Following the statement yesterday by Alun Davies, Deputy Minister for Agriculture that he plans to carry out a stocktake of the implementation and application process of the All Wales Element (AWE) of Glastir, NFU Cymru Rural Affairs Board Chairman Bernard Llewellyn said the Union was pleased that the Deputy Minister had at last accepted that there were deficiencies with the scheme and that he is now asking farmers and the industry as a whole for their constructive ideas on how the scheme implementation can be improved.
However, Mr Llewellyn sounded a note of caution. He said, ’NFU Cymru has spent countless hours sitting on stakeholder groups and in meetings with Government Ministers and officials since this scheme was first announced in May 2009, putting forward what we feel have always been constructive ideas to improve Glastir. But all too often these have fallen on deaf ears. As examples, we asked for the scheme to be piloted with a selection of farmers from different sectors and areas of Wales to iron out any implementation issues ahead of a country-wide roll-out.
’Since the inception of Glastir, we have consistently argued that an agri-environment scheme, which has to be based on income foregone, could not be used as the method for compensating farmers for the additional handicaps associated with farming within the Less Favoured Areas (LFA) as the European commission has subsequently confirmed. ’Our hope is that, this time, there is a genuine commitment from Welsh Government to listen and to take on board the concerns of our industry.
’The last Welsh Government was all about Stakeholder groups. This Government is intent on having a ’conversation’ with the industry. Whatever the term is for our engagement with Government, we hope this stocktake will be a two-way process and that Glastir can be transformed into a scheme that will deliver for both farmers and for Government. For this to happen, this stocktake needs to look at Glastir in its entirety and not be constrained by the restricted parameters that the previous review had to work within.
’NFU Cymru has never argued against the stated aims or objectives of Glastir. What we have consistently questioned are the practicalities of implementing the scheme on-farm alongside the level of bureaucracy in applying for the scheme and the amount of record-keeping required once signed up,’ Mr Llewellyn said.
NFU Cymru LFA Board Chairman, John Owen said, ’We fear it will be 2014 before any benefit of this stocktake will manifest itself in increased applications and agreements into Glastir AWE. This leaves a potential shortfall in much-needed Rural Development support funding making its way back into the industry over the next 20 months.
’We would now hope that, in recognition of the implementation issues surrounding Glastir AWE which have affected the uptake by the farming industry, this resource is now re- directed. This should be through the re-instatement of a dedicated LFA payment alongside increased resource to the ACRES carbon reduction capital grants scheme, which is proving to be one element of Glastir that has been popular with the industry but, unfortunately, is seriously underfunded at present,’ Mr Owen said.
