Scaremongering charge levelled at wildlife groups

Welsh farmers have crticised wildlife campaigners, who they claim are using “damaging, ignorant and divisive” tactics to influence the future of farm payments.

NFU Cymru accused the likes of the WWF, RSPB and Wildlife Trusts Wales of pedalling a “fake dystopia” in an attempt to redirect funding away from farmers and towards conservation.

A consultation is currently under way on a proposed post-Brexit payment regime in Wales which, if approved, will strip farmers of direct subsidies by 2025.

Instead, all land managers will be able to claim investment grants as well as payments for “Public Goods” such as habitat improvements, treeplanting and carbon storage.

Farming groups are lobbying for the retention of some direct support or at least the inclusion of volatility measures – to ensure the new regime does not hobble future food production in Wales.

NFU Cymru president John Davies spoke of his “disappointment and dismay” that wildlife groups were using their online channels to infer farmers were harming the environment.

He said: “These organisations are pedalling comments that show a complete disregard and ignorance for the work of Welsh farmers.

“Welsh farmers take their environmental responsibilities extremely seriously, alongside their key role as food producers.

“The picture being painted of the Welsh countryside, of a ‘devastating decline in wildlife’ and nature ‘crashing’, is not one that Welsh farmers will recognise.

“Frankly, it is an insult.”

The Welsh Government has said the proposals are designed to keep as many farmers as possible on the land in a future where food production simply may not be viable for some businesses.

At the same time, Brexit is seen by many conservationists as a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to boost wildlife habitats using cash currently allocated to farming and food production.

Farmers, as traditional land managers, are considered ideally placed to carry this work and wildlife groups insist it is only right they should be paid for doing do.

As a result, most nature groups fully support the Welsh Government’s Brexit and Our Land proposals – and many are urging their memberships to feed into the consultation.

Campaigning has generally portrayed farmers as partners rather than opponents.

However, RSPB Cymru director Katie-Jo Luxton said it was in farming’s interest to work with wildlife groups – and take what’s being offered.

Only by doing this can the industry justify its receipt of taxpayers’ money, she said. Otherwise the industry risks losing out in the post-Brexit scramble for public funding.

“It should provide a more sociallyjust way of supporting farmers who deliver outcomes for taxpayers, and critically, it is a new market that Welsh farmers can never be priced out of,” she said.

But Mr Davies accused wildlife groups of slurring the industry while claiming to want to work with farmers.

“I am deeply dismayed that these environmental groups are employing such tactics at the same time as they seek to have a leading role in working with Welsh farmers,” he said.

“These statements are upsetting and do nothing more than drive a wedge between us, when in fact these organisations should be working with us to achieve our shared goals.”

He urged all Welsh farmers to respond to the consultation and paint a true picture of the multiple benefits they carry out in the countryside.

NFU Cymru has launched an online consultation response form on its website.