Controversial farm subsidy scheme gets billion pound budget
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- The Welsh government committed £340m per year to the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) through March 2030, a ring-fenced, multi-annual deal worth over £1 billion across the current Senedd term.
- The £340m annual figure is roughly unchanged from what farms have received since 2012, falling well short of the ~£500m-per-year figure farming groups called for and the doubled budget sought by environmental charities.
- Farming minister Llyr Gruffydd framed the funding as a "baseline" that would be ring-fenced for the sector, while acknowledging financial pressures that forced a freeze.
- About half of farmers applying for subsidies this year opted into the SFS, with the other half staying in the legacy scheme and facing a 40% funding cut; the new scheme covers 905,545 hectares versus 384,399 hectares under the legacy regime.
- Wildlife Trusts Wales, the RSPB and the National Trust said flat funding was "disappointing," warning that farmers managing 90% of the Welsh landscape need more support to restore nature and tackle climate change.
- NFU Cymru and the Farmers' Union of Wales welcomed the multi-year certainty but said a budgetary uplift is needed, with FUW noting it had consistently called for a five-year funding framework rather than three.
Why it matters: The ring-fenced £1bn commitment through 2030 gives Welsh farmers planning certainty after years of post-Brexit limbo, but freezing funding at 2012 levels leaves a £160m-per-year gap with industry demands and a wider gap with the doubled budget sought by Wildlife Trusts Wales, RSPB and the National Trust — meaning the farms managing 90% of the Welsh countryside are being asked to deliver new habitat, climate and soil obligations on essentially unchanged resources.
