, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
I can now, yes.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
I think I've frozen.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
Okay. Dr Petetin, you, in your written evidence, note that organic or environmentally friendly farmers would struggle to meet some of the requirements of the scheme. And I wondered if you could just elaborate on that.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
The other issue that we face is that I think it's probably a minority of farmers who are actually members or any of the organisations who are representing their members. How many people are not a member of either the NFU, the FUW or the tenant farmers and…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
Okay. Lots of issues there. Could I just ask Professor Donnison to enter into this discussion as well, because in your paper you're saying quite clearly that the world is moving on anyway and we absolutely have to look at new crops, new agriculture and less…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with academics
Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr Petetin, for pointing out that big farmers and dairy farmers seem to be the most vocal, at the moment, against the sustainable farming scheme, because, of course, they have the most to lose. So, how do we focus on a just…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
Thank you. I just wanted to look at the issue for small farms. Obviously, the eligibility criteria has been reduced to 3 hectares. But that still disadvantages new businesses, particularly horticulture. You don't need a lot of land to produce quite a large…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
I just wanted to point out that Dr Petetin is saying that the most vocal anti-tree protesters have tended to be dairy producers and/or big farmers, and there's a danger that we shift the dial on how we approach this, which may not be equitable, given that…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
Dr Ludivine Petetin from Cardiff University, who is an expert in agri-environmental issues, who we're going to be hearing from later on this afternoon, is arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't really work, and that's, in particular, in relation to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
So, what you're saying is it's not sustainable unless there's funding to go with it.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
Given what you warn, though, in the way that the reduced funding for the Habitat Wales scheme is already causing some agri-ecological farms to scale back their ambition, that's quite a significant statement, in that we're hoping that we're all moving towards…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with environmental organisations
I want to look at how we influence farmers to do the right thing. In your evidence, the Soil Association is saying that there's been insufficient incentive to reduce manufactured fertiliser use on the scale that's needed to restore soil health. Given that…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
Yes, the final issue that I think is important to address is that Wales Environmental Link says that if we fail to effectively integrate increased tree cover into the SFS, the significant risk remains that the current trend of land conversion continues, by…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
Okay. I just wanted to remind Rachel and everybody else that, obviously, orchards are not deemed to be trees in perpetuity, and I just wondered if farmers have considered that as a way of meeting a 10 per cent tree cover and also producing fruit, because the…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
So, do you think, because we've got the one-size-fits-all approach to this, these universal actions, everybody has to do it? Obviously, Dr Petetin has said that one-size-fits-all may not be the right approach. Do you think that might be a way of addressing…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
However, we have a major issue with the potential for flooding. It hasn't stopped raining since November, and it's also about trees as flood mitigation, so I wondered if the others could bear that in mind in their answers.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
One of the things that has caused quite a lot of comment is the proposal for 10 per cent tree cover. It meets the Daily Mirror test, it's easy to understand that concept. So, why is it, do you think, so difficult for all farms, wherever they're located, to…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
You were producing vegetables in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, hydroponics have really taken off, and yet I don't think I've seen any mention of hydroponics at all in any of the submissions of evidence that we have in front of us. That has to be part of…
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
I think this idea of universal actions is a bit of a misnomer, because it very much depends on the type of farm you've got. You're not actually being required to do all 17 of these universal actions.
, Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee
Welsh Government’s proposals for a Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS): evidence session with farming representatives
Thank you. The first objective in the agriculture Act is to produce food and other goods in a sustainable manner, and one of the things we've got to do, as we change things, is to improve our food security. Rachel, you and I have had discussions on the need…
, Plenary
Group 4: Part 3—Applying for infrastructure consent: Pre-application and application procedure (Amendments 26, 27, 32, 28, 33, 1, 11)
First, I'd like to remind Members of my declared interests in both Siemens and Awel Aman Tawe, both of whom are involved in the business of renewable energy generation. I'd also like to add my tribute to Julie James for her ably leading on this infrastructure…
, Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
Two issues: I hope we've all—or at least most of us—been shocked by the remarks of Frank Hester against the long-standing Member of Parliament, Diane Abbott. As we prepare for our first black First Minister, it is Diane Abbott who has done the heavy lifting…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of Fire and Rescue Services: panel 7
One of the witnesses we heard from last week said that it was really all about money, that so long as there was more money in the system, that would work out. It was pointed out that there is no more money. So, is nothing going to happen unless there's more…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of Fire and Rescue Services: panel 7
Okay. I'll hand back to my colleagues to probe this a bit further.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Governance of Fire and Rescue Services: panel 7
Co-location is the easy bit, really; it's much more about bringing the work together to perhaps spread it out more evenly. You talk about the huge numbers of calls that you're making every day, and we are fully aware of the strain that the ambulance service…
