The Welsh Government has announced on the 1st of April 2022 a number of funding support packages for farmers, foresters, land managers and food businesses. These will be introduced over the course of the next few months and will be in situ until the Sustainable Farming Scheme that is intended to be introduced in 2025 is in place.
The total of these support packages will be worth over £227 million over the next three years, to reflect the Welsh Government’s intention to enable a just transition to a stronger, greener and fairer Wales.
The schemes will be delivered through a flexible framework across the following six themes:
- Farm Scale Land Management – on-farm sustainable land management actions to enhance natural resources, such as the encouragement of growing crops which will provide an environmental benefit like protein crops.
- On Farm Environmental Improvements – including enhancing fuel, feed and nutrient efficiency, embedding circular economy approaches and encouraging the use of renewable energy.
- On Farm Efficiency and Diversification – supporting farm efficiencies through investment in new technology and equipment and to enable opportunities for agricultural diversification.
- Landscape Scale Land Management – delivering nature based solutions at a landscape scale, through a multi-sectoral collaborative approach.
- Woodland and Forestry – supporting our commitment of 43,000 hectares of woodland creation by 2030 and supporting the creation of a timber based industrial strategy.
- Food and Farming Supply Chains – creating a strong and vibrant Welsh food and drink industry with a global reputation for excellence with one of the most environmentally and socially responsible supply chains in the world.
Some of the woodland schemes are already open, with several of these new schemes due to have their Expression of Interest (EOI) windows launched from May onwards.
Welsh Government have also announced that more schemes will be launched once further design work has been undertaken.
Further information of the schemes can be found here Annex 1.pdf (gov.wales).
If you wish to apply for any of the current or upcoming schemes please contact us on 0330 4609493.