Farm leaders have welcomed the Welsh government's decision to increase the farming and rural budget by over 6% and to maintain BPS funding for 2025.
The draft budget was announced on Tuesday (10 December), confirming a rise in funding for every Welsh government government department.
The Climate Change and Rural Affairs department is set to see an additional £36.35m (6.6%) in revenue and £71.95m (31%) in more capital funding.
The Welsh government said it would also be maintaining the Basic Payment Scheme ceiling at £238m.
And an additional £5.5m resource and £14m capital funding was announced for wider rural investment schemes.
Earlier this year, farming groups submitted evidence to the Senedd Finance Committee outlining the need to safeguard and restore farm funding, as well as maintaining the BPS payments at their current rates.
The call follows a series of cuts over recent years to the Welsh Rural Affairs budget, with the 2023-2024 financial year seeing a cut of £37.5 million.
This was followed by the 2024-2025 budget, which revealed a further year-on-year cut of £62m, the largest relative reduction of any of the Welsh government departmental budgets at around 13%.
Responding to the draft budget, the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) said the 6.6% funding increase to the Rural Affairs portfolio was to be 'welcomed'.
"It is now vital the Welsh government provides clarity on how this departmental funding will be distributed to support family farms and our rural communities," said FUW president, Ian Rickman.
"The union has been clear that as a minimum, the Welsh government must safeguard BPS payments for 2025-2026, particularly as we look ahead to the transition towards the Sustainable Farming Scheme.
"To this end, we do welcome the decision to maintain the BPS payment ceiling - which is crucial in providing a level of security for farmers in Wales as they face a plethora of other challenges and changes."
Looking ahead, he said it was crucial that any increase in the Rural Affairs budget was fairly allocated towards the agricultural sector.
"Fundamentally, as economic modelling will likely demonstrate, future budgets for the Sustainable Farming Scheme cannot be expected to remain at current levels," Mr Rickman noted.
"It must, at the absolute minimum, be maintained as the equivalent of total historic European Common Agricultural Policy funding of at least £337 million per year.”
Aled Jones, NFU Cymru's president, said the maintained funding for the BPS 2025 would be 'welcome news' to farmers across Wales.
“We have been clear in emphasising how important it is for Welsh farming, the agri-food supply chain and rural communities that the BPS budget is maintained at the current level for 2025.
"I am pleased that those calls appear to have been heeded by Welsh government with the publication of this draft budget."
