Plans to require Welsh farmers to have trees on 10% of their land in order to qualify for government funding have been dropped after widespread protests.
The requirement was part of planned changes to Welsh farming subsidies through the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which is to be introduced in 2026.
Now it is set to be replaced by “a tree planting and hedgerow creation plan”, which farmers would need to start to make progress on with a view to delivering this by 2030.
Ian Rickman, president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales, said the announcement was the culmination of “intense” work over recent months.
And by ‘intense work’ we of course mean intense lobbying by the farming unions who, despite trying to brand themselves as ‘custodians of the countryside’, seem dead against protecting it if it impacts their profits.
