THE SENEDD narrowly rejected calls to temporarily halt the sale of council-owned farms amid concerns they are disappearing at an alarming rate due to financial constraints.

James Evans led the debate calling on the Welsh Government to impose a Wales-wide temporary ban on the sale of council-owned farms.

He said: “These farms are not just pieces of land, they’re the lifeblood of rural communities. For generations, they have provided opportunities for our young farmers….

“But now, these farms are being sold off at an alarming rate. And the consequences can be devastating, not just for farming, but the way of life in our rural countryside.”

The Conservative said council-owned farms offer young people who are “locked out” of the agricultural sector a chance to get on the farming ladder through affordable tenancies.

“Without them, we risk shutting the door on the next generation,” he warned.

Mr Evans pointed to 2023 statistics showing there are 972 council-owned farms, covering 21,000 hectares – “a huge proportion of our farms across Wales”.

Calling for a moratorium, the shadow rural affairs secretary said: “We need to pause. We need to take a breath and fully assess the long-term impacts of these sales.

“It’s about giving ourselves time to develop a proper, sustainable strategy for the future of farming in Wales.”

Mr Evans, who represents Brecon and Radnorshire, said many of the farms are in Welsh-speaking communities as he raised concerns about risks to the language.

He told the Senedd: “I urge this Welsh Government to act with urgency. We cannot sit back and watch as our council farms disappear one by one.”

Backing the motion, his Plaid Cymru counterpart Llŷr Gruffydd said all parties need to hold their hands up about the issue becoming a “political football”.

He said: “The biggest irony, maybe, is that much of this is being driven as a result of Conservative-led austerity, which has put – [interruption] no, no, no – that’s the irony of the situation but I will desist from making that point.

“Look, they have been left with no other option, many of these councils.”

Mr Gruffydd, who has been calling for a national summit on the future of council farms since 2016, urged the Welsh Government to grasp the nettle.

He said: “Ultimately, yes, the responsibility rests with local authorities but the government can’t wash its hands of the problem.

“These farms are a national asset and there’s a pressing need for leadership.”

Responding to the debate on October 16, Huw Irranca-Davies said council farms are important assets offering an invaluable route into agriculture for young people.

Wales’ rural affairs secretary told the Senedd the 2023 Agriculture Act does not give ministers powers of control over councils to sell land.

Mr Irranca-Davies, who is also deputy first minister in the Welsh Government, said: “The sale of land and decisions about how they approach it is for local authorities.”

He added: “We do not have a statutory basis to intervene in the sell-off of land, so the call for a moratorium is misplaced.”

Senedd members voted 25-22 against the Conservative motion. The motion as amended by the Welsh Government was agreed 25-13 with nine abstaining.

LESSONS learned from the first season of growing legumes and heritage varieties of wheat on a Carmarthenshire farm will help inform decision making on how farmers and growers can produce more food for local supply.

Through its Our Farms network, Farming Connect has funded a field-scale legume production trial at Bremenda Isaf Farm, a 40-hectare county council-owned holding at Llanarthne.

Here, the Bwyd Sir Gâr Food partnership is growing food with public sector procurement in mind.

During a recent Farming Connect open day at the farm, hosted by the partnership’s co-ordinator, Augusta Lewis, and head grower, Piers Lunt, other food producers learned what had gone well – and what had not gone so well – during the first season.

The Farming Connect trial was instigated to explore how protein could be grown locally for public sector supply, such as in schools and care homes.

Menu redesign by Carmarthenshire County Council is examining food sourcing and sustainability, and replacing items that can be produced more locally and sustainably, including plant protein, where possible.

“We want to demonstrate that we can produce the ‘eat well’ plate in Carmarthenshire, that we can produce high quality protein and good cereals adapted to our climate and to process them, and grow fruit and veg. If we can do all of that on one farm, other farmers can do it as well,’’ said Augusta.

With support from Farming Connect’s Advisory Service, a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) was carried out at Bremenda Isaf to establish the soil nutrient status on this former livestock farm.

“It’s really important to have that insight first up,’’ said Augusta.

Soil testing showed that the farm’s deep alluvial soils are highly fertile.

“The NMP came back revealing some very interesting data in relation to our soils which very much changed the plans,’’ Augusta explained.

“The soils are very high in phosphorous which you would expect from historic slurry application so we do not have a fertility problem here at all and, as we have learned more about soil, we understand that high phosphorus levels potentially lock up other nutrients so, in terms of crop health and vitality, we are looking at creating a balance which means no additional inputs for the time being, apart from lime to raise pH.’’

Support was also received from Farming Connect through its mentoring service with input from Marina O’Connell and Rachel Phillips of the Apricot Centre in Devon, a stacked mixed enterprise which is a model Bremenda Isaf aspires to, and from organic grower, Iain Tolhurst, who has advised on field scale production and is producing a rotation plan.

Bremenda Isaf is currently converting to organic certification, although it already grows to those principles.

The Farming Connect trial explored which legumes perform well in the West Wales climate.

Carlin and Daytona peas were grown and some were intercropped with the heritage wheat varieties, April Bearded and Malika, to establish benefits for soil health, for example reducing the need for synthetic fertilisers and also biodiversity value in terms of pollinator opportunity within the sward.

The trial faced a significant challenge from exceptional levels of rainfall ahead of establishment.

“We had an extremely unprecedented wet winter and that meant our tenant grazier was unable to get on the land to take off the silage and lime application was delayed,’’ said Augusta.

This meant that the wheat and legumes could not be planted until the beginning of June, she added.

“It was very late but we decided that we would plant anyway in the spirit that we will learn something, and we really have learned a lot.

“There is a lot of risk involved with growing cereals, people who have been in the game for a very long time can have a disastrous season if it is exceptionally wet or dry but the great thing about doing trial size plots is that the risk is not too great.’’

Germination rate in the Daytona peas was poor, she reported, and harvesting of the crops will be very late, if at all, but soil and quadrat sampling will provide useful information on any impacts the intercropping has had on soil biomass levels.

“We have learned a tremendous amount about the growing habits of these varieties and we are confident that even over one growing season we will begin to see how intercropping can make a difference to soil health.’’

Hannah Norman, horticulture sector officer for the Farming Connect technical team, urged other commercial growers and market gardeners to tap into the resources available through Farming Connect to help with their own plans.

These include the Advisory Service, with up to 90% funded up to £3,000 per registered business, for accessing technical advice, business planning and other services.

£157.8m has been paid out today (Oct 14) to over 15,500 Welsh farm businesses as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2024 advance payments are made.

More than 96% of claimants received a BPS advance on 14 October, worth approximately 70% of their estimated claim value

Rural Payments Wales (RPW) continues to make advance payments beyond this date, as individual BPS claims become eligible for an advance. Full and remaining balance BPS 2024 payments will be made from 12 December, subject to full validation of the BPS claim.

It is expected all but the most complex BPS claims to be fully validated, and payments made before the end of the payment window on 30 June 2025.

The Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies with responsibility for Rural Affairs, said: “I am pleased that thousands of farms across Wales have now had the BPS advance payments for 2024. I hope this gives farming businesses and families across Wales reassurance and stability for the year ahead. Rural Payments Wales will be working hard to ensure full and remaining balance payments are made as early as possible once the payment window opens in December.”