The Welsh Government is making £227m available over the next
three years to support the resilience of Wales’ rural economy and
our natural environment, Rural Affairs Minister has announced.
Wales’ rural areas are rich in natural resources supporting
communities and livelihoods, and will play an important role in
building a new, green economy responding to the climate and
nature emergencies we are facing.
This funding is designed to support the pace and scale of
change needed as part of our 10 years of action on climate change,
to enable a just transition to a stronger, greener, fairer Wales.
This allocation of funding responds to the ending of the EU Rural
Development Programme (RDP), which will close in 2023. It will
ensure continuity of support for important actions previously
funded under the RDP.
Funding, which will be available to support farmers, foresters,
land managers and associated rural sectors will be delivered
across six themes:
-
farm scale land management; on-farm
sustainable land management actions to enhance natural
resources, such as encouraging the growing of crops which
provide an environmental benefit like protein crops
-
on farm environmental
improvements; including enhancing fuel, feed and
nutrient efficiency, embedding circular economy approaches and
encouraging the use of renewable energy
-
on farm efficiency and
diversification; supporting farm efficiencies
through investment in new technology and equipment and to
enable opportunities for agricultural diversification
-
landscape scale land
management; delivering nature based solutions at
a landscape scale, through a multi-sectoral collaborative
approach
-
woodland and forestry; supporting our
commitment of 43,000 hectares of woodland creation by 2030 and
supporting the creation of a timber based industrial strategy
-
food and farming supply chains; creating
a strong and vibrant Welsh food and drink industry with a
global reputation for excellence with one of the most
environmentally and socially responsible supply chains in the
world
The framework compliments the development of the Sustainable
Farming Scheme, which will reward farmers and land managers for
the work they do to meet the challenges of the climate and nature
emergencies alongside the sustainable production of food, with
benefits for food security in Wales and globally.
The Minister announced schemes, worth a total value of £100m, are
either open now or will be launched in the coming weeks to
support these themes with more to be come as detailed design work
continues.
These schemes will support improvements to enhance natural
resources on farms and help farmers to convert to organic
production systems.
There will also be schemes which support the Welsh horticulture
sector and investment in new equipment and technology to enhance
the technical, financial and environmental performance of farm
businesses.
As part of the package of support, there are schemes offering
grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to develop plans for new
woodland creation and a scheme to support woodland restoration.
Discussions with Plaid Cymru to deliver commitments within the
Co-operation Agreement are on-going. This includes working with
the farming community to encourage woodland creation on less
productive land and through agro-forestry and ‘hedges and edges’
approaches, and to explore ways of drawing investment for
woodland creation that secures local ownership and management.
Rural Affairs Minister said:
Our rural economy plays a crucial role in the way we live our
lives. It provides us with the quality food we eat, the natural
resources we enjoy and supports communities and livelihoods
across Wales.
We know it continues to face many challenges, not least climate
change which threatens our land, impacts water and air quality
and puts further pressures on biodiversity.
We want to support sustainable food production by Welsh farmers,
and we want our rural communities to have a green and sustainable
future. This package is designed to support these aims. A strong
rural economy can only be beneficial for our rural communities.
The significant funding I am announcing will be key in supporting
our farmers, foresters, land managers and food businesses to
promote the sustainable production of food and to meet the
challenges ahead, supporting the pace and scale of change needed
to support the rural economy on the path to a net zero, nature
positive Wales.
