Thousands of visitors flocked to Llanelwedd last week for the Royal Welsh Winter Fair, where farmers also received an update on Welsh Government’s latest agricultural policy plans.

The headline piece of news from this announcement – as far as Welsh farmers are concerned - is that the farm-level minimum 10 per cent tree cover requirement for each participating farm has now been shelved. It has been replaced with a scheme-wide target, which will be set after further discussions with the Ministerial Roundtable, and an accompanying tree planting and hedgerow creation opportunity plan for those taking part in the scheme.

This is significant news for farmers in Wales and follows years of NFU Cymru lobbying on the subject. At last year’s Royal Welsh Show, NFU Cymru made a very public stand against the 10 per cent minimum tree cover requirement, highlighting that it would alienate thousands of farmers from the scheme.

In his announcement last week, the Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said that Welsh Government had made the change after listening to feedback from farmers and unions. In our view this is a positive step forward, and also a good endorsement of the discussions we have been having in the Ministerial Roundtable and Carbon Sequestration groups, both of which I am a member. Many farmers in Wales can and will plant trees, where it constitutes ‘the right tree in the right place’, to help Welsh Government reach its tree planting aspirations, but the recent changes to the scheme better reflect the challenges that different farming businesses face. Welsh Government Ministers and officials have always said that the scheme could not be deemed a success work if it is not accessible to everyone, and this change certainly feels like the new framework will now be more enticing for many of farmers.

Elsewhere, there have been a number of other changes since the last iteration of the scheme was announced, including a streamlining of the universal elements and requirements around animal health, welfare and biosecurity. The requisite for farms to manage 10 per cent of their land as habitat remains.

There is, however, much work for Welsh Government to do in the next phase of scheme design in terms of adding crucial detail to the current plans. This includes providing farmers with the payment rates, information many farmers had hoped would be available at this point.

NFU Cymru has embarked upon a regional roadshow to support farmers with understanding the current details of the scheme. Information about the roadshows, as well as a briefing synopsis of the Welsh Government policy proposals, is available on the NFU Cymru website.