The future of farming in Wales is one of the most demanding challenges we face. Not all of Wales is as inaccessible as a typical Sir Kyffin Williams masterpiece, but much of the terrain is difficult to farm. The European Union classes over 80 per cent of Wales as ‘Severely Disadvantaged’. There is still a significant dairying sector remaining in the more fertile lowlands, but even here much of the milk field has the disadvantage of being distant from large centres of population, making the sector vulnerable to the vagaries of the marketplace.
Another characteristic of Welsh farming is a structure based on comparatively small, family-based units. Many of the farms have been owned and managed by members of the same family for generations. This structure has provided a crucial social stability to Welsh communities but leaves the individual units less competitive when compared with large modern agri -businesses and more vulnerable to price pressures. The ruthlessly commercial approach of the major retailers is particularly resented in Wales, where farmers feel a real sense of grievance and powerlessness. The referral of supermarkets to the Competition Commission is welcomed in Wales but there is a strong call for the remit of the referral to be extended to include consideration of the treatment of suppliers.
One hugely important benefit of the traditional family farm structure in Wales has been the bedrock it has provided for saving the Welsh language. In much of rural Wales, Welsh remains the commonly spoken language. Today, the Welsh language is making a strong recovery as a result of government action over the last 20 years but in many areas, it has been the family-based structure of Welsh farming that has been the platform for recovery. What is more, the Welsh Language Board, the statutory organisation to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh language, has recently acknowledged the importance of a viable agricultural industry to the future of the Welsh language.
Livestock farming, which is particularly important in Wales, has been very badly affected by Bovine TB over recent years. The position is deteriorating and around 6,000 cattle were slaughtered last year due to suspected or confirmed cases of the disease – and that figure is rising rapidly. Compensation is now running at around £10m annually, which has led the Assembly minister, Carwyn Jones, to introduce an arbitrary system of payment, not based on the affected animal’s value. We have heard a lot of talk about the minister’s intentions to tackle the Bovine TB reservoir of infection in wildlife – but there has been no worthwhile action. The government seems determined to avoid facing up to the devastation that this disease is causing to Welsh farming.
One area where farmers in Wales have been fortunate is in the management of CAP change. The system by which the Single Farm Payment is calculated in Wales is based on the historical payments that farmers had received, and enjoys the support of every Welsh farming representative. In England, a system based on area has been introduced, which has turned out to be extremely bureaucratic and complex. Moreover, the majority of farmers in Wales have already received their payments; whilst in England the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has made a total shambles of the whole process of CAP change.
Farming in Wales will always be challenging because of the country’s terrain and the distance from major markets. However, there are many confident committed young people determined to make a success of it. That is why Welsh farming still has a lot of life left in it.