Land Of Our Future

The Agriculture (Wales) Act will shape the development of a Sustainable Farming Scheme, which will be the main source of future Government support for farmers in Wales. Following exhaustive debate, it passed through the Senedd in June 2023 and received Royal Assent in August 2023.

The Sustainable Farming Scheme, as currently set out, will pay farmers for delivering sustainable land management on their farms. To make sure we deliver a farming system which is fit for nature and for future generations, WWF Cymru believes that the Sustainable Farming Scheme must deliver sustainable land management as a core objective, support farmers to transition to regenerative farming practices, deliver a nature rich, net zero Wales, and support an agroecological farm to fork shift. If we get sustainable production right, farmers will be paid for ‘how’ they produce food. In other words, we want farmers to be paid for practices that bolster sustainability and deliver outcomes such as:  

• Clean water 
• Clean air 
• Healthy soils 
• Increased tree cover 
• Restored peatlands 
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions 
• Improved wildlife habitats 
• Increased biodiversity 
• And more! 

WWF Cymru believes that this will not only improve the environment but will also work to improve farm profitability and productivity by reducing input costs and offering new income streams.  WWF Cymru have explored what this could look like in a series of Welsh farming case studies, the Land of our Future Stories. 

We are experiencing a significant loss of nature caused by humans. We all depend on nature for our food, air, water, energy and raw materials. Nature and biodiversity make life possible, provide health and social benefits and drive our economy. 

Since 1970, pressure on Wales’ diverse landscapes and seascapes has resulted in both losses and gains for biodiversity. However, the State of Nature 2019 report shows that, on average, Wales’ wildlife has declined in recent decades. In Wales, the report revealed that one in six species are facing extinction. Research by Buglife, for example, has found that the abundance of flying insects in Wales, on which so much of wildlife depends, has fallen by 55% in less than 20 years. Meanwhile, two thirds of rivers fail to achieve good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive. 

Our planet has warmed by 1ºC over the last century. Climate change is wreaking havoc on our wildlife and habitats, and is putting people’s lives and homes at risk. If emissions continue to rise at current rates, we’ve only around a decade before 1.5°C of warming is inevitable and we face climate breakdown. The consequences of not addressing climate change, at a global and local level, would be dire. The United Nations Environment Programme, the Welsh Government and many local authorities in Wales have recognised that what we are facing is an emergency.

Agricultural farming systems are the biggest driver of UK biodiversity loss (as evidenced by the State of Nature Report, 2019) and farmland makes up nearly 90% of land in Wales. Agriculture contributes 15% of Welsh greenhouse gas emissions, much of it methane from livestock, and agricultural emissions have risen over the past decade. Globally, an area equivalent to 40% of the size of Wales was required to grow Welsh imports of cocoa, palm, beef, leather, natural rubber, soy, timber, pulp and paper. 30% of the land used to grow Welsh imports of commodities is in countries categorised high or very high risk for deforestation and habitat loss. Many of these are agriculture and food-based commodities, such as the 190,000 tonnes of soy a year that is mostly imported into Wales for livestock feed. See our Wales and Global Responsibility Report for more information.

Farmers can be an important part of the solution to the crises but the current agricultural support system does not effectively encourage and support farmers to make changes to support nature and tackle climate change.

Last year WWF carried out an opinion survey in Rural Wales. This found that people across Mid, West and North Wales support major changes in how Welsh farmers are funded.  

The survey of 1,000 respondents carried out by Opinion Research Services (ORS), revealed that 96% of residents in rural Wales agree that Welsh farmers have an important role to play in protecting nature and 88% agree that farmers have an important role in tackling climate change.  

Yet only a third of residents (34%) agree that farmers are already doing enough for nature, and the majority (60%) agree that government financial support should only be given if farmers make changes to protect nature and the climate.  This is in in stark contrast to the current area-based payments. There’s more about this here.   

Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history, with one million species now threatened with extinction around the globe. WWF's recent Living Planet Report revealed that global wildlife population sizes have declined on average by nearly 70% in just 50 years.

Here in Wales the most recent State of Nature report revealed that one in six species in Wales are facing extinction. Research by Buglife has found that the abundance of flying insects in Wales, on which so much of wildlife depends, has fallen by 55% in less than 20 years, while two thirds of rivers fail to achieve good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive.

The UN biodiversity summit, COP15, which took place in Montreal in December 2022 was the world’s best chance to agree a global solution to halt and reverse nature loss this decade. After two full weeks of negotiations, COP15 closed with a landmark agreement in place to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 − a global goal hailed as the equivalent to climate’s 1.5C° target. Although more needs to be done to tackle the drivers of nature loss, the global ambition agreed at COP15 is vital for our survival and if we are to bring our planet back from the brink and meet the scale of the nature crisis. Almost 200 countries are signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity and will now be tasked with implementing this agreement.

The Welsh Government warmly welcomed this agreement. Our Climate Change Minister Julie James said Wales should be able to become a global leader in implementing it, on forestry and nature restoration and ensuring good environmental status for 30% of our land by 2030. As around 90% of Wales is farmed, agricultural policy is the key lever the Welsh Government has in delivering on this.

WWF Cymru campaigned for the COP15 agreement to be referenced in the Agriculture Bill which has passed through the Senedd earlier this year. We were delighted that this eventually happened. In particular, the Bill’s Explanatory Memorandum was amended to recognise the importance of the Bill in delivering Wales’ commitments resulting from the COP15 Agreement.

Under current plans for the Sustainable Farming Scheme, farms entering the Sustainable Farming Scheme would normally have to commit to reaching 10% tree cover on their farm within five years. But an average farm in Wales contains around 7% of tree cover already¹. This tree cover would count towards the 10% and furthermore, unplantable areas such as peatland or areas covered in rock are excluded from this requirement. There will also be special rules for tenant farmers whose tenancies preclude tree planting.

The UK Climate Change Commission has flagged up planting trees in the right places as one of the actions necessary to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. To reach the ‘balanced pathway’ set out by the Commission, Wales needs a step change increase in tree planting to tackle the climate emergency. To reach the Climate Change Commission’s targets, Wales needs to plant around 5,000 hectares per year. In the 2022-23 planting season, just 1,190 hectares² of woodland was planted, just 23% of what is needed.

As almost 90% of Wales is farmland, the tree planting requirement within the Sustainable Farming Scheme could provide the step change needed to deliver these targets.  Planted in the right places, trees can be a significant asset to the farm, providing shelter and shade for livestock, protecting the soil from erosion, increasing biosecurity and reducing flood risk. They can also provide habitat for vital pollinators and make productive use of areas of the farm which are of limited agricultural value. 

That said, farmers will not be obliged to enter the Sustainable Farming Scheme. It’s their choice, though those choosing not to will probably find they will still be bound by minimum standards required to avoid water pollution and unacceptably high emissions of nitrates and ammonia.

1. According to Forest Research’s 2022 Forestry Statistics Report, there was 124,000 ha of farm woodland in Wales in 2021. There is around 1,600,000 ha of farmland in Wales.

2. According to Forest Research’s 2023 Provisional Forestry Statistics Report.