• First Minister ‘patronising’ rural Wales: Plaid’s Llyr Gruffydd hits out at First Minister
• Welsh farmers could mirror European protests
• Local MS will stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with farmers if they protest

AS ANGER at the Welsh Government rises across rural Wales, farming union leaders met with Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths this Monday (Feb 19).
The meeting came after fierce criticism of the Welsh Government’s approach to rural policy, including the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme.
With frustration and resentment at boiling point in rural communities, the talks were the best hope of achieving a compromise between the Welsh Government and Wales’s farmers – or at least calming down the febrile atmosphere in which mass protests seem inevitable.

UNIONS CALL FOR WELSH GOVERNMENT TO ‘WORK WITH THEM’

After the meeting, FUW President Ian Rickman called for cooperation and partnership.
“As farmers, we understand our members’ current strength of feeling and frustration.
“We expressed these deep concerns and the resentment felt by our members and the wider rural community to the Minister in no uncertain terms today.
“We have called for an independent assessment to take place on the socio-economic impact and bureaucratic burden of Welsh Government agricultural policies, to include the SFS, bovine TB and the Control of Agricultural Pollution ‘NVZ’ regulations.
“This time must also be used for a series of regular meetings involving the Minister for Rural Affairs and her officials with both farming unions to rethink the proposals through genuine co-design.”
NFU Cymru President Aled Jones hailed the talks as constructive but stressed the urgency of working together to stabilise the rural economy and plan for the future.
“We have asked the Welsh Government to undertake a socio-economic assessment of the SFS that assesses the impact of the current proposals on Welsh farming, rural communities and the supply chain.
“No decisions on the next steps for the SFS should be taken until that assessment is complete.
“If necessary, the SFS should be paused and delayed until we can be sure that the SFS can deliver the same level of stability to the whole agri-food supply chain and rural Wales as the current support arrangements.
“The current pressures go beyond the SFS. Therefore, I have asked the Minister to consider establishing an Independent Review Group to consider the cumulative burden of regulations and policies on Welsh farming businesses. That process must also consider the wider economic and political factors affecting the Welsh agricultural industry at this time.
“The meeting was constructive, and I was pleased that the Minister listened to our concerns and recommendations to the Government.
“I now look to her and the Welsh Government to take forward our proposals.
“I have asked the Minister to commit to a series of meetings to ensure that moving forward, the design of the SFS and the payment rates attached to it can be a genuine co-design between Welsh Farming and Welsh Government.”
Promising words. But there was no statement from the Minister on the talks.

DIRE DRAKEFORD KILLS HOPE

It didn’t matter.
Shortly afterwards, Mark Drakeford torpedoed whatever good the meeting did at addressing farmers’ concerns.
He undermined any good work by Lesley Griffiths in a rant delivered during a press conference.
The First Minister’s tin-eared approach to rural policy and desire to play to urban and suburban voters spilt over under questioning.
Mr Drakeford ludicrously suggested that farmers wanted £300m of public money to spend as they please, with no strings attached.
Nobody is suggesting that, as the First Minister knows.
It appears that in the home straight of his time in power, Mr Drakeford has ditched the “doctor’s persona” and shown his ideology-driven, partisan, and intolerant real one.
The warm words of farmers’ leaders turned to ashes in their mouths as the extent of the First Minister’s ignorance became apparent.
Why the First Minister cannot just come out and say he and his Government regard rural Wales with contempt is a matter for him. However, in a General Election year, it’s not too much to suppose that Labour candidates hoping to win rural seats on the back of UK-wide polls will be troubled by his cack-handedness.
The following day, Mr Drakeford dug in.
At First Minister’s questions, he told Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies: “There is a bargain here. That is the bargain that the sustainable farming scheme represents. It’s why we’ve had a seven-year conversation with farmers in Wales about getting that bargain right.”
Which rather begs questions about future funding and why so much of the consultation is uncosted or data-deficient.
That was not the First Minister’s biggest misstep.
Besides blaming farmers for Brexit, a trope so tired that even the most loyal party hacks must groan whenever he trots it out, Mr Drakeford further undermined Lesley Griffiths.
Since the Welsh Government published its financial analysis showing the disastrous consequences of the Sustainable Farming Scheme, the Rural Affairs Minister has backed and filled by claiming the figures are outdated and subject to revision.
Not according to the First Minister.
Mr Drakeford said the figures published would inform the consultation.
If the figures are outdated or redundant, it is hard to see the value of such data or how they can inform anything.
As things stand, and the First Minister refused to answer when pressed, Wales faces a huge hit to the nation’s economy, armageddon for the rural economy, and job losses at twice the scale of Port Talbot in areas where jobs are hardest to replace.

OPPOSITION SLATE FIRST MINISTER

Andrew RT Davies MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said: “Labour’s plans for agriculture would be ruinous for so many farmers, and would dissolve rural businesses that have been providing food and looking after our countryside for generations, hardly a ‘bargain’.
“Labour must scrap this policy, which amounts to green blackmail, before they do irreversible damage to our farming communities.”
Local MS Sam Kurtz, the Shadow Rural Affairs Minister, added: “The start of the next First Minister’s tenure could be overshadowed by serious discontent in rural Wales, as neither candidate is willing to listen to the genuine concerns of the agricultural sector.
“That’s why I’m urging once again for the consultation to be paused. If it isn’t then it is only a matter of time before farmers are on the steps of the Senedd protesting, and I will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them.”
Plaid Cymru spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Llyr Gruffydd MS, said: “The First Minister’s comments show yet again how out of touch Labour are with our farmers and rural communities across Wales.
“Instead of patronising the sector, the First Minister and his Government should work with the community to show that their voices and concerns are being listened to.
“This kind of outburst will only deepen the despair felt by so many in the industry, adding to the mental health crisis that’s now emerging in so many farming communities.
“Nobody knows more than farmers that they have a big part to play in helping tackle the climate emergency. That’s why the industry has pledged to achieve net zero by 2040, earlier than the Welsh Government’s target.
“Farmers stand ready to meet the challenge, but that transition has to be a just transition for those working in agriculture in the same way as it has rightly been demanded for other sectors such as the steel industry.
“Plaid Cymru has argued time and time again that investing in our farming industry is an investment for Wales, with a return of £9 for every £1 that goes into the industry.
“From the economy to producing food, safeguarding our culture and language, and being a key partner in tackling climate change – Labour must realise that Welsh farmers are vital to Wales’s success.”