NFU Cymru have given a cautious welcome to the recent announcement by Welsh Government that only the minimum standards relating to buffer zones alongside watercourses will be implemented in Wales.
Mr Bernard Llewellyn, Chair of NFU Cymru Rural Affairs Board said, ’It is highly important that we get a level playing field on cross-compliance requirements throughout Europe. In our response to the consultation, NFU Cymru strongly argued that increasing the width of no-spread zones was not only unnecessary from the environment protection point of view but would have placed our farms at a disadvantage in their ability to produce food profitability. Anything above this minimum legislative requirement should be done via voluntary agreements.
’We have remaining concerns relating to the definition of a watercourse. The new GAEC (Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions) are due to be in place on 1 January 2012 and Single Farm Payment claimants need to be made fully aware of the new GAEC and exactly what is required. It is mentioned in Issue 108 of the magazine Gwlad but Welsh Government needs to provide much more detail before the implementation start-date in just over four weeks’ time,’ Mr Llewellyn added.
