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The questions without notice to the Environment, Energy & Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths (Lab, Wrexham), focused on the recently-published agriculture white paper.
While welcoming some aspects, Llyr Gruffydd MS (Plaid, North Wales) was disappointed that there wasn’t much different from previous consultation documents.
He noted that the language of the report didn’t provide any certainty on how the proposals would directly impact rural communities, while a lot of the work will become effectively redundant at the end of the Brexit transition period when everything changes again. Did the Minister do her homework?
The Minister stressed the need to get this right rather than rush it; a final report wasn’t expected on the white paper before autumn 2021. There was no rush either as there are temporary powers included in the UK Agriculture Bill. A Welsh Agriculture Bill would be tabled sometime during the Sixth Senedd.
Shadow Environment Minister, Janet Finch-Saunders MS (Con, Aberconwy), said the white paper falls short of the ambitions Welsh farmers deserve. She paraphrased what Llyr Gruffydd said by adding that it wasn’t clear if the previous consultations added weight to the white paper and didn’t do much to acknowledge the time and effort farmers made to respond to the consultation.
She was astounded that “employment” was only mentioned three times, undervaluing the contribution farmers make to the rural economy. There was also too much focus on enforcement and regulation, which could potentially restrict the competitiveness of Welsh farming.
The Minister believes the future Agriculture Bill is a massive opportunity to have a tailored agricultural policy for Wales. It would put sustainable food production front and centre; presently, farmers aren’t rewarded for environmental stewardship when they will play a key role in tackling climate change.
She accepted that there were voices supporting measures similar to the status quo, but the future Bill would bring regulations together into one law and introduce proportionate enforcement measures instead of the current “big leap” to criminal prosecution for minor breaches.
