The Welsh Government has announced that it is making £227m available over the next three years to support the resilience of Wales’ rural economy and its natural environment.
The framework compliments the development of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which will reward farmers and land managers for the work they do to meet the challenges of the climate and nature emergencies alongside the sustainable production of food, with benefits for food security in Wales and globally.
Funding, which will be available to support farmers, foresters, land managers and associated rural sectors will be delivered across six themes:
- Farm scale land management: funding for farming in a way perceived as environmentally beneficial, such as growing protein crops.
- On-farm environmental improvements: funding environmental efficiency improvements on farm, such as “fuel feed and nutrient efficiency”, “circular economy approaches” and “use of renewable energy”.
- On-farm efficiency and diversification: including new technology and equipment.
- Landscape scale land management: appears similar to Landscape Recovery in England.
- Woodland and forestry: specifically, the creation of 43,000ha thereof.
- Food and farming supply chains: including investment in the “Welsh food and drink industry” more generally.
The schemes, worth a total value of £100m, are either open now or will be launched in the coming weeks to support these themes with more to come as detailed design work continues.
As part of the package of support, there are schemes offering grants of between £1,000 and £5,000 to develop plans for new woodland creation and a scheme to support woodland restoration.
Although the focus is environmental, unlike the English system, significant weight is also being given to support the sustainable production of food.
Find out more at https://gov.wales/227m-support-wales-rural-economy-towards-greener-and-more-sustainable-future
