RSPB Cymru welcomes proposals for Wales’s new Sustainable Farming Scheme

Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma

This year sees the return of the Royal Welsh Show and the main topic of conversation will be Wales’s new Sustainable Farming Scheme.  After years of struggling to get a better deal for nature from the Common Agriculture Policy’s payments and schemes, which have shaped Welsh farming, we very much welcome Welsh Government’s proposals for its new scheme.  The plan is to use taxpayers’ money to help farmers produce food sustainably, tackle the Climate and Nature Emergency and, in doing so, restore the ecosystems we all depend on. 

We are particularly pleased to see that a minimum of 10% of all farmland should be managed for nature as a basic requirement of the new scheme.  Our work shows this is what’s needed to restore much of our farmland nature.  However, to be effective the 10% must be well-managed and made up of a mix of the following key habitats to maintain and replace those lost across Wales:

• All existing semi-natural habitats, which must be retained and well-managed.
• Well-managed hedgerows, field margins, stream-side corridors, trees and scrub.
• Flower rich habitats, including flowering semi-natural habitats e.g., traditional hay meadows and/or new flower rich grasslands and herbal leys.
• Seed rich habitats to replace winter stubbles, which many of our birds, like yellowhammer, depend on.
• Ponds and other wet features.

With the right support and guidance every farm in Wales should be able to manage at least 10% of land well for nature.  This would create a mosaic of habitats across Wales supporting a rich diversity of wildlife once more. 

We also welcome the proposal to restore peatlands as these are hugely valuable habitats that as well storing water and locking up atmospheric carbon support a range of special wildlife that depend on these expansive, boggy areas to thrive.  It’s also encouraging that the proposals state that important sites for nature such as SSSIs and rare like curlew should benefit.  We look forward to working with Government to make its new scheme is a success for all nature across Wales.

Clearly the Sustainable Farming Scheme must also ensure we continue to produce high quality food.  We firmly believe that paying farmers to tackle climate change and restore nature, including repairing and protecting our natural assets of soils and water, is the best way of ensuring we can produce food now and in the future.  Restoring nature will restore the ecosystems nature creates which in turn will make farming more resilient, including to future environmental pressures caused by climate change.  

We realise there is still a lot of work to do before the details of the new scheme are finalised and there are still important questions to answer.  For instance, how much money will farmers be paid and how will they receive appropriate advice and guidance to make sure they strike the right balance between production and nature.  Also, and of great importance, how will a Wales wide transition from the current support system to the Sustainable Farming Scheme be implemented fairly and effectively?

Government clearly views the new scheme as an important means of achieving its woodland creation targets to tackle climate change.  Tackling climate change is vital, but so it is restoring nature and food production.  Therefore, we are keen to learn how the new scheme will ensure the right tree in the right place to safeguard valuable wildlife habitats and our most productive agricultural land.

We firmly believe that investing in nature and tackling climate change is also an investment in farming and the well-being of this and future generations.  We’ve got one chance to get this right and Welsh Government’s proposals for its new Sustainable Farming Scheme are a big step in the right direction.