The farming subsidies saga goes on
The ongoing saga over farming subsidies has hit new heights as farmers descend on the capital city in protest. The Welsh government say that nothing has been finalised and want to work with farmers to come to an agreement, but there is concern from other parties that farmers will be forgotten about.
Transcript
00:00 But do you regret trying to indicate in your comments that farmers resented the fact that
00:09 they were having to actually apply under certain rules for this scheme in the future? Because
00:16 as I said, as I understand it, and the farmers that I've spoken to, they want to work in
00:21 co-operation with the Welsh Government, they want to develop a scheme that is positive
00:25 for agriculture and positive for the environment. And the quote that you gave last week was
00:30 inaccurate.
00:31 Llywydd, I think today is a day for conciliation across Wales, and it's a day to lower the
00:40 temperature of the debate that has gone on around the future of farming. And I'm not
00:46 going to follow the leader of the opposition into an accusatory and blame-ascribing approach
00:53 to the debate. I was very pleased indeed yesterday to meet with my colleague Lesley Griffiths,
01:01 with five members of the farming community.
01:06 Mark Drakeford insists that there is far more talking to come before the plans are finalised,
01:10 with a public consultation yet to finish and more conversations after that. He says that
01:15 farmers need to play a big role in the decision-making.
01:19 That is the sort of conversation that we want to see here in Wales. The Government has been
01:24 in a seven-year conversation. The current consultation will end on 7 March. The conversation
01:32 will not end there, because we will want to continue to be closely engaged with those
01:37 who have contributed to the consultation in, together, finding a successful future for
01:45 farming and rural Wales.
01:49 The First Minister has previously made comments, though, that go against the notion of including
01:53 farmers in the decisions, when he spoke about farmers not having a final say on plans. The
01:57 whole saga has been a back-and-forth, and tempers have certainly not come down even
02:01 weeks into the discussions.
02:05 I agree entirely with you, First Minister, that the heat needs to be taken out of the
02:09 discussion at the moment, but it is a fact that the comment that you said last week,
02:14 "It's not up to farmers to decide how subsidies are spent", was really trying to push farmers
02:20 to the edge.
02:21 I can hear the Deputy Minister for Transport trying to intervene. If you would like to
02:28 stand up, Deputy Minister, because we have a debate.
02:31 No, you are on your feet, Andrew R.T. Davies. Can you come to your question? Can we hear
02:36 it in some silence from all Benches, please?
02:38 We are talking about lowering the heat.
02:42 For most of us, we would have never heard so much about farming subsidies in our lives,
02:45 but in Wales it has been all we have heard for weeks. Farmers play a vital role in our
02:49 economy and our lives, providing food and other necessary crops. There is a clear distrust
02:54 between the Welsh Government and farmers, and people across the country will be hoping
02:58 it is put to bed sooner rather than later.
03:01 Jamie Deeds-Watkins, reporting from Wales.
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