The Welsh government has agreed to axe its proposal mandating farmers to set aside 10% of their land to woodland and tree cover.
The controversial proposal was included in the Welsh government's post-Brexit Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) outline.
However, it has now dropped this measure following an unprecedented response to its consultation, which commenced earlier this year.
It will now be replaced with a new 'Universal Action', requiring farmers to undertake a tree planting and hedgerow creation plan.
Despite this move, the Welsh government has today (25 November) decided to keep a requirement for 10% of each farm to be managed as habitat.
The three Animal Health, Welfare and Biosecurity actions will also merge into a single simplified action.
The Welsh government confirmed this is not the final scheme design and Welsh ministers have not made any final decision.
There still remains a substantial amount of work to be done on many aspects of the SFS, including the detail under each Universal Action and payment rates.
Looking at this, the Welsh government said it would undertake economic analysis and an impact assessment of the revised proposals to understand what the scheme will mean for farmers.
NFU Cymru has thanked the government for 'listening to the concerns of the farming industry' following its removal of the 10% tree cover rule.
“Today marks an important step forward in the development of the SFS," said the the union's president, Aled Jones.
“There is much more work to do in the coming months on the final scheme detail as well as a number of fundamental aspects of scheme design including the payment methodology and payment rates.
“NFU Cymru has long been clear that the scheme must work for all active farmers – all farming sectors and all land types in Wales including those who do not own the land that they farm and those with common land.
"Delivery of the scheme objectives, including actions for climate and nature, is reliant on designing a scheme that all farmers in Wales are able to participate in."
The Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) Cymru said it 'cautiously welcomed' the Welsh government’s updates to the SFS.
The group's manager, Rhys Evans said: “Tree planting on farms should be guided by the principle of planting the right tree in the right place for the right reason.
"We had concerns that mandatory tree cover policies might lead to unintended outcomes, such as losses of biodiversity or food production.
"Therefore, we welcome the flexibility for farmers to work with advisors to draw up tree planting and hedgerow creation plans which suit them."
Publication of the final SFS outline is expected to be announced by the Welsh government in July 2025.
What are the changes?
The main changes to Wales' post-Brexit agricultural scheme include:
• The framework of a Universal layer for all has been retained but with a reduced overall number of Universal Actions with additional Optional and Collaborative Actions for those who choose to do more.
• The farm-level figure for 10% tree cover has been removed and will be replaced by a scheme-wide target, which will be agreed after government discussions.
• Farmers who apply for the scheme will be able to decide where they want to add more trees / hedges on their farm, and how many.
• The Animal Health, Welfare and Biosecurity actions have been merged into a single simplified Universal Action to focus discussions with the farm vet on improved outcomes.
• The requirement for all farms to have wash stations has been moved to an Optional Action, recognising that the biosecurity need of individual farms can be very different.
• Confirmation that additional payments for social value will be made under the universal part of the scheme.
• Taking account of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and common land rights in the Universal Payment.
