Environment scheme test run halted (From Western Telegraph)

Environment scheme test run halted

St CLEARS will no longer be used to pilot the National Assembly's new Tir Cynnal agri-environment scheme.

Dai Davies, St Clears dairy farmer and NFU Cymru's vice-president, expressed his concerns regarding the scheme at the United Counties Show.

The town, along with Llanfair Talhaiarn in north Wales, had been selected by the National Assembly to pilot the new scheme. But the decision to open the scheme across Wales in 2005 has meant that there is not enough time to give it a test run.

Dai Davies, said: "I don't want to see the Assembly rush into starting this new scheme as we at NFU Cymru are particularly concerned at the fact that a limit has been put on the hectarage eligible for payments under the Tir Cynnal Scheme.

"While the whole of the farm would have to be entered into Tir Cynnal, only the first 100 hectares of the farmer's land would be eligible for support.

"This effectively means that all of a farmer's land that has given rise to support, and which would be subject to modulation, has to be entered to the scheme but only a proportion of the land will, in practice, receive support for the positive environmental works and the costs associated with the scheme."

The National Assembly said its approach to the scheme was designed to focus money on 'small to medium sized farmers ie the traditional family farm that is the cornerstone of Welsh agriculture'.

NFU Cymru has written to the Assembly minister for agriculture, Carwyn Jones, to argue that the vast majority of farms in excess of 100 hectares are very much traditional family farms and are an integral part of our industry."

He added, "We feel the principle of 'cut-off' funding discriminates against those who farm land in excess of the set threshold and we will continue to do all we can to get the proposed hectarage limits changed. It is unfortunate that the Assembly appears to place no value on the environmental activities carried out on land in excess of 100 hectares."