terms of maintaining Wales’ environment, particularly in Wales’ uplands, and ensuring all Glastir grazing proscriptions are appropriate and reflect the need to feed displaced livestock during the winter months
- Ensuring that Wales’ primary producers are placed at the heart of the Welsh Government’s food and drink action plan.
- Focussing Rural Development funding on meaningful measures, such as grants, which guarantee improved efficiency and profitability, as opposed to those consultancy services regarded by the industry as wasteful and ineffective, with a balanced emphasis on Young Entrants
- Ensuring that, within the context of the Access Green Paper, any presumption towards a statutory increase in unfettered access to farm land or water bodies is not adopted, due to the severe implications for farms and rural businesses in Wales
- Ensuring that Wales’ Rural Development Plan delivers improved incomes for farmers which place them on an even playing field with those competitors in regions which will receive higher levels of funding from CAP measures, with a view to making necessary changes at the earliest possible opportunity should it be shown that current plans are having a detrimental impact on Welsh production and farm incomes
- Fully implementing the recommendations contained in the Upland Forum’s 2012 Unlocking the Potential of the Uplands report
- Establish a Farmers’ Charter which provides commitments to the industry in relation to all the above, and all other areas where the Welsh Government can assist farmers in making their businesses more efficient and profitable.
