There are few, if any, who are more connected to the land of our fathers than our farmers.

They cultivate it, they care for it, and they enable crops to grow and livestock to roam.

In doing so they do more than produce delicious high-quality food for our tables - though they certainly do that very well. Put simply, the family farm is the beating heart of communities (many of them Welsh-speaking) the length and breadth of Wales. The daily hard graft they put into the land is what cultivates those communities too.

You take the family farm away and those communities will atrophy – perhaps even die.

Agriculture in Wales is more important to its economy than in other parts of the British Isles with our utilised agricultural land amounting to 88%, compared to 69% in England, 68% in Scotland and 73% in Northen Ireland.

This can clearly be seen with Westminster’s complete indifference to rural Wales which is a matter of grave concern and has already had a hugely damaging impact on the rural economy.

During the Brexit debate and afterwards our farmers were repeatedly promised they would be funded by Westminster in the future. They were told that they would receive ‘not a penny less’ than what they got from the EU. This promise, however, was broken in the first year by the then Conservative Government in Westminster leading to hundreds of millions of pounds less coming to Welsh farmers since Brexit.

The Barnet formula for which the Welsh Government receives most of its funding is based on the population needs of England and much has been made of the fact both the Conservative and now the Labour Government in London have failed in providing up to £4 billion of consequential money for HS2 in Barnet funding for Wales by designating HS2 as an ‘England and Wales’ project.

It now appears that the Labour Government in London is going to shortchange Wales yet again. Under EU funding for UK agriculture, allocation of funding across the UK nations under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) formula was based on rural and farming criteria such as the size, number and nature of farms. This resulted in 9.4% of the total UK agriculture budget coming to Wales.

However, the Farmers Union of Wales has already warned that the ‘Barnettisation’ of the block grant for each devolved nation, a calculation based on population needs rather than farm and rural characteristics, could see Wales’ proportion of total UK agricultural funding fall drastically.

In the worst case scenario ‘Barnettisation’ of agricultural funding that could mean Wales’ proportion of total UK agricultural funding falls from 9.4% to around 5% - equal to a cut of around 40% in funding.

This would be devastating at the best of times, but we all know that these are not the best of times. Growth in the economy vacillates between anaemic and non-existent and inflation has had a damaging effect on the farming industry.

Just as the cost-of-living crisis continues to decimate the average worker and the average family, it is also decimating family farms. They have been hit hard by rocketing fertilizer, feed and energy prices which at its peak saw cost jump by up to 200% for fertilizer and at least 60% for animal feed.

Being deprived of this money would have been an enormous blow to our farmers during buoyant times but recent figures show that average farm business income has dropped significantly from 2022-23 to 2023-24 with the dairy industry hit the hardest with a 62% drop in income but sheep and beef farms in deprived areas (DA) seeing a drop from £18,600 to £14,800, a 20% decrease. Overall there has been a 39% drop in income for all farm types in Wales during this 2 year period.

In addition to this, a series of post-Brexit trade deals have effectively thrown our farmers under the bus, with Welsh farming potentially set to suffer as a result of the trade deals with New Zealand and Australia, which could undermined the sector and expose farmers to increased unfair competition. These duff deals mean that farmers will potentially be undercut in the long term by cheaper food imports from countries with lower welfare standards than the UK and additional environmental consequences by transporting food halfway across the world.

A spoke person for the NFU recently said: “British farmers are being asked to go toe-to-toe with some of the most cost-effective food producers in the world. But there is scant evidence that the government has the vision to create the conditions to allow our farmers to compete.”

Unfortunately, continued Westminster rule means that things are likely to get even worse, as the trade policy trajectory set by Westminster prioritises services such as the legal, banking and insurances sector over agricultural interests due to the lack of influence the farming industry has on its politicians.

This of course ignores the vital role of farming in our economy as well as in our communities. Agricultural output (gross output) in Wales is worth around £1.7 billion to the economy, with agriculture representing a higher percentage of the Welsh economy compared to the UK as a whole. Unsurprisingly there has also been a lack of meaningful consultation with farming unions and political parties in Wales on trade deals, which rather underscores Westminster’s disregard for the sector's concerns.

They didn’t ask farmers what they think because they don’t care. It is little wonder that farmers in Wales are feeling betrayed by those in Westminster.

Another blow is the recently announced changes to the Agricultural Property Relief where farming families will have to start paying an inheritance tax over a threshold of £1million. According to the FUW these changes will undermine the viability of family farms, increase corporate ownership and ramp up the financial pressure on farms who are already struggling.

The farming industry at first glance does not appear to fare much better under the Senedd in Cardiff with the introduction of the NVZ (Nitrate Vulnerable Zones) and the apparent indifference shown by the Welsh Government in dealing with the bTB problem. But with the recent apparent U-turn by the Welsh Government in the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) with an opt in rather than compulsory requirement for farmers to have trees on 10% of their land, the devil of course will be in the detail. But at least it demonstrates through protest and pressure from farming unions and opposition parties that farming has more influence on Senedd politicians than those in Westminster and can force change.

The recent changes in the electoral system for elections to the Senedd through the introduction of a more proportional representation system will more than likely produce a Senedd with a stronger representation from parties that support agriculture. But only an independent Wales can truly safeguard farming long term.

The Senedd in Cardiff in an independent Wales would not put the City of London ahead of our rural communities. Independence would put the power to negotiate Wales’ trade relationships in our own hands. It would enable us to put our rural communities at the heart of our decision-making. 

Farming is central to Wales’ heritage and economy and must be protected. Independence can ensure it continues to be the beating heart of our communities, enabling the survival of a centuries old industry so that it may thrive for many years to come.