The worry is real – you can’t furlough farming
ACROSS Wales, towns and cities continue to exist in a desolate state, nine weeks into the Welsh coronavirus lockdown.
Streets are empty, while shops, once housing rampant consumers imprinting their mark on the economy, are closed. Inside, the staff that aren’t there are managing to survive thanks to a government scheme which poses questions about our futures, but at least puts food on our tables.
There are other people in Wales, however, who we don’t necessarily think about when we amble through the desert of our local town, city or village. There are those whose landscapes have not changed, to the eye.
But farming in Wales has changed. People are genuinely worried, and as the isolation once embraced by those in rural settings has become more intense, many of the avenues down which farmers normally make their money have been closed off, with no date in mind for the grand reopening.
The worry is real. After all, you can’t furlough farming.
The Welsh Government has announced a number of emergency measures to support farmers during the coronavirus outbreak, including a deadline extension to the window in which they must claim payments under various schemes.
Back in April, things were even more bleak and uncertain than they are today, as dairy farmers were left with no option but to pour away thousands of litres of fresh milk – together with a chunk of profit and countless working hours – straight down the drain.
Llyr Griffiths, a Ceredigion dairy farmer, said the only option was to borrow money and plough through a storm of uncertainty described by his grandmother as “worse than war time” – a storm that even presented the idea of selling up for good and starting a new life.
On May 9 the Welsh Government announced grants of up to £10,000 for dairy farmers who have lost more than a quarter of their income in April and May, with the Welsh Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs admitting the coronavirus lockdown had caused an “immediate and significant impact” on the sector.
However, three weeks after that announcement, Mr Griffiths said the financial help on offer is a “drop in the ocean”.
While companies are collecting milk from farms again, the price they are receiving for every last drop of it has hit the floor.
“We’re getting 6p a litre less than we were before coronavirus,” he said. “Compared to this time last year, it’s 10p less, and we didn’t make much of a profit last year.
“We’ve had no choice but to carry on and try to save money where we can, but with dairy farming in particular, there are so many costs – feed, labour, rented ground, it’s endless. And if you start cutting costs everything gets affected, so you can’t, basically. We just have to carry on as normal.
“If the price does not go back up at some point it could be a dire situation.
We can now apply for a grant but it’s a drop in the ocean when you’ve lost thousands of pounds. Everything helps, but it certainly isn’t a game changer.”
The Welsh Government has said it recognises that these are difficult times for people involved in Welsh agriculture and it is working closely with the sector to help it address the issues it faces.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty, one family has actually seen an improvement in their situation because, simply, more people are buying what they’re selling.
While supermarkets have remained open throughout the crisis, lockdown has, it seems, opened the consumer’s eyes to local produce straight from their local farm.
In the rural parts of
Wales where farms and the families that tend to them have lived and thrived for generations, it’s unlikely that the journey back to normality will happen in 2020. While some have been able to withstand the turmoil more than others, normality for most may never return.