Return to magazine articles index

The Common Agricultural Policy is currently under review and after 2006 will change substantially. One trend of the forthcoming change is the move, away from providing direct production based subsidies towards support for the industry to produce what are called public goods i.e. access to amenities. To maintain support for farming in Wales, it is necessary to plan ahead and pre-empt such changes by developing new ways to help direct the industry towards delivering good quality food, produced in an environmentally and animal welfare friendly manner that maintains the nature and character of the landscape and environment of Wales.

One option is to invest more money into agri-environment schemes, not least because the evidence is that such investment results in broader benefits for the rural economy through job creation and diversification.

The proposal
The idea is a simple one. It is essentially an extension of the existing Tir Gofal scheme to create a more accessible and targeted scheme that would deliver broad conservation and access goals across Wales combined with financial rewards for farmers for the work they do managing the land and landscape of Wales.

Tir Gofal is a whole farm agri- environment scheme, already part funded through modulation. Looked at with some justifiable envy by our neighbours in the UK and mainland Europe, this 'all-Wales' scheme provides farmers with an opportunity to be rewarded as much for what they do with their land as what they produce from it.

Demand for the scheme has been high, but the waiting list has continued to grow. We believe the scheme could be strengthened by enlarging the scope and making it more accessible to farmers by adopting a comprehensive tiered structure (as represented in the Pyramid below).

The Tir Gofal Pyramid - broad and shallow at bottom, targeted and landscape scale at the top.

Tir Gofal –Level 1 –Entry Level
All farms in Wales would be eligible for entry to a simple, easy to administer 'broad and shallow' agri-environment scheme. A whole farm plan would need to be produced for those farms applying for payments under this scheme. This plan would form the basis for future payments for environmental work carried out under the scheme. Once a plan has been produced and agreed farmers could then use it to apply for agri-environment payments, through the existing IACS system (IACS is the system used to administer EU subsidies for cattle).

This should not be as onerous or expensive a task as might first be thought. Many farmers in Wales will be producing similar plans anyway (e.g. through Farming Connect), and the National Assembly is developing a Geographical Information System (GIS) to help administer IACS payments. The development of GIS greatly enhances the potential using the same system to administer a basic agri-environment scheme.

A broad and shallow agri-environment scheme would be relatively easy to administer, and result in farmers being rewarded for undertaking relatively simple environmentally beneficial activities on their farm.

The development of a broad and shallow agri-environment scheme (a lot of farmers, all managing their land in a more diverse manner) should underpin, not undermine, the existing Tir Gofal scheme. This broad and shallow scheme should be seen as a means of encouraging farmers to try out an agri- environment approach, and if they like it then they should be encouraged to apply for Tir Gofal - Level 2, a more demanding, but also more rewarding scheme.

Tir Gofal –Level 2
The current Tir Gofal scheme would be retained as Level 2, but strengthened by having many farmers entering this level of Tir Gofal already having carried out basic elements of the current Tir Gofal scheme prior to applying for Level 2 (i.e. whole farm plans, basic environmental work on their land, maintaining Public Rights of Way etc.). This would ensure that farmers entering Tir Gofal Level 2 could focus on delivering more demanding habitat and access management requirements.

Designated sites, high value habitats and landscapes that cannot be managed through a basic broad and shallow scheme will always need extra support. This is currently the focus of the existing Tir Gofal agri-environment scheme, Tir Cymen and CCW Management Agreements and needs to be continued and enhanced. Payments in this part of the scheme need to remain higher than for Tir Gofal Level 1, reflecting the more demanding management and integrated land management, delivering environmental, biodiversity and access benefits at a landscape scale.

Tir Gofal –Level 3
One of the short-comings of the existing Tir Gofal programme is that it does not facilitate the wider environment and access benefits that would arise from adjacent farms being in the scheme.

In our tiered Tir Gofal structure we can see many benefits for establishing a top tier; Tir Gofal –Level 3. This would focus on Group Applications and encourage integrated land management, delivering environmental, biodiversity and access benefits at a landscape scale.

Next steps and funding  
This proposal could provide a viable way forward for maintaining financial support for farmers in Wales whilst safeguarding the environment and ensuring public monies deliver multiple public benefits. The basic administrative system would have to be put in place before the updated scheme was launched, and an appropriate source of funding identified.

Modulation appears to provide the best medium term source of funding for such a scheme, but this is dependant on match funding coming from the UK Treasury, not the National Assembly budget. Margaret Beckett recently announced that if England were to adopt a 10% modulation rate the Treasury would need to find over ś120 million in match funding. In Wales, because of the nature of our farming and the historically lower receipt of subsidy payments here, this figure would be nearer a more modest ś1 1-ś1 5 million of monies to be found to match fund at a 10% rate.

This would result in a drop in direct subsidy payments to farmers in Wales, the amount depending on the rate of modulation (currently 2.5%). However, with a broad and shallow scheme open to all farmers in Wales, relatively easy to administer, and paying back to farmers within the same year double the amount taken away we believe that the net benefits, environmental, economic and social justify such an approach. At the end of the day, thriving rural communities in Wales rely on a well managed, productive, accessible and working countryside to survive. This sort of scheme can help achieve just that.
Marc Welsh, Director, WWCL

Return to top of page