Summit to tackle impact of wet weather on Welsh agriculture

Welsh rural affairs minister Huw Irranca-Davies is to hold talks with farm leaders to discuss his government’s response to the impacts of extreme weather on the farming industry in Wales.

Mr Iranca-Davies, who in March replaced Lesley Griffiths as cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs, will convene a summit of key representatives from the food and farming sector at the Senedd in Cardiff on Thursday (18 April).

The summit will explore what interventions may be necessary from across the supply chain to deal with the exceptional circumstances farmers in Wales are facing, following months of relentless wet weather.

See also: Defra removes 150m limit from flood recovery fund

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Irranca-Davies said he “fully recognises” the impact the prolonged period of wet weather is having on farmers, which he had seen first hand during visits to farms last week.

“This is affecting all sectors by increasing costs and delaying work on the land which will have short-, medium- and long-term impacts,” he said.

Amid one of the wettest springs in living memory, many areas of Wales have received 200% of the rainfall they would expect against long-term weather averages. This follows on from a wet autumn and winter.

Autumn planting was impossible on many Welsh farms and arable businesses are increasingly concerned they will not be able to plant spring crops unless the weather and ground conditions improve.

Farmers in Wales who have suffered from serious flooding events in the past six months are looking enviously across the border after the Westminster government launched a Farming Recovery Fund for flood-hit English farmers to claim grants of between £500 and £25,000 for uninsurable losses following flooding.

The shadow rural affairs minister, Conservative MS Samuel Kurtz, has written to Mr Irranca-Davies urging the Welsh Labour government to support farmers in Wales whose businesses have been severely affected by flooding.

Union’s ‘key asks’

Meanwhile, NFU Cymru has raised a series of key asks to the Welsh government to assist farmers hamstrung by the ongoing poor weather and ground conditions.

The list includes flexibility in the delivery of various scheme requirements, including cross compliance for the Basic Payment Scheme, and for Natural Resources Wales to work with farmers to adopt a “sensible approach” to regulation.

The union has also asked the Welsh government to bring forward £20m of funding to support farmer compliance with the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations.

NFU Cymru deputy president Abi Reader said: “We recognise that Welsh farmers have full BPS payments this year, which English farmers do not, and the funding in England is money which should have been spent last year that is being repurposed.

“The wet weather has caused so much anguish on Welsh farms and it’s going to have a massive impact on our food supply.

“We need the Welsh government to look at all the problems properly and work out how we can robustly respond in the future to mitigate the impact on the agricultural industry when it happens again.”