How an Independent Wales will do it better 3.

Agriculture

The land mass of Wales is almost 90% farmland , so it should be making a major contribution to the nation's economy and needs.

The fact that agriculture in Wales is increasingly spoken about in terms of its cultural or environmental contribution is an indication of its failure to do so.

The dialogue around farming is more often couched in terms of sustaining the Welsh language and looking after the environment, than economic benefits.

The Welsh government points to the data showing that 43% of farm workers speak Welsh against the national average of 22%.

That’s a total of 21500 out of a national total of almost 700000. So hardly a policy deciding reason..

So it must be filling a need. Providing the domestic consumers with the produce they need.

This too is questionable.

Less than 5% of lamb and beef from Welsh farmers are consumed by the Welsh public.

Additionally, Welsh production of beef and lamb is falling and imports of both are increasing.

The trend, particularly with the young, towards plant based diets will only add to this diminishing meat market.

As for the environment.

The farming community argues that farming is essential in order to manage the natural environment, look after the countryside.

Environmentalists differ

They argue that sheep farming is detrimental to the environment.

Sheep and cattle are a contributor to carbon emissions.

They graze not only the grass but natural plant life and in doing so affects the ecological chain associated.

The volume of sheep, it is argued, also compact the soil, causing greater runoff of rainwater to the lower agricultural land.

There is also the farming push back regarding tree planting, although with the major part of Wales land mass being farmed, it is obvious that any increase in forestation would encroach on farming.

Economically.

With farming occupying so much of Wales landmass, it could be expected that it would make a major contribution to the Welsh economy.

Disappointingly this is not the case.

Dairy farming and milk products is the only sector that is profitable without public subsidies.

Lamb and beef farming is only marginally profitable even with the £300 million subsidies and grants and with lower production and increasing competition and costs, it's getting worse.

How will an Independent Wales do it better?

An Independent Wales will do it better by doing agriculture differently.

First of all by a recognition that lamb and beef farming is not the future.

Nor is tying up so much land for a failing sector sensible.

And here the nation must take care.

It must remember the devastation to communities and the nation by the unmanaged decline in coal and steel.

The agricultural industry must not go the same way, nor is it necessary, for there is a place for the sector, a more viable, secure place.

It will need change.

Change in practice and attitude.

Crops and horticulture.

A recent Welsh government report stated that Welsh farm income has reduced by 39% in one year.

Even the most profitable sector, dairy farming, had reduced by 59%.

The farms in Less Favoured Areas [ LFAs } had already minimal incomes, reduced by a further 6%.

A further report shows that there is more imported beef and lamb on supermarket shelves than ever before.

The farmers union response, to blame regulations and call for more financial support.

It is a mistaken approach and does nothing to halt the decline in farming in Wales.

For farming in Wales to thrive and do the job of feeding the nation there needs change, diversity and not just holiday lets or the niche market of wagyu cattle, but fundamental change.

A change to horticulture and crops. Some as mixed farming, some as new entries.

Horticulture

Presently less than 0.1% of agricultural land is used for horticulture in Wales.

At the same time Wales imports the majority of its fruit and vegetables.

The current production of less than 1000 hectares, 0.1% of total agricultural area,  is only sufficient to supply a quarter of one of the five a day required fruit and veg for the Welsh population.

In order to supply the five a day requirement it would take approximately 25000 hectares, still only 3% of agricultural land.

In economic terms. A study by Bangor University found horticulture to be the most profitable use of land, followed by arable crops and then livestock.

A Welsh government report puts the output of horticulture to be £58 million, although Bangor University put the figure at over £300 million.

Even at the lower figure, which was produced from less than 1000 hectares. A target of producing the five a day on 30,000 hectares, 30 times as much, would yield, on a rough projection, 30 times £58 million.

£1.7 billion

That’s more than sheep, beef and dairy combined and from 3% of the land.

Horticulture as an industry.

Horticulture in Wales must look beyond the quoted five a day production target.

Particularly if it is to be the saviour of farming.

Horticulture is to be a major new part of the Welsh economy, providing food security and adding to the wealth of the nation.

The potential is there, but requires an entirely new approach.

Presently horticultural holdings are small scale, typically less than 5 hectares.

As such they are not eligible for Welsh government grant aid.

Less than 5 hectares also makes them more susceptible to regulation, particularly planning regulation.

These constraints, together with the availability of land are a barrier to the growth of horticulture.

There are three clear ways to grow the horticulture industry/

Mixed farming.

Scaling up existing business.

Encouragement of new entrants,

Mixed farming.

The Institute for Welsh Affairs argues that 2 hectares of fruit and vegetables will yield the same financial value as 119 hectares of livestock.

Why then, with such an obvious gain, are farmers not enthusiastic?

A survey by the Welsh government found the main reason was cultural. Farming has always meant livestock.

Then the recognition that farmers are not growers, although with many farms growing arable crops, mainly for feed, the principles are understood.

Then there’s the land.

Less Favoured Land [ LFA ] only suitable for grazing , it is argued, due to wet poor soil quality and unfriendly environment.

LFA was designated in Wales over half a century ago.

Since that time there has been considerable advancement in soil management techniques, equipment and the development of crop strains more suitable for Wales' environment.

An environment that has, due to climate change over the past fifty years, become more conducive to growing.

However it remains the case that farmers who embrace horticulture, including cereals for human consumption, must receive adequate support in terms of advice and finance,in the initial years.

Scaling up existing businesses.

This will only happen when an Independent Wales government reverses the present attitude to horticulture in Wales.

Presently, horticulture in Wales is treated as a poor relation

On government agricultural data charts it doesn’t even warrant a section of its own, being lumped in with’ others ‘.

As small scale enterprises, they don’t qualify for agricultural grants and at the same time are subject to much more stringent regulation, particularly in planning, than larger agricultural holdings.

This will need to change.

Small enthusiastic growers must be encouraged to expand.

Presently larger farms have permitted development rights, which means they can build or extend farm buildings, without planning consent.

This right does not extend to holdings under 5 hectares.

This is a sector in which most horticultural holdings lie.

Agricultural grants in Wales do not extend to holdings under 5 hectares, depriving the majority of horticulture to access..

These policies need to be reversed.

It needs to be recognised that crops are more productive and more profitable per hectare, than the highly subsidised livestock sector.

More land must be made available for horticulture. 

New entrants.

The horticultural sector must be encouraged, promoted, given a higher profile, both in its importance in feeding the nation and in its contribution to the  Welsh economy.

New entrants to this sector must be supported financially, skills training and marketing.

Larger crop growing holding with the traditional fruit, veg and cereals, but also commercial, profitable crops such as hemp and flax, easily grown in the Welsh environment.

Sales.

Presently the outlet for consumers to buy this produce is predominantly supermarkets.

The consequence for agriculture is to suppress farming profits.

Such is the present dominance that farmers and growers have no choice in accepting marginal prices.

For consumers the prices are set by supermarkets with profits and shareholders, the deciding factor.

An answer for Welsh producers is to follow the European trend of produce markets.

Throughout town and villages are the food markets.

Not the domestic, so-called farmers market, often with niche products at premium prices , Nor the odd stall among the general market,  but locally grown, affordable produce available to all. 

These markets are organised by local authorities, a win-win for both producers and consumers and available particularly to lower income groups

Buying loca must be a  public services procurement policy, schools, hospitals etc it should  be a priority.

The start up of this new culture will require financial support, but it should be regarded, not as a cost, but in the future of Wales food welfare and security.

Forestry..

Forestry in Wales suffers much of the same problems as horticulture

Wales imports almost all its timber and timber products and yet its own forestry sector remains underdeveloped.

Trees cover approximately 15% of Wales land, that against 38% of an EU average 

Consistently, attempts to increase this by tree planting initiatives have fallen short.

Trees are an essential part of the environment and yet increasing their number encounters considerable resistance.

Waste of money, taking up good productive farmland, its a lefty eco thing, all given as reasons for resistance and all mistaken.

Carbon emissions are high on the agenda of environmental concerns and trees are an effective antidote.

Trees capture carbon. The more trees the more carbon is captured

Rather than a waste of money forestry contributes to tourism and public welfare and mental health.

It also contributes to the Welsh economy.

Presently only 4% of managed forestry is finished timber products, This, it is argued, is due to the lack of replanting policy.

However, even at this low base, forestry contributes £528 million to the economy, more than lamb and more than beef.

Forestry also employs more workers than farming.

With regard to ‘ taking up good productive farming ‘, as farming takes up almost 90% of Wales land, any increase in forest cover will inevitably encroach into farmland.

It doesn’t however mean the most productive farmland, nor does it mean an interference with livestock farming, often providing shelter as conditions become more extreme.

Properly managed it is also an additional income to compensate for dwindling livestock incomes.

How will an Independent Wales do forestry better?

A comprehensive, planned and urgent, tree planting program. One that is carried out in cooperation where possible with all interested parties with support and financial assistance, but with the understanding that Welsh national interest is priority.

Farms will only be required to have a small amount of forestry, in most cases a small increase from the present,

The practice of foreign corporations buying Welsh farms for tree planting as a carbon exchange measure.

This is an increasing trend according to Welsh government figures and the fact that it is farmers themselves selling up knowingly to this practice, runs contrary to the farming industry’s public condemnation of the practice.

An Independent Wales government would legislate to prevent this practice.

Welsh land, a natural and national  resource, must be owned within Wales.

Forestation, managed forestation, could start on a large scale very quickly with intent and investment

There is estimated to be 100,000 hectares of bracken covered land in Wales.

This prevents livestock grazing, but the conditions favoured by bracken also apply to trees.

Not all the area will be suitable, but it equates to approximately 80 million trees.

So that’s a good start.

The large areas of privately owned land is argued as a barrier to government policy

However much of this ‘ private ‘ land is owned by public utility corporations.

In this case two of the biggest landowners in Wales are the water companies. Dwr Cymru and United Utilities.

When an Independent Wales takes utilities into public ownership, the land and forestry associated with it, also becomes publicly owned.

So beside the managed forestation associated with farm land, there are large areas with no such restraints to overcome.

Forestry, properly managed, will become a major public asset in terms of tourism and leisure, but also as a major industry contributing significantly to the Welsh economy.

The future of agriculture.

With the right policy, agriculture will have an enhanced place in Wales and its economy.

A viable, profitable future for the sector and nation.

But not as we know it.

Over time, a diminishing livestock sector and expansion of horticulture, crops and forestry.

Investment and vision.

Next up : Tourism and hospitality.

The Public Sector as an economic generator.