A fiery debate has erupted over claims that a financial support scheme for farmers will lead to the loss of an estimated 1,100 jobs, 56,000 livestock and £76m.
Samuel Kurtz, the Tory shadow rural affairs secretary, urged the Welsh Government to scrap the stuttering sustainable farming scheme (SFS), which has been plagued by protests.
He said: “Their own economic impact assessment tells a stark story: job losses, livestock reductions and millions wiped from farm business incomes.”
But Welsh ministers accused the opposition of misleading farmers, arguing the figures were incomplete “scenarios, not predictions” that failed to account for the scheme’s full benefits.
Mr Kurtz told the Senedd the farming sector employs about 50,000 people directly and a further 250,000 in the wider food and drink supply chain – a sector worth £9.3bn a year
‘Government by decree’
“Behind every one of those numbers lies a family, a community, a business, people who have served Wales for generations,” he said. “Farming is not simply an occupation: it's a way of life, the beating heart of our rural economy and a cornerstone of Wales' national identity.”
The Tory said the “flawed” SFS risks hollowing out the core of Welsh farming, prioritises bureaucracy over practicality and puts environmental targets before food production.
Warning of the cumulative burden on farmers, he told the Senedd: “We will not accept a scheme that puts our farms at risk, our jobs in jeopardy and our food security in question.”
Mr Kurtz, who is from a farming family, said: “I don't believe that this is a farming scheme; I believe it is an environmental scheme that the government expects farmers to deliver.”
He criticised Labour for rejecting calls for a binding vote on the scheme. “They denied farmers the chance to have their voices properly heard here in this place,” he said. “I don't believe that is democracy in action – rather, [it is] government by decree.”
‘Simple soundbites’
But Huw Irranca-Davies, Wales’ deputy first minister and rural affairs secretary, hit back – warning of inaccuracies in the way in which data has been interpreted.
“Even the motion tabled before us today is inaccurate, he said. “Nowhere, nowhere, in the evidence we have published does it say that job losses, livestock number reductions, or reductions in farm business income will definitively happen. Nowhere.
“This is trying to turn really complex information into simple soundbites. This is not helpful to serious debate and, most importantly, it is not helpful to farmers.”
Mr Irranca-Davies said the Welsh Government will invest more than £340m in the first year of the sustainable farming scheme, which goes live in January.
Cautioned that scrapping the SFS and starting again would cause uncertainty and instability, he argued the Tories lost all credibility with their “not a penny less” Brexit funding promise.
‘Nuclear option’
Llŷr Gruffydd took the middle ground during Wednesday’s (October 8) debate, urging Welsh ministers to improve the scheme rather than take the “nuclear option” of scrapping it.
Plaid Cymru’s shadow rural affairs secretary expressed concerns about the impact of falling livestock numbers on abattoirs and the potential for farm incomes to drop.
He told the Senedd: “Yes, perhaps it is the worst-case scenario but it is a cause of concern for me and many people out there whose livelihoods rely on the scheme.”
Mr Gruffydd criticised the Conservatives for complaining about the consequences of Brexit. He also attacked the Labour UK Government for “Barnettising” the farming budget, meaning Wales gets a smaller share based on population rather than the nation’s needs.
Senedd members voted 30-11 against the Conservative motion before agreeing the Welsh Government’s amended version, 22-20.
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