Farming is an integral part of the economy in Wales and helps feed people all across the country. The Welsh government give farmers subsidies to make sure their farming can be sustainable, but some are saying that the Welsh government is telling those farmers what they can and can’t do with the money they are given.
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00:00 Every survey indicates that for every pound spent by the taxpayer in support for the agriculture industry,
00:09 between seven and nine pounds is returned in public goods.
00:13 Well Llywydd, the Welsh Government is committed to go on supporting farmers and the rural economy.
00:21 It's why we have sustained the total amount that we put into the basic payment scheme in full here in Wales.
00:31 An enormous contrast with the way farmers have been treated in England, of course.
00:36 The point I make yesterday, and I make it again today, that the public in Wales will go on investing in farming.
00:46 And the public is entitled to see a return on that investment.
00:52 Tory leader Andrew R.T. Davies argues that added rules and regulations and poor funding has led to massive losses in the farming sector,
00:58 from lower numbers of cattle and sheep as well as millions less in economic activity in agriculture.
01:04 I use those important figures of the return for the investment that the taxpayer makes.
01:09 But you did go on in that press conference to say that your understanding was
01:14 just do whatever farmers think they would like to do with it.
01:18 It's been the money that the taxpayer puts into agriculture and supports agriculture.
01:23 And it's a really tough sell because your own analysis talks of five and a half thousand job losses,
01:30 a reduction in 125,000 cattle, 800,000 sheep and 200 million pounds loss of economic activity in the rural economy.
01:43 Those aren't my figures. Those are the figures that obviously the government has put forward.
01:48 Plaid Cynon Ffrin a Biawrth says that it's all well and good having added regulations from the Welsh Government on farmers,
01:54 but there needs to be more listening to farmers to work with them to create a better outcome,
01:58 rather than forcing them in a direction that is negatively affecting Welsh farmers.
02:03 A top-down Welsh Government telling them how to farm whilst being out of tune with what it takes
02:09 to ensure productive and environmentally friendly agriculture, which is what the sector strives for.
02:15 Now, yesterday we heard the First Minister telling farmers on one hand that their voice will shape the sustainable farming scheme
02:22 and on the other that it's not up to them how the scheme works.
02:26 Now, whether it's steel, whether it's hospitality or retail or it's agriculture,
02:30 surely the role of Welsh Government is to be leading a partnership, championing Welsh workers, working with them.
02:38 Does the First Minister agree that if they're to show that they are on people's side,
02:42 the emphasis has to be on the listening and not on the lecturing?
02:46 Farmers this week protested outside of Welsh Labour hustings against new regulations like the 10% of land being used for trees,
02:54 and there is a clear disaffection from people across the agricultural industry in Wales,
02:58 one that needs fixing if farming will continue to flourish.
03:01 James P. Watkins, reporting from Wales.
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