A new loan facility to help Welsh farmers who won’t receive their BPS payment on day one has been met with mixed response by the country’s farming unions.
Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths also announced the Welsh Government would be making a donation of £500,000 to farming charities to help provide short-term support to those families in Wales who are least able to meet living costs.
Lesley Griffiths said: “Whilst the weather and immediate forage situation has improved, I remain concerned about the medium and longer term cost and fodder availability implications for farm businesses.
“In recognition of the current exceptional circumstances, I have taken the decision to make available a loan facility to farm businesses later this year.
European regulations set the payment window for BPS from December 1 to June 30. Based on Wales’ excellent payment performance, I expect approximately 90% of farm businesses in Wales to receive their BPS payments on day one.
“To ensure parity between claimants, I will also introduce a loan facility for the remaining approximate 10% of farm businesses where the BPS claims are yet to be validated and therefore cannot be paid under European regulations.”
The Cabinet Secretary added: “I am conscious the Farming Unions have been calling for us to bring forward the BPS 2018 payments.
“I have decided this would not be particularly helpful as making advance payments in October will not resolve the immediate or longer-term implications of the exceptional weather conditions and it would create an unfortunate disparity between businesses in terms of some receiving BPS payments while others would not.”
Mixed reaction
National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Cymru president John Davies welcomed the decision.
He said: “During the dry weather summit, NFU Cymru put forward a number of key asks on behalf of our membership. We are pleased that a number of these asks have already been put in place, including derogations to Glastir obligations.”
However, the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) said the Welsh Government loan offer showed politicians were “out of touch” with weather implications.
The union said the plans make no change to the usual December basic payment date, and only offer loans for the 5-10% of farmers who will not receive payments by that date.
FUW president Glyn Roberts said: “Ironically, Scottish Labour criticised the Scottish Government for being slow to confirm loans would be available in October for farmers unable to afford to buy fodder and feed following a disastrous harvest – and for not going far enough.
“Yet in Wales, where Labour are in power, the Welsh Government propose going nowhere near as far as what is proposed in Scotland.”
Roberts said that he was concerned that the release of early loans and payments in other parts of the UK and in Ireland and other parts of the EU would lead to desperately needed fodder and bedding being taken off the UK market from October.
He added that meanwhile, Welsh farmers would be left waiting for payments and therefore unable to compete.
